Ubuntu

Ocassional flickering of screen

Asked by Nikos Lagios

Hello. I have been running Ubuntu 24.04 on a Dell Vostro 3584 laptop with the following specifications:
Processor: Intel Core i3-7020U, @ 2.3 GHz, 64-bit, x4
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 620
Memory: 16 GB DDR4 SDRAM
Disk: NVMe Liteon 256 GB SSD
I have been experiencing ocassional flickering of the screen, which I find rather strange since I had used both 20.04 and 22.04 versions on the same machine without having experienced this before. So far, I have used two solutions.

1. I went to /usr/shar/X11/xorg.conf.d/ and created a file for my graphics card named "10-intel.conf", where I pasted the following:
Section "Device"
  Identifier "Intel Graphics"
  Driver "intel"
  Option "TearFree" "true"
EndSection

2. I ran "sudo nano /etc/default/grub". In the grub file, I added to parameter GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT the value "i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2". Then I saved the file, ran "sudo update-grub" and rebooted.

In my personal (poor) opinion, I find the first solution irrelevant, since I am running the operating system on Wayland, not X11. To be honest, I haven't checked the effects of the second solution in detail yet. I have an Ubuntu Pro Desktop subscription but I am not sure if I can apply for an official help (you see I have the Essential scheme, so I guess I can't). Any suggestion would be helpful. Thanks in advance for your time.
Best regards,
Nikos Lagios.

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Test (3560holy) said (last edit ): 		#1

They don't care about us. Here is the bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1958191
People already want to file a class action lawsuit for damaged vision.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

Do you get the same flickering in an Xorg session rather than Wayland?

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Nikos Lagios (nick1971) said : 		#3

Thanks both of you for your concern, although I find the first response rather aggressive ... Well, the problem seems not to exist anymore since I've applied the second solution above. The fact is that I had no such problem with either 20.04 or 22.04 on the same machine. Also, the use of Wayland would have supposedly fixed such issues ...

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Test (3560holy) said (last edit ): 		#4

@nick1971 The above settings are not a solution to the problem. Has your flickering stopped? What did you do to solve this?

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Nikos Lagios (nick1971) said : 		#5

Well, I'm not an expert but since I applied the above solution the problem has not appeared again. I am referring to the second solution that needed modification of the grub file.

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Test (3560holy) said : 		#6

Does the problem not return when the screen turns off for an extended period of time after a period of inactivity or when you lock the screen?

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Nikos Lagios (nick1971) said : 		#7

No, I have noticed nothing of the things that you are mentioning. You could look for a solution on the internet, as I did. I remember finding other parameters which are slightly different from the one I decided to use. With a little trial-and-error I guess you will finally find the one that best fits your hardware.

Revision history for this message
Test (3560holy) said : 		#8

Try leaving the screen off for a few hours. I have been searching, but there is no solution yet, because most likely it requires a driver update. Turning off the necessary settings does not solve the problem and the problem may return again.

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Test (3560holy) said : 		#9

Post the output of the console command:
lspci -k | grep -EA2 'VGA|3D'

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Nikos Lagios (nick1971) said : 		#10

The output that you asked for:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 620 (rev 06)
 DeviceName: Onboard IGD
 Subsystem: Dell HD Graphics 620
--
03:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Solid State Storage Technology Corporation CL1-3D256-Q11 NVMe SSD M.2 (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Silicon Motion, Inc. CL1-3D256-Q11 NVMe SSD M.2
 Kernel driver in use: nvme
 Kernel modules: nvme

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Test (3560holy) said (last edit ): 		#11

I tried your second method before and it didn't work for me. Has anything changed since then? Do you only have one graphics controller? What driver does it use?

It wasn't fixed: https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1958191