Bug 2211990

Summary: Since upgrading to kernel 6.3.4 screen flickers and goes black when applications are maximized
Product: [Fedora] Fedora Reporter: Piotr Orzechowski <piotr>
Component: kernelAssignee: Kernel Maintainer List <kernel-maint>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity: high Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 38CC: acaringi, adscvr, airlied, alciregi, bskeggs, hdegoede, hpa, jarodwilson, josef, kernel-maint, lgoncalv, linville, masami256, mchehab, ptalbert, steved
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Desktop
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: x86_64   
OS: Linux   
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Description Piotr Orzechowski 2023-06-02 21:53:19 UTC
Yesterday I got an upgrade of Silverblue. When booting to upgraded version, each time an application is maximized or Gnome Shell overview is shown, screen flickers, goes black and then after few seconds is back again. Another symptom are visual artifacts on desktop's context menu.

I am not entirely sure what's the reason exactly - Kernel or Mesa as there's nothing suspicious in journalctl when this occurs.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Upgrade to Silverblue 38.20230601.0
2.Reboot the system
3.Run and maximize e.g. Gnome Terminal
Actual Results:  
The screen flickers and goes black when Gnome Terminal is maximized and then gets stable until Gnome Shell preview is shown and another app run and maximized.

Expected Results:  
The screen should neither flicker nor go black.

Please note rpm-ostree reports a downgrade, because the command was run on a working rolled back deployment.

$ rpm-ostree db diff
ostree diff commit from: rollback deployment (80ef60d9f69302fbc61545537f1fff0a07965e17739b98fb9aad0c3d68fb8e5a)
ostree diff commit to:   booted deployment (f0b7c303b10614c3dea1bf63dd31e25aa77f4db2dd86f38eafc1a0cd229d5805)
Downgraded:
  btrfs-progs 6.3.1-1.fc38 -> 6.2.2-1.fc38
  container-selinux 2:2.216.0-1.fc38 -> 2:2.215.0-2.fc38
  fedora-release-common 38-36 -> 38-35
  fedora-release-identity-silverblue 38-36 -> 38-35
  fedora-release-ostree-desktop 38-36 -> 38-35
  fedora-release-silverblue 38-36 -> 38-35
  kernel 6.3.4-201.fc38 -> 6.2.15-300.fc38
  kernel-core 6.3.4-201.fc38 -> 6.2.15-300.fc38
  kernel-headers 6.3.3-200.fc38 -> 6.2.6-300.fc38
  kernel-modules 6.3.4-201.fc38 -> 6.2.15-300.fc38
  kernel-modules-core 6.3.4-201.fc38 -> 6.2.15-300.fc38
  kernel-modules-extra 6.3.4-201.fc38 -> 6.2.15-300.fc38
  mesa-dri-drivers 23.1.1-1.fc38 -> 23.0.3-5.fc38
  mesa-filesystem 23.1.1-1.fc38 -> 23.0.3-5.fc38
  mesa-libEGL 23.1.1-1.fc38 -> 23.0.3-5.fc38
  mesa-libGL 23.1.1-1.fc38 -> 23.0.3-5.fc38
  mesa-libgbm 23.1.1-1.fc38 -> 23.0.3-5.fc38
  mesa-libglapi 23.1.1-1.fc38 -> 23.0.3-5.fc38
  mesa-libxatracker 23.1.1-1.fc38 -> 23.0.3-5.fc38
  mesa-va-drivers 23.1.1-1.fc38 -> 23.0.3-5.fc38
  mesa-vulkan-drivers 23.1.1-1.fc38 -> 23.0.3-5.fc38
  qgnomeplatform-qt5 0.9.1-3.fc38 -> 0.9.1-2.fc38
  selinux-policy 38.15-1.fc38 -> 38.12-1.fc38
  selinux-policy-targeted 38.15-1.fc38 -> 38.12-1.fc38

I have Radeon 5700 XT video card, if that matters.

Comment 1 Piotr Orzechowski 2023-06-03 10:48:08 UTC
It looks like changing monitor refresh rate in Gnome Settings from 59,95 Hz to 59,88 Hz works as a workaround.

Comment 2 Piotr Orzechowski 2023-07-13 22:26:55 UTC
The problem (In reply to Piotr Orzechowski from comment #1)
> It looks like changing monitor refresh rate in Gnome Settings from 59,95 Hz
> to 59,88 Hz works as a workaround.

It is not a workaround after all. Visual glitches and screen going blank and flickering back and forth still happen, just less often than without refresh change. But still way too often - multiple times a day.

I can't pinpoint exact reason. It happens mostly when activating Gnome overview and using Firefox (eg. scrolling pages or just opening them). No logs in journalctl.

The problem happens on 6.3.12-200.fc38.x86_64 and previous kernels back to and including 6.3.4-201.fc38.x86_64.