Bug 39120

Summary: fuzzy edge effect with xf86-video-ati
Product: xorg Reporter: tesoro302
Component: Driver/RadeonAssignee: xf86-video-ati maintainers <xorg-driver-ati>
Status: RESOLVED INVALID QA Contact: Xorg Project Team <xorg-team>
Severity: normal    
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecified   
Hardware: Other   
OS: All   
Whiteboard:
i915 platform: i915 features:
Attachments:
Description Flags
xorg.conf
none
Xorg.0.log
none
dmesg
none
"Welcome" text
none
Xorg.0.log
none
dmesg
none
sample.jpg none

Description tesoro302 2011-07-10 13:59:23 UTC
When I was using an Nvidia video card, I noticed a strange sort of fuzzy edge effect if I used nvidia-drivers.  xf86-video-nouveau didn't have the same problem.  Now I've switched to an ATI video card and unfortunately I have the same problem with xf86-video-ati.  I tried to enable the new modesetting radeon driver in the 2.6.38-hardened-r6 kernel to see if that would help but it doesn't work with my HD4250 card yet.  Here's a photo of the effect around the mouse cursor:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/804/cursor.jpg
Comment 1 tesoro302 2011-07-10 14:00:33 UTC
Created attachment 48940 [details]
xorg.conf
Comment 2 tesoro302 2011-07-10 14:01:19 UTC
Created attachment 48941 [details]
Xorg.0.log
Comment 3 tesoro302 2011-07-10 14:01:45 UTC
Created attachment 48942 [details] [review]
dmesg
Comment 4 Alex Deucher 2011-07-10 16:07:00 UTC
What kernel are you using?  Is there some reason you are using UMS rather than KMS?  I'd recommend using KMS.
Comment 5 Alex Deucher 2011-07-10 16:07:51 UTC
(In reply to comment #0)
> I tried to enable the new modesetting radeon
> driver in the 2.6.38-hardened-r6 kernel to see if that would help but it
> doesn't work with my HD4250 card yet.

It should work fine.  What sort of problems are you having?
Comment 6 tesoro302 2011-07-10 17:49:52 UTC
Created attachment 48947 [details]
"Welcome" text
Comment 7 tesoro302 2011-07-10 17:51:48 UTC
Wow, KMS actually works fine.  It causes a delay of about 30 seconds or so during the kernel load which I had previously interpreted as a crash.

It doesn't fix the problem though.  I've attached another photo of an example of the problem.  The horizontal lines are photo artifacts but the "shadows" of the text to the left and right are on the screen.
Comment 8 tesoro302 2011-07-10 18:59:22 UTC
I fixed that 30 second delay by loading the firmware properly.
Comment 9 Alex Deucher 2011-07-11 06:09:48 UTC
Please attach your xorg log and dmesg output from KMS.  Does booting with radeon.audio=0 on the kernel command line in grub help?
Comment 10 tesoro302 2011-07-11 11:59:33 UTC
Created attachment 48982 [details]
Xorg.0.log
Comment 11 tesoro302 2011-07-11 11:59:56 UTC
Created attachment 48983 [details]
dmesg
Comment 12 tesoro302 2011-07-11 12:00:36 UTC
Created attachment 48984 [details]
sample.jpg
Comment 13 tesoro302 2011-07-11 12:02:52 UTC
radeon.audio=0 helps a lot.  I'd say the problem is reduced by about 75%.  I've attached the KMS dmesg and Xorg.0.log as well as a photo of the screen with radeon.audio=0.  Can it be cleaned up further?
Comment 14 Alex Deucher 2011-07-11 12:11:41 UTC
Can you try the latest 3.0 kernels?
Comment 15 tesoro302 2011-07-11 13:24:52 UTC
Would git-sources-3.0_rc6-r6 be OK?
Comment 16 Alex Deucher 2011-07-11 13:28:12 UTC
yes.
Comment 17 tesoro302 2011-07-12 12:31:52 UTC
I tried the 3.0 kernel with the same result.  Do you know what's causing the problem since the radeon.audio=0 setting improved it so drastically?
Comment 18 Alex Deucher 2011-07-12 13:14:04 UTC
(In reply to comment #17)
> I tried the 3.0 kernel with the same result.  Do you know what's causing the
> problem since the radeon.audio=0 setting improved it so drastically?

radeon.audio=0 disables the hdmi data packets and runs the hdmi port in dvi mode.  I suspect your monitor doesn't like something about the hdmi packets.
Comment 19 tesoro302 2011-07-12 15:22:20 UTC
In case it makes a difference, the monitor is a 47" LG HDTV.  Can we do anything else to reduce the amount of data sent up the cable, or maybe DVI mode is the bare minimum?  I tried 16-bit mode with no change.
Comment 20 Alex Deucher 2011-07-12 15:27:40 UTC
(In reply to comment #19)
> In case it makes a difference, the monitor is a 47" LG HDTV.  Can we do
> anything else to reduce the amount of data sent up the cable, or maybe DVI mode
> is the bare minimum?  I tried 16-bit mode with no change.

DVI mode doesn't send any hdmi packets.  You might try playing with the settings on your TV or try disabling coherent mode:

xrandr --output HDMI-0 --set coherent 0
Comment 21 tesoro302 2011-07-12 16:13:43 UTC
Tried both of those with no effect.  Do you think there could be some sort of electrical interference issue at play that is exacerbated by the HDMI packets?  I isolate the USB connection between my computer and USB sound card with an ADUM4160 chip and it improves the sound greatly because so much electrical noise travels up the USB cable to the DAC otherwise.
Comment 22 Alex Deucher 2011-07-12 16:36:32 UTC
I suppose it's possible.
Comment 23 tesoro302 2011-07-12 18:38:58 UTC
Anything else I could try?
Comment 24 Michel Dänzer 2011-07-13 06:54:07 UTC
Is it possible that the artifacts are from some kind of image filter (e.g. (un)sharpening, noise reduction) applied by the TV? Maybe it uses the presence / lack of HDMI packets and/or the mode timings as indicators for whether the source is a PC or video player...
Comment 25 tesoro302 2011-07-14 12:47:42 UTC
I fiddled with every setting on the TV with no change.  Please let me know if you have any other ideas.  I'm happy to try different things.
Comment 26 Adam Jackson 2018-06-12 19:06:34 UTC
Mass closure: This bug has been untouched for more than six years, and is not
obviously still valid. Please reopen this bug or file a new report if you continue to experience issues with current releases.

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