Text disapears on webpages, text editors, email clients, etc.

the_Dude_abides · April 24, 2011, 5:02pm

OpenSuse 11.4 64 bit Gnome 2.3
GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS

I have the latest versions of these installed (other than nvidia drivers all else was part of the fresh install)
nvidia-gfxG01-kmp-default
nvidia-gfxG02-kmp-default
x11-video-nvidiaG01
x11-video-nvidiaG02
xorg-x11-driver-video-nouveau

The text issue is not consistent. Basically, I will view a web page, or use a text editor and some letters will not be fully visible. Some letters may be missing. Then they randomly reappear. The cursor maybe invisible or it will stay in another spot for a while.

I have an older screen which could be part of the problem, but I had no issues in 11.2. Although the highest screen resolution I can have now is 1024*786. In 11.2, I was able to have a higher resolution. How can I clarify anything to help remedy this issue?

oldcpu · April 24, 2011, 5:11pm

What happens if you switch to konsole and back ?

ie when this happens press <ctrl><alt><F2> and then immediately press (to get back to GUI) <ctrl><alt><F7> ?

the_Dude_abides · April 24, 2011, 5:41pm

Hi, oldcpu,

<ctrl><alt><F2> gives me a black screen
<ctrl><alt><F7> brings me back

There is no change. I had a text document up with the issue on hand. I did the commands and the issue is still present.

oldcpu · April 24, 2011, 6:30pm

You have installed your drivers via the repository method (which I do not use). Also , I can not even tell if you are using those drivers (as simply listing them is not enough to say they are actually loaded). I’m also not familiar with gnome.

So while I think you need to check the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file to confirm the proprietary driver is actually loaded, even if you confirm that I do not think I can help. Sorry.

martin_helm · April 24, 2011, 6:43pm

I have seen this behaviour on gnome when using compiz with desktop effects
enabled on 11.4.
Some applications which seem to run maximized are not fully maximized (there
seems to be few pixels around them still unused) and the content appears to
be crippled. There were two solutions:
Do an additional click (or was it a double click? not sure) onto the title
bar of the window which looks bad or simply disable the desktop effects in
the compiz config manager.

the_Dude_abides · April 24, 2011, 7:08pm

I have to run out, but I will try this later

the_Dude_abides · April 24, 2011, 10:45pm

As a workaround:

Thanks martin_helm, as you said,

Do an additional click (or was it a double click? not sure) onto the title

Yes the double click on the title bar works. The solution seems so easy, that I’m not sure why I haven’t tried it before.

Also, I briefly looked in /var/log/Xorg.0.log file. What exactly should I be looking for the recognize if my Nvidia driver is properly loaded?

oldcpu · April 24, 2011, 10:52pm

Look for many occurrences of something like "(II) NVIDIA(0) … "

For example


     14.942] (II) NVIDIA(0): [DRI2] Setup complete

That will indicate the NVIDIA driver is loaded. If instead you see “NOUVEAU” or “NV” or “VESA” or “FBDEV” in multiple occurrences and no “NVIDIA” you will know you have a different driver loaded.

martin_helm · April 24, 2011, 11:32pm

It will most probably not help (to ensure the proprietary driver runs). I
had this glitch with the proprietary nvidia driver and others reported it
with intel cards.
It seems not to be very hardware related (different GPUs, different drivers
but same result) and seems to be a bug in compiz.
I do not have the other thread at hand now. As far as I remember the OP
filed a bug report.

martin_helm · April 24, 2011, 11:51pm

This is the bug report at the end you will find the reference to the oiginal
discussion about it.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=679900

the_Dude_abides · April 25, 2011, 12:23am

oldcpu, thanks for the description, it looks my my driver is installed correctly.
martin_helm, thanks for the reference threads.