opensuse v11.3
linux 2.6.34.7-0.7-desktop x86_64
AMD quad core CPU
ATI graphics adapter. I see this with a built-in hd3200, and a hd4770.
Asus MB #m3a78-em
This is a difficult problem to describe. The visual display on the monitors flickers. The flicker mode is that single pixel height lines of the left half of the screen are moved to the right half of the screen; the line on the left half becomes black (since it is now on the right). At any one time there may be dozens of lines flickering about the screen.
The number of lines thus transposed varies with the CPU load (!); the more work the CPUs have, the less the flickering. It occurs with both the radeonhd driver and the ATI fglrx driver. It occurs at different rates on different computers (we have 6 total here, all the same MB, CPU and RAM); some not at all, others problem is tricky to get rid of. On one computer the flickering starts after some days of use; a re-boot heals it for a while.
The flickering occurs most notably during startup and shutdown. However, it also occurs during normal logged-in use as well.
before a solution can be had we have to know what is the problem which
are causing these symptoms…because there is no sense in attacking
the symptoms in random way…
so, some questions:
did you check your install media prior to beginning the install?
you know Garbage in, garbage out. and one way to get six identical
machines to display the same symptoms is to use bad install media six
times, so: do this please: http://tinyurl.com/2ebcf27 and any error
is one too many…
did any of these machines run as expected for a while, and then go
bad? if so, you have to suspect an update, new kernel or whatever
ruined all the boxes with the same new code…back track and back level…
how old are these machines? and, have you added hardware? i ask
because an overtaxed or weak power supply can do all sorts of strange
things…and, they do get old and tired…and, new hardware installs
raises the needs…
i think your “the more work the CPUs have, the less the flickering”
is a key to the mystery but i don’t enough about ATI (except
GAG-a-maggot) to know which way to go to test ideas …have you
tried turning off desktop effects; or adding video memory; or system
memory if it is ‘shared’; maybe use a less demanding desktop (you
didn’t say what you are using, try LXDE or XFCE…how much RAM do you
have?
do any of these machines run a different OS in expected ways?
out for now,
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like 127.0.0.1.
Similar issue with a laptop but the hardware is completely different (Intel
dual 32 bit CPU, GM945 video - sorry, don’t have the exact part #s handy).
Similarity is the dual display setup and the symptoms.
> Is there a solution?
Still sparring with it but on this setup it appears to be in the screen
mananger and video setup. Internal LCD wants 1280x800, external screen
(LCD) wants 1440x900. Using the KrandrTray applet to set the display
options, all is well as long as both displays are enabled and the
positioning is set with one as “absolute”, the other as “cloned” or the
screens are non-overlapping but things get weird if I set either screen to
“disabled” - which I want to do to minimize heat in the laptop. So far,
I’ve been able to disable the laptop screen ONLY if I first configure it as
“cloned” from the vga1 external display then disable it. Any other setting
gets me the flickering as you describe.
I’m still trying to characterize this one laptop so I can try to duplicate
things on a second AMD/Nvidia powered laptop I have but initial tests show
that the same situation applies to it as well. Please play with the setups
and see if you see the same results.
> The setup is not the same. I have only a single monitor. The “left” and
> “right” bits are referring to halves of the one screen.
>
> Still. If you are getting lines from one monitor transposed to the
> other, the effect sounds quite similar.
AH! I misread your description. There are several threads on the Laptop and
Hardware forums regarding video setup that might have some answers for you.
Some of the problems are related to the desktop used - KDE4.4 has several
problems with other-than-vanilla setups not seen with Gnome, for example.