Bug 178256

Summary:	The whole screen flickers periodically
Product:	[Plasma] kwin	Reporter:	Jakub Schmidtke <sjakub>
Component:	compositing	Assignee:	KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED UPSTREAM
Severity:	normal	CC:	campos.pauloaleixo, el_ca_pi_tan, finex
Priority:	NOR
Version:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Compiled Sources
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Jakub Schmidtke 2008-12-20 08:18:26 UTC

Version:            (using Devel)
Compiler:          gcc 4.3.2 
OS:                Linux
Installed from:    Compiled sources

In KDE 4.2 beta1 and 2 I experience periodic screen flickering.
I haven't used 4.1 line, but it was not happening in 3.5.10 for sure.
I have found this bug: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=170920,
but I guess it is OpenSuse-related. I am using Arch64, and KDE packages with practically no patches. Also, I don't have 'Detecting RANDR' service in the
list of services. I have 'KDED-module for screen-management' but it's in the window of 'on demand' services and I can't disable it. I tried killing kded4 and/or krunner, but it doesn't help.
The flickering happens irregularly, sometimes 5 seconds atern previous one, sometimes it takes minutes. When it happens the whole screen blinks - it looks similar to changing resolution or refresh rate, but it's way shorter.
It doesn't happen every time I start KDE, and restarting KDE sometimes helps.
I have x86_64 arch,  gcc 4.3.2, nvidia drivers 177.82, kernel 2.6.27.x (different versions, it doesn't change anything), xorg-server 1.5.3.
Also, I'm not the only one experiencing that (http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=464744#p464744). And it might be nvidia-related :/
Oh, and this is a laptop with GeForce Go 7700 card, DVI, DSUB and TV-out outputs.
The flickering happens on built-in screen, I haven't tested in on external display.

Comment 1 FiNeX 2008-12-21 00:15:08 UTC

Are you using desktop effects?

Comment 2 Jakub Schmidtke 2008-12-21 00:19:05 UTC

Yes I do. Sorry I didn't write it. I will try disabling them to see if that helps...

Comment 3 Jakub Schmidtke 2009-01-28 23:53:16 UTC

Actually disabling desktop effects doesn't help.
The issue disappeared for a while here, but I just upgraded to 4.2.0 that was added to Arch's repository and it's back. And it's really bad :|

Comment 4 FiNeX 2009-02-01 00:17:43 UTC

Would you like to try using the latest nvidia drivers? There are a lot of issues fixed on the latest revision.

Comment 5 Jakub Schmidtke 2009-02-01 00:55:46 UTC

Right now I have nvidia-driver in version 180.27 (and flickering occurs with this driver), I don't think there is anything newer...

Comment 6 FiNeX 2009-02-01 01:10:05 UTC

Thanks for the quick feedback Jakub!!! :-)

Comment 7 el_ca_pi_tan 2009-03-14 17:27:37 UTC

I can confirm this bug. (KDE 4.2.0; NVidia driver version 173; KWin using desktop effects) Flickering reliably starts, when I start OpenOffice on behalf of the toolbar. Then different elements of it disappear and parts of the wallpaper appear instead. When hovering the mouse over it, the elements reappear correctly, but may disappear again soon. It can also happen, that the whole desktop disappears and moving around the mouse might let it reappear again. Flickering appears also by chance, not only, when starting OpenOffice.

Comment 8 campos.pauloaleixo 2009-05-18 03:05:47 UTC

I'm also experimenting this flickering - sometimes (not always) it starts and remains periodic - I can't detect a possible cause/padron of when the flickering begins

I have a nvidia geforce go 7300, using the proprietary driver version 180 (most recent one), running kde 4.2.2 on kubuntu jaunty jackalope upgraded from 8.04.2

This bug "bugs" alot

Comment 9 Martin Flöser 2009-12-11 11:41:21 UTC

is the flickering still present?

Comment 10 campos.pauloaleixo 2009-12-11 23:50:00 UTC

In Kubuntu 9.04 with nvidia driver v1.80 it still happens.

There is a chance that the problem is rooted in the nvidia driver, as commented in this blog (which gathered information from different sources/hipotesis) http://www.ubuntusolutions.org/2009/02/screen-flickering-with-nvidia-on-ubuntu.html

After applying the "Coolbits" proposed solutions, my screen flicker stopped.

I hope this info helps