Bug 409042 - Graphical issues on desktop with GeForce 7950 GX2
Summary: Graphical issues on desktop with GeForce 7950 GX2
Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: openSUSE Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL:
Keywords: regression, wayland
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2019-06-22 16:01 UTC by praiogriff
Modified: 2022-11-03 05:08 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
screenshot compositor (138.70 KB, image/png)
2020-03-30 15:51 UTC, praiogriff
Details
screenshot Fonts Sub-pixel rendering (164.33 KB, image/png)
2020-03-30 15:52 UTC, praiogriff
Details
screenshot mouse scroll (167.99 KB, image/png)
2020-03-30 16:02 UTC, praiogriff
Details
screenshot mouse move (165.35 KB, image/png)
2020-03-30 16:02 UTC, praiogriff
Details
screenshot Compositor XRender (348.23 KB, image/png)
2020-03-31 08:56 UTC, praiogriff
Details
Game_0AD_ghosting (1.24 MB, image/png)
2022-10-04 08:05 UTC, praiogriff
Details
Font anti-aliasing and coloured areas (381.07 KB, image/png)
2022-10-04 08:18 UTC, praiogriff
Details

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Description praiogriff 2019-06-22 16:01:42 UTC
SUMMARY
Since I did a new installation of openSUSE tumbleweed on 29th March 2019, I have severe graphical issues on my desktop:
https://abload.de/thumb/desktop3w4ks2.png
https://abload.de/thumb/desktop4myjjn.png
https://abload.de/thumb/desktop5xwk6d.png
https://abload.de/thumb/desktop6k8jb2.png

Before this new installation, everything was fine.
Problems appear as soon as the desktop is fully loaded.
Games like 0 A.D. or Supertux seem not to be not affected.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. installation
2. booting system

OBSERVED RESULT
- KDE-Menu is semi-transparent (see second picture: https://abload.de/thumb/desktop4myjjn.png )
- Icon titles are overlapped with colored blocks (see third picture in the upper line: https://abload.de/thumb/desktop5xwk6d.png )
- Program windows are overlapped with colored fields (see fourth picture: https://abload.de/thumb/desktop6k8jb2.png )

EXPECTED RESULT
- Clear desktop presentation

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: Kernel 5.1.7-1, openSUSE tumbleweed 64-bit (current version)
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 5.16.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.58.0
Qt Version: 5.12.3

MY HARDWARE/DRIVER:
Motherboard: Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo E8200 @ 2,66GHz
RAM: 4 GiB
Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce 7950 GX2 (Gigabyte)
Graphics Driver: nouveau 
Graphics Renderer: NV49
OpenGL Version: 2.1 Mesa 19.0.5

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
There are no problems when booting Windows XP. So I exclude defective hardware.
Comment 2 Vlad Zahorodnii 2019-06-24 08:54:06 UTC
> Graphics Driver: nouveau
Are you sure that this is not after updating Mesa? Have you updated it recently?
Comment 3 Martin Flöser 2019-06-24 10:46:37 UTC
Please try the proprietary Nvidia driver.
Comment 4 praiogriff 2019-06-24 20:48:41 UTC
(In reply to Vlad Zagorodniy from comment #2)
> > Graphics Driver: nouveau
> Are you sure that this is not after updating Mesa? Have you updated it
> recently?

It's likely that new Mesa drivers were installed when I did the new installation of the system. Before that, the driver was locked and never updated.
Unfortunately, I don't know which version the old driver had. I didn't expect such a problem so I didn't pay attention for it.

(In reply to Martin Flöser from comment #3)
> Please try the proprietary Nvidia driver.

I'm quite new in using Linux but when I add the nVidia repository to my software sources it doesn't show me a suitable nVidia driver for tumbleweed. The only driver there are for GeForce 400 series and newer or GeForce 600 series and newer, respectively.
I don't like to install the driver from nVidia's homepage as it dates from 2017.9.19.

