Bug 1194298 - Random disappearing letters on the screen
Summary: Random disappearing letters on the screen
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED EOL
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: xorg-x11
Version: 21
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: X/OpenGL Maintenance List
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2015-02-19 13:54 UTC by Bill C. Riemers
Modified: 2015-12-02 17:29 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2015-12-02 09:15:13 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
screen shot of disappear characters (803.31 KB, image/png)
2015-02-19 13:54 UTC, Bill C. Riemers
no flags Details
This log file might provide useful information... (53.17 KB, text/plain)
2015-02-19 13:55 UTC, Bill C. Riemers
no flags Details

Description Bill C. Riemers 2015-02-19 13:54:02 UTC
Created attachment 993620 [details]
screen shot of disappear characters

Description of problem:

This is so bizzar.  I have no idea if this is xorg, an xorg driver, gnome, or maybe even some sort of virus.  I was viewing my e-mail and I opened an e-mail where a large portion of the characters where missing.   Then I noticed characters missing on other parts of the screen.  Even a few characters where missing from my IRC window header.   As I moved the mouse it became worse.  When I opened the screen shot tool, so many characters where missing I couldn't tell what the options where, so I took a full screen shot and hoped it would save somewhere I could find it.

Last time I saw this type of thing was about 24 years ago.   That was at CERN when everyone would use 'xhost +', so other students would frequently play pranks where they would launch screen savers like xmelt.  

The xorg implementation is fairly secure, and I don't really know any pranksters that would be trying such a thing.   But if there is a screen saver that can have this behaviour, I'll certainly look to see if it is installed on my system.

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

$ rpm -qa |egrep '(xorg|gnome)'
gnome-icon-theme-symbolic-3.12.0-2.fc21.noarch
gnome-abrt-1.0.0-1.fc21.x86_64
heisenbug-backgrounds-gnome-20.0.0-2.fc21.noarch
xorg-x11-xauth-1.0.9-2.fc21.x86_64
NetworkManager-vpnc-gnome-0.9.9.0-6.git20140428.fc21.x86_64
gnome-maps-3.14.2-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-system-monitor-3.14.1-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-shell-extension-window-list-3.14.3-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-video-effects-0.4.1-2.fc21.noarch
gnome-epub-thumbnailer-1.4-4.fc21.x86_64
gnome-dictionary-3.14.2-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-software-3.14.2-2.fc21.x86_64
abrt-addon-xorg-2.3.0-3.fc21.x86_64
gnome-themes-standard-3.14.2.2-1.fc21.x86_64
NetworkManager-openvpn-gnome-0.9.9.0-3.git20140128.fc21.x86_64
gnome-user-share-3.14.0-2.fc21.x86_64
gnome-session-3.14.0-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-user-docs-3.14.2-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-logs-3.14.2-3.fc21.x86_64
gnome-shell-extension-user-theme-3.14.3-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-python2-canvas-2.28.1-15.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-qxl-0.1.2-1.fc21.x86_64
NetworkManager-pptp-gnome-0.9.8.2-6.fc21.x86_64
gnome-screenshot-3.14.0-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-shell-extension-apps-menu-3.14.3-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-shell-3.14.3-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-calculator-3.14.1-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-python2-2.28.1-15.fc21.x86_64
gnome-keyring-pam-3.14.0-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-classic-session-3.14.3-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-session-xsession-3.14.0-1.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-xinit-1.3.4-3.fc21.x86_64
gnome-tweak-tool-3.14.2-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-shell-extension-launch-new-instance-3.14.3-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-sound-recorder-3.14.2-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-bluetooth-3.14.0-3.fc21.x86_64
gnome-menus-3.13.3-2.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-vmware-13.0.2-5.20140613git82c9b0c.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-wacom-0.25.0-2.fc21.x86_64
gnome-icon-theme-3.12.0-2.fc21.noarch
gnome-mplayer-common-1.0.9-2.fc21.x86_64
gnome-clocks-3.14.1-2.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.16.2.901-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-contacts-3.14.2-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-bluetooth-libs-3.14.0-3.fc21.x86_64
gnome-settings-daemon-3.14.2-2.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.9.0-3.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-modesetting-0.9.0-2.fc21.x86_64
desktop-backgrounds-gnome-21.0.0-0.fc21.noarch
xorg-x11-font-utils-7.5-25.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-ati-7.5.0-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-shell-extension-places-menu-3.14.3-1.fc21.noarch
xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-1.8.0-9.fc21.x86_64
f21-backgrounds-gnome-21.1.0-1.fc21.noarch
xorg-x11-drv-vmmouse-13.0.0-13.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-fbdev-0.4.3-19.fc21.x86_64
gnome-icon-theme-legacy-3.12.0-2.fc21.noarch
xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.99.916-3.20141117.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-fonts-Type1-7.5-14.fc21.noarch
xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-0.3.3-12.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-vesa-2.3.2-19.fc21.x86_64
gnome-mplayer-1.0.9-2.fc21.x86_64
gnome-online-accounts-3.14.3-1.fc21.x86_64
libgnome-keyring-3.12.0-4.fc21.x86_64
gnome-python2-gnomekeyring-2.32.0-20.fc21.x86_64
gnome-python2-desktop-2.32.0-20.fc21.x86_64
gnome-icon-theme-extras-3.12.0-2.fc21.noarch
xorg-x11-xkb-utils-7.7-12.fc21.x86_64
gnome-documents-3.14.2-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-terminal-3.14.2-2.fc21.x86_64
gnome-weather-3.14.1-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-font-viewer-3.14.0-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-shell-extension-common-3.14.3-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-color-manager-3.14.2-1.fc21.x86_64
libgnomecanvas-2.30.3-9.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-server-utils-7.7-10.fc21.x86_64
gnome-shell-extension-drive-menu-3.14.3-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-getting-started-docs-3.14.1-1.fc21.noarch
xorg-x11-server-common-1.16.2.901-1.fc21.x86_64
schroedinger-cat-backgrounds-gnome-18.91.0-3.fc21.noarch
gnome-packagekit-3.14.2-1.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-utils-7.5-16.fc21.x86_64
gnome-online-miners-3.14.1-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-disk-utility-3.14.0-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-js-common-0.1.2-11.fc21.noarch
gnome-initial-setup-3.14.2.1-2.fc21.x86_64
gnome-photos-3.14.2-1.fc21.x86_64
libgnomekbd-3.6.0-6.fc21.x86_64
gnome-shell-extension-alternate-tab-3.14.3-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-keyring-3.14.0-1.fc21.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-nouveau-1.0.11-1.fc21.x86_64
gnome-backgrounds-3.14.1-1.fc21.noarch
gnome-boxes-3.14.2-2.fc21.x86_64
gnome-desktop3-3.14.2-2.fc21.x86_64


How reproducible:

I do not know if this will happen again.  Occassionally in Fedora 21 I'm seeing black bands appear across the left side of my screen, like some sort of memory buffer bug, but that seems to be something completely different...

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Unknown
2.
3.

Actual results:


Expected results:


Additional info:

Comment 1 Bill C. Riemers 2015-02-19 13:55:17 UTC
Created attachment 993621 [details]
This log file might provide useful information...

Comment 2 Bill C. Riemers 2015-02-19 13:55:53 UTC
I forgot to mention, logging out and logging back in cleared the issue.

Comment 3 Kåre Løvgren 2015-06-28 16:13:17 UTC
I have started getting this problem (consