Screen blink randomly

Hi,

I have a Nvidia GPU [GeForce GTX 970]and have installed the proprietary driver. It work fairly well (shows video nice), but I have instances where the screen does not update properly and the screen blinks once. This can happen several times, some days it’s more stable. This is quite irritating. The updating shows Firefox with only the title bar and borders. It should not be like this. I think the driver is installed properly, but I am not sure. I thought this could be related to settings.

Anyone have an idea?

Dag R

How old is this 15.3 installation? Which DE do you use? Did it ever work as expected? Does it do the same if you run a different DE session type? Was everything fine running whatever OS it had before 15.3?

Please run inxi -U, then provide input/output within code tags from inxi -F --nvidia run from an X terminal.

Did you ever bother following their recommendations: SDB:NVIDIA drivers - openSUSE Wiki?

I installed 15.3 in April this year. I had to change the motherboard. With 15.2 on my old setup the card functioned rather well. I followed the instructions on https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers, and i have had this card in my machine since 2018.

sudo inxi -F --nvidia 
**System:**
  **Host:** opensuse22 **Kernel:** 5.3.18-150300.59.68-default **arch:** x86_64 **bits:** 64 **compiler:** gcc 
    **v:** 7.5.0 **parameters:** BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.3.18-150300.59.68-default 
    root=UUID=792d4dc7-55f3-4aa6-978c-1db5a41132c1 splash=silent quiet mitigations=auto 
  **Console:** pty pts/1 **DM:** SDDM **Distro:** openSUSE Leap 15.3 
**Machine:**
  **Type:** Desktop **Mobo:** ASUSTeK **model:** ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING II **v:** Rev 1.xx 
    **serial:** 210281119104641 **UEFI:** American Megatrends **v:** 4801 **date:** 03/02/2022 
**CPU:**
  **Info:****model:** AMD Ryzen 5 3600 **socket:** AM4 **bits:** 64 **type:** MT MCP **arch:** Zen 2 **family:** 0x17 (23) 
    **model-id:** 0x71 (113) **stepping:** 0 **microcode:** 0x8701021 
  **Topology:****cpus:** 1x **cores:** 6 **tpc:** 2 **threads:** 12 **smt:** enabled **cache:****L1:** 384 KiB 
    **desc:** d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB **L2:** 3 MiB **desc:** 6x512 KiB **L3:** 32 MiB **desc:** 2x16 MiB 
  **Speed (MHz):****avg:** 2316 **high:** 3600 **min/max:** 2200/3600 **boost:** enabled **base/boost:** 3600/4200 
    **scaling:****driver:** acpi-cpufreq **governor:** ondemand **volts:** 1.1 V **ext-clock:** 100 MHz **cores:****1:** 2200 
    **2:** 2200 **3:** 2200 **4:** 2200 **5:** 2200 **6:** 3600 **7:** 2200 **8:** 2200 **9:** 2200 **10:** 2200 **11:** 2200 **12:** 2200 
    **bogomips:** 86237 
  **Flags:** avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm 
  **Vulnerabilities:**
  **Type:** itlb_multihit **status:** Not affected 
  **Type:** l1tf **status:** Not affected 
  **Type:** mds **status:** Not affected 
  **Type:** meltdown **status:** Not affected 
  **Type:** spec_store_bypass **mitigation:** Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
  **Type:** spectre_v1 **mitigation:** usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  **Type:** spectre_v2 **mitigation:** Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
  **Type:** srbds **status:** Not affected 
  **Type:** tsx_async_abort **status:** Not affected 
**Graphics:**
  **Device-1:** NVIDIA GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] **vendor:** Micro-Star MSI **driver:** nvidia **v:** 470.129.06 
    **alternate:** nouveau,nvidia_drm **non-free:** 515.xx+ **status:** current (as of 2022-05) **arch:** Maxwell 
    **code:** GMxxx **process:** TSMC 28nm **pcie:****gen:** 1 **speed:** 2.5 GT/s **lanes:** 16 **link-max:****gen:** 3 
    **speed:** 8 GT/s **ports:****active:** none **off:** HDMI-A-1 **empty:** DP-1,DVI-D-1,DVI-I-1 **bus-ID:** 11:00.0 
    **chip-ID:** 10de:13c2 **class-ID:** 0300 
  **Display:** x11 **server:** X.org **v:** 1.20.3 **with:** Xwayland **compositor:** kwin_x11 **driver:****X:**
    **loaded:** nvidia **unloaded:** fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa **alternate:** nv 
    **gpu:** nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch **tty:** 189x47 
  **Monitor-1:** HDMI-A-1 **model:** Acer T232HL **serial:** T27EE0024201 **built:** 2014 **res:** 1920x1080 
    **dpi:** 96 **gamma:** 1.2 **size:** 509x286mm (20.04x11.26") **diag:** 584mm (23") **ratio:** 16:9 **modes:**
    **max:** 1920x1080 **min:** 640x480 
  **Message:** GL data unavailable in console for root. 

The rest of output from inxi is about audio, drives, network etc. Do you need that as well? I don’t under stand what you mean: Does it do the same if you run a different DE session type?

Dag R

No, but inxi -Ga might be more helpful, if you first upgrade inxi by doing sudo inxi -U.

I don’t under stand what you mean: Does it do the same if you run a different DE session type?
Desktop environment - Wikipedia

Sometimes it’s because of unstable connection of the graphic card or the cable connection (HDMI/DVI)
I had worse than that, one of my monitor just go to sleep cause of bad HDMI connection the monitor’s HDMI slot has
dust, it works perfectly after I cleaned it.

inxi -Ga 
**Graphics:**
  **Device-1:** NVIDIA GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] **vendor:** Micro-Star MSI 
    **driver:** nvidia **v:** 470.129.06 **alternate:** nouveau,nvidia_drm 
    **non-free:** 515.xx+ **status:** current (as of 2022-05) **arch:** Maxwell **pcie:**
    **gen:** 1 **speed:** 2.5 GT/s **lanes:** 16 **link-max:****gen:** 3 **speed:** 8 GT/s **ports:**
    **active:** none **off:** HDMI-A-1 **empty:** DP-1,DVI-D-1,DVI-I-1 **bus-ID:** 11:00.0 
    **chip-ID:** 10de:13c2 **class-ID:** 0300 
  **Display:** x11 **server:** X.org **v:** 1.20.3 **with:** Xwayland **compositor:** kwin_x11 
    **driver:****X:****loaded:** nvidia **unloaded:** fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa 
    **alternate:** nv **gpu:** nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch **display-ID:** :0 **screens:** 1 
  **Screen-1:** 0 **s-res:** 1920x1080 **s-size:** <missing: xdpyinfo> 
  **Monitor-1:** HDMI-A-1 **mapped:** HDMI-0 **note:** disabled **model:** Acer T232HL 
    **serial:** T27EE0024201 **built:** 2014 **res:** 1920x1080 **hz:** 60 **dpi:** 96 **gamma:** 1.2 
    **size:** 509x286mm (20.04x11.26") **diag:** 584mm (23") **ratio:** 16:9 **modes:**
    **max:** 1920x1080 **min:** 640x480 
  **OpenGL:****renderer:** NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2 
    **v:** 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.129.06 **direct render:** Yes

pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 **link-max:**gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s

Possibly dirty video card. Clean contacts and video card. Check additional power connectors.
Try to use newer video drivers.

with: Xwayland

Are you using Wayland? If so, use newer Nvidia drivers.

This shows you have a Maxwell that should be supported by NVidia’s 515 driver, but you are running it on a 470 driver.

There might not be a driver solution. Try logging into some session type other than Plasma, to see whether the problem remains or not without Plasma involvement.

Newer driver, would you recommend I uninstall the 470 driver and install the 515 driver?

Dag R

I logged into Gnome, but the result was lagging when loading web pages. I did’nt see any blinking but the result in Gnome was bad, and I did not see any point checking any more. Before I installed the Nvidia driver (April), the web pages was lagging. Does this indicate that the card maybe is to old? Should the Nouveau driver be sufficent for reading the web and see videos?

Dag R

Gnome Wayland, or Gnome Xorg? All web pages, or only a select few? Please provide examples if only few.

Before I installed the Nvidia driver (April), the web pages was lagging. Does this indicate that the card maybe is to old? Should the Nouveau driver be sufficent for reading the web and see videos?
Does this web page lagging occur only in Firefox, or all web browsers? Web browsers should work acceptably with the standard FOSS drivers in standard 15.3 repos. Your card is not nearly too old for web browsing. It has years of life left, subject to unexpected electrical or mechanical failure.

I used the Gnome Xorg and the lagging was on all pages. Then I did a reset of Firefox. I had done som changes in the about:config, they are maybe the root of this. I have only tested this some hours, but it seems more stable now. The blinking/window update problem is primaryly in Firefox. I hope the reset fixed the problem.

Dag R