Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-video-ati package

Log in sceen of UBUNTU 11.10 flickers

Asked by peddanet

Hello,

I have a laptop ASUS Gamer G73J with ATI Radeon HD5870 graphics adapter.
I have configured my graphics adapter in Ubuntu Unity with the AMD Catalyst Centre and it works.

What did not work is, if the system boots to the log in screen, it flickers.

Ho can I fix this, do I eventually have to configure X11 xorg.conf, although it should not be necessary?

If I must provide any log files please let me know (I have overread the howto).

Since this problem stays now for about 1 year I would really appreciate an answer. Of course I did not find the correct answer googling here ore else..

Cheers
peddanet

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Revision history for this message
Ahmad Aizuddin Aizat (kaibathelegacy) said : 		#1

I'm using MESA (AMD Open Source Driver) instead of fglrx/Catalyst(The propreitary driver) to solve the same issue. But I'm using ASUS a42jy.

Revision history for this message
peddanet (peddanet) said : 		#2

Hello,

thanks Ahmad, it helped a little, but:

After following instructions here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver

and here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/FglrxInteferesWithRadeonDriver#Problem:%20%20Need%20to%20fully%20remove%20-fglrx%20and%20reinstall%20-ati%20from%20scratch

I still got the issue, that I have flickering log in screen, but now fglrx is deactivated, the AMD Catalyst Centre is gone, and MESA is installed.
This had one effect - the login screen now does not have any black frames around it (looks like it was underscanned...), so this is possibly an improvement,

still need help with the flicker! Can I do some changes to the xorg.conf?? Does this maybe help at this early stage of starting?

Revision history for this message
peddanet (peddanet) said : 		#3

Let me add:

1. Bootloader comes up with "underscanned", but sharp and non flickering display (it has black borders and is centered in the middle of the SAMSUNG SyncMaster XL2370)
2. Bootscreen of Ubuntu comes without flickering and no underscan in full size.

3. LOG IN Screen is flickering and full sized, the full size was achieved by using MESA driver instead of the fglrx driver

4. After logging in, the flickering suddenly disappeared and I can clearly work with a full sized monitor in FullHD resolution

Damn, what causes the f..king log in screen to use other settings than all other boot steps??

Revision history for this message
peddanet (peddanet) said : 		#4

So this is what caused the problem:

Log In Screen "detects" via ? 2 Screens (one of my laptop called "LVDS" and the other external SAMSUNG XL2370 "HDMI-0" and decides to control them both in clone view by the settings of the internal LCD "LVDS". At least this is my guess, because when I randomly decided to flip open the LCD, it turns out, that there is no flickering.

After fighting through various descriptions of people who solved a similar problem, I decided to change my /etc/X11/xorg.conf and added some extra lines:

[code]
sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Device0"
        Driver "radeon"
        Screen 0
EndSection
#Section "ServerLayout"
# Identifier "DualScreen"
# Screen 0 "Default Screen"
# Screen 1 "Screen1"
#EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Device0"
        Driver "radeon"
        Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Device1"
        Driver "radeon"
        Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Default Screen"
        Device "Device0"
        Monitor "LVDS"
        DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen1"
        Device "Device1"
        Monitor "HDMI-0"
        DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier "LVDS"
        Option "ignore" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier "HDMI-0"
        Modeline "1920x1080_60.00" 148.50 1920 2008 2048 2276 1080 1084 1089 1125 -hsync +vsync
        Option "Enable" "true"
      # Option "IgnoreEDID" "false"
      # Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1080@60hz"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Device1"
        Driver "radeon"
        Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Default Screen"
        Device "Device0"
        Monitor "LVDS"
        DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen1"
        Device "Device1"
        Monitor "HDMI-0"
        DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier "LVDS"
        Option "ignore" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier "HDMI-0"
        Modeline "1920x1080_60.00" 148.50 1920 2008 2048 2276 1080 1084 1089 1125 -hsync +vsync
        Option "Enable" "true"
      # Option "IgnoreEDID" "false"
      # Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1080@60hz"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load "glx"
EndSection
[\code]

Then after typing in from terminal 1:

sudo service lightdm stop
sudo service lightdm start

it worked! No flickering anywhere...

This has cost me hours and days, for me, this simply demonstrates "never change a running system", so here:

Do not update to UNITY or Ubuntu 11.04 and above, if you just want to be happy using efficiently your system....!!!

I have no clue what the developers of Ubuntu try to demonstrate, if it is to prove the above mentioned golden rule, super, works fine!