Bug 784738

Summary:	Severe graphics corruption above 1024x768
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Brian Morrison <bdm>
Component:	xorg-x11-drv-intel	Assignee:	Adam Jackson <ajax>
Status:	CLOSED NOTABUG	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	high	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	16	CC:	ajax, xgl-maint
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	x86_64
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2012-01-30 12:06:26 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:

Description Brian Morrison 2012-01-26 00:11:30 UTC

Description of problem:

After installing Fedora 16 via preupgrade on machine with Fedora 14, unable to login to any desktop with resolution above 1024x768 and have usable desktop, massive corruption of graphics with multiple overlapping flickering images that change position and repetition interval, in both axes, as mouse is moved. In some positions of the mouse, screen stops flickering but image is never correct in any part of the lower half of the screen, best case is top half of screen showing the bottom half of the background picture with partial wrapping of the right side of the desktop background over to the left side. In this condition ctrl-alt-F1 does not give a console login screen with a prompt, only either a blank or coloured screen with no text present, again screen colour varies with mouse movement.

Exact same hardware worked perfectly under Fedora 14 and earlier versions.

Hardware is an Intel DG965SS m/b with 6GB RAM, monitor is a Samsung Syncmaster 913N, the DDC information from this does not appear to cover all modes, maximum without xorg.conf modeline is 1024x768, adding modeline for 1280x1024 leads to corruption, gdm screen is stable until login is attempted. Tried modelines for several vertical refresh frequencies with no change to the problem.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

kernel 3.2.1-3.fc16.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.1.7-6.fc16.x86_64

Latest system updates applied using yum update.

How reproducible: Have had a couple of successful gnome sessions after login with kernel 3.1.6 but even this was intermittent. Kernel 3.1.9 and above have been impossible to login to gnome with.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Boot machine to gdm screen
2. Login
3. Screen display goes haywire

Actual results:

Expected results:

Additional info:

Comment 1 Brian Morrison 2012-01-26 00:18:07 UTC

Note that the monitor correctly shows refresh rate but not always resolution as image flickering varies. Also mouse cursor cannot be seen moving around the screen although this may be due to difficulty of viewing anything much as mouse movement changes the screen display and image positio with only small mouse movements.

Comment 2 Brian Morrison 2012-01-28 08:40:29 UTC

I made a mistake when reporting the intel driver rpm version, it's actually:

xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.1.7-4.fc16.x86_64

so an earlier rpm build than I thought.

Updates have just arrived to:

kernel-3.2.2-1.fc16.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.1.7-8.fc16.x86_64

so I will report if this changes anything.

Comment 3 Brian Morrison 2012-01-30 12:06:26 UTC

Well the updated packages changed nothing, but I have now discovered the reason for the problem.

I had a file named ~/.config/monitors.xml which contained incorrect resolution information, and gnome was using this on login. I realised what was happening when I upgraded to a better monitor which gdm recognised and used but this resolution was changed at login to something completely incorrect.

I don't know which version of Fedora created this monitors.xml file, but it certainly caught me out.

I will now close this bug.