Should I report my problem at Mesa project?
Comment 5 Martin Flöser 2019-06-25 08:21:00 UTC
Please contact your distribution support forum on how to install the NVIDIA drivers for your GPU. If I understand correctly your GPU was released in 2006. It is very likely that you will have to install legacy drivers and that there are no up to date drivers. Also please be aware that such old hardware is not well supported.
Comment 6 praiogriff 2020-03-30 15:51:44 UTC
Created attachment 127112 [details]
screenshot compositor
Comment 7 praiogriff 2020-03-30 15:52:35 UTC
Created attachment 127113 [details]
screenshot Fonts Sub-pixel rendering
Comment 8 praiogriff 2020-03-30 16:02:11 UTC
Created attachment 127114 [details]
screenshot mouse scroll
Comment 9 praiogriff 2020-03-30 16:02:52 UTC
Created attachment 127115 [details]
screenshot mouse move
Comment 10 praiogriff 2020-03-30 16:32:04 UTC
Hello

Yesterday, I installed the latest version of openSUSE Tumbleweed on factory new SSDs:

Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20200326
KDE Plasma Version: 5.18.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.68.0
Qt Version: 5.14.1
Kernel Version: 5.5.11-1-default
OS Type: 64-bit
Processors: 2 × Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU E8200 @ 2.66GHz
Memory: 3,8 GiB

The grey/yellow/white geometric distortions/colored fields (https://abload.de/thumb/desktop6k8jb2.png) disappeared after switching off the Compositor (see "screenshot compositor").
The colored blocks overlapping window/menu/icon titles (https://abload.de/thumb/desktop5xwk6d.png) disappeared after toggling Fonts Sub-pixel rendering method from "RGB" to "none" (see "screenshot Fonts Sub-pixel rendering").

Now I could have been happy. However, new version new bug :-(

When I place the mouse cursor over a menu bar like on the left side of the system settings window the highlighting does not disappear as soon as the mouse cursor moves on (see "screenshot mouse move"). When I scroll through lists they get corrupted (see "screenshot mouse scroll").

This only occur in windows with KDE Plasma content!

I have no problems scrolling through websites with Mozilla Firefox, reading documents with LibreOffice or PDF-files with Okular.

So, what did you change now and where can I switch it off in order to return to previous method of display drawing?

Kind regards,
Comment 11 Vlad Zahorodnii 2020-03-31 06:58:18 UTC
Could you please open Plasma Renderer settings and choose the software rendering backend? Does it fix the visual artifacts seen in system settings?
Comment 12 praiogriff 2020-03-31 08:56:00 UTC
Created attachment 127129 [details]
screenshot Compositor XRender
Comment 13 praiogriff 2020-03-31 09:11:40 UTC
Choosing the software rendering backend in Plasma Renderer settings fixed the visual artifacts in the system settings.
Thanks a lot!

Addendum to my last comment yesterday:
Those grey/yellow/white geometric distortions/colored fields (https://abload.de/thumb/desktop6k8jb2.png) are also removed when I keep the Compositor activated and choose XRender instead of OpenGL 3.1/2.0 (irrespective of the rendering backend in Plasma Renderer settings).

However, transparent menus are annoying and unergonomic. You cannot read anything (see "screenshot Compositor XRender").
Comment 14 Nate Graham 2022-09-08 04:50:54 UTC
Are you able to reproduce this issue in Plasma 5.25 or later?
Comment 15 Bug Janitor Service 2022-09-23 04:48:26 UTC
Dear Bug Submitter,

This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least
15 days. Please provide the requested information as soon as
possible and set the bug status as REPORTED. Due to regular bug
tracker maintenance, if the bug is still in NEEDSINFO status with
no change in 30 days the bug will be closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
due to lack of needed information.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the
wiki located here:
https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging

If you have already provided the requested information, please
mark the bug as REPORTED so that the KDE team knows that the bug is
ready to be confirmed.

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!
Comment 16 praiogriff 2022-10-03 13:37:31 UTC
Hello

Sorry for the delay. I was looking for a new PSU for Quad-SLI (2x 7950GX2) and the system was down in the time your message came in. Now it runs in Quad-SLI.

I did a complete new installation of openSUSE Leap 15.4:
KDE-Plasma-Version: 5.24.4
KDE-Frameworks-Version: 5.90.0
Qt-Version: 5.15.2
Kernel-Version: 5.14.21-150400.24.21-default (64-bit)
Graphics-Plattform: X11
CPU: 2 × Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU E8200 @ 2.66GHz
Memory: 3,8 GiB Arbeitsspeicher
GPU: llvmpipe

Plasma-Renderer: everything is set to automatic.
Compositor: activated at startup
Font rendering: RGB
(see pictures for detailed settings:
https://abload.de/img/renderer_and_composits5dyv.png
https://abload.de/img/fontsrendering4sdpk.png )

Visual impression is fine now. Even the issue in the main menu of the game 0 A.D. that I didn't mention before is solved.

Thanks a lot for your efforts so far!

However, performance of the system is very low now. When listening to a music video on youtube and writing a message like this at the same time, it takes a second for the text to appear on the screen, the sound crackles and is sometimes repeated. This may be due to the graphics card driver. The system now uses llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.1 128 bits) by default.

I will try to find an OS with Plasma-Version 5.25 as soon as possible.
Comment 17 praiogriff 2022-10-04 08:05:42 UTC
Created attachment 152579 [details]
Game_0AD_ghosting
Comment 18 praiogriff 2022-10-04 08:18:10 UTC
Created attachment 152580 [details]
Font anti-aliasing and coloured areas
Comment 19 praiogriff 2022-10-04 08:39:57 UTC
Next OS:
Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20221001
KDE Plasma Version: 5.25.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.98.0
Qt Version: 5.15.6
Kernel Version: 5.19.12-1-default (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 2 × Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU E8200 @ 2.66GHz
Memory: 3.8 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: llvmpipe

MESA-loader: faild to open nouveau

Used driver is now:
Vendor: MESA/X.org
Device: llvmpipe (LLVM 14.0.6, 128 bits)
Version: 22.2.0
Accelerated: no

Everything looks fine with this driver and performance seems to be better than with earlier driver version LLVM 11.0.1.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Then I installed the
"Mesa-dri-nouveau - Mesa DRI plug-in for 3D acceleration via Nouveau" package version 22.2.0-324.1
that came with this Tumbleweed release.

Performance is good and things are getting better with it but not all issues are solved with nouveau acceleration.

Good news first, solved:
1. When placing the mouse cursor over a menu bar like on the left side of the system settings window the highlighting does not disappear as soon as the mouse cursor moves on (see "screenshot mouse move"). When scrolling through lists they get corrupted (see "screenshot mouse scroll").

Workaround was setting Plasma Renderer to software rendering backend.

This now works again with Plasma Renderer set to automatic mode.

2. Main menu of the Game 0AD was corrupted (not mentioned before, see picture "Game_0AD_ghosting").
The error disappeared when opening a menu like "Quit the game".

No workaround.

Works again.

NOT SOLVED:
1. Icon titles are overlapped with coloured blocks (see picture "Font anti-aliasing and coloured areas" also known as "Desktop3").

Workaround:
a) Deactivate Anti-aliasing (doesn't look nice).
or b) Keep Anti-aliasing on and switch off Sub-pixel-rendering.
or c) Keep Anti-aliasing and Sub-pixel-rendering on and set Hinting to medium or complete. Hinting set to OFF or low does not work.

2. Program windows are overlapped with coloured fields (see white field in picture "Font anti-aliasing and coloured areas"). Sometimes it's yellow. Also KDE-Menu is affected. Here, menu items disappear.

Workaround:
Deactivate Compositor.
However, with deactivated Compositor the KDE-Desktop freezes more often at the end of boot process than with activated compositor. I observed it 3 times this morning when working out all this.
Comment 20 Vlad Zahorodnii 2022-10-04 10:38:52 UTC
You might be affected by https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/issues/7352
Comment 21 Bug Janitor Service 2022-10-19 04:57:55 UTC
Dear Bug Submitter,

This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least
15 days. Please provide the requested information as soon as
possible and set the bug status as REPORTED. Due to regular bug
tracker maintenance, if the bug is still in NEEDSINFO status with
no change in 30 days the bug will be closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
due to lack of needed information.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the
wiki located here:
https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging

If you have already provided the requested information, please
mark the bug as REPORTED so that the KDE team knows that the bug is
ready to be confirmed.

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!
Comment 22 Bug Janitor Service 2022-11-03 05:08:14 UTC
This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least
30 days. The bug is now closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
due to lack of needed information.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the
wiki located here:
https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!