Bug 25284 - [915GM] random flickering when using metacity-compositor
Summary: [915GM] random flickering when using metacity-compositor
Status: CLOSED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: DRI
Classification: Unclassified
Component: DRM/Intel (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: x86 (IA32) Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Daniel Vetter
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2009-11-25 13:51 UTC by Sebastian Keller
Modified: 2017-07-24 23:09 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
i915 platform:
i915 features:


Attachments
dmesg with drm.debug=4 (122.96 KB, text/plain)
2010-07-24 04:52 UTC, Sebastian Keller
no flags Details

Description Sebastian Keller 2009-11-25 13:51:11 UTC
For several months I've seen random flickering on this laptop. I think this started with the switch from EXA to UXA. Now I found a way to reproduce it:

1.) Make sure you are using metacity as wm:
metacity --replace

2.) Make sure you are using compositing:
gconf-editor /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager

3.) Run a gnome-terminal

4.) Run glxgears

5.) Move the gnome-terminal window so it partly covers the glxgears window.

(Also after trying these steps and toggling compositing in metacity from compositing to non-compositing and back to compositing I've not been able to reproduce it this way anymore, so maybe you need run metacity with compositing as your default wm right from the login)

The flickering should start now and stop as soon as you move the window away again.
As I don't have a camera to capture the flickering I'll try to describe it:
It looks like the whole screen is shifted randomly up and down (not left or right). The cursor gets shifted along with shifted image (different from another flickering issue that got introduced in the 2.6.32 kernel development cycle in which the cursor seems to stay at the same position, but I'm not absolutely sure about that since I haven't seen it this often).

Computer:
Thinkpad R52 1858 69G

lspci:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 11)
04:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4510 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 03)
04:00.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI4510 IEEE-1394 Controller (rev 01)
04:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)

Distro:
Ubuntu 10.4 + Xorg edgers repository ( https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa/+packages?field.name_filter=&field.status_filter=published&field.series_filter=lucid )

xserver-xorg-video-intel:
2:2.9.0+git20091112.dbb68168-0ubuntu0sarvatt

libdrm-intel1:
2.4.15+git20091119.b4312b63-0ubuntu0tormod

xserver-xorg-core:
2:1.7.99.2~git20091111.b5aa2e0a-0ubuntu0sarvatt8

libx11-6:
2:1.3.2~git20091111.54c64267-0ubuntu0sarvatt

linux-image-2.6.32-5-generic:
2.6.32-5.6
(2.6.32-rc8)

mesa:
7.8.0~git20091124.11dce740-0ubuntu0tormod
Comment 1 Carl Worth 2010-02-17 09:52:37 UTC
This might be one of the FIFO underrun errors.

Several of these have been fixed recently. Could you try a more recent kernel
and let us know (and clear NEEDINFO) if it helps or not?

Thanks,

-Carl
Comment 2 Sebastian Keller 2010-02-17 11:06:02 UTC
Still happens with 2.6.33-rc8 and the latest libdrm/intel-driver from git.
Comment 3 Chris Wilson 2010-06-05 06:04:15 UTC
Hmm, couldn't reproduce this on my PineView box which I have to hand, so an underrun on the i915 does seem the most likely suspect.
Comment 4 Chris Wilson 2010-07-24 04:08:13 UTC
A dmesg with drm.debug=4 will help to confirm one potential cause of FIFO underruns, do you mind grabbing that with current bits?
Comment 5 Sebastian Keller 2010-07-24 04:52:07 UTC
Created attachment 37349 [details]
dmesg with drm.debug=4

This is the output after running running "vblank_mode=0 glxgears" and moving the terminal window over it. 
The vblank_mode=0 was necessary because otherwise glxgears would be limited to 30fps and the issue would not show.
The last entry before running the command should be at [78.404101].
Comment 6 Daniel Vetter 2012-02-08 10:57:24 UTC
Can you please retest on the latest bits? Also there's a BUG in your dmesg which looks unrelated to i915, but which might be relevant. Please recheck with a recent kernel (at least 3.2) whether you still have this flickering issues and whether the BUG is still in dmesg or not.
Comment 7 Chris Wilson 2012-02-08 11:13:19 UTC
This is likely a gen3 DSPARB bug; a source of merriment for me and Jesse over the years.
Comment 8 Daniel Vetter 2012-05-11 06:44:25 UTC
No news from the original report, presuming the bug is fixed I'll close this.

If this is still an issue for you on the latest versions, please reopen.


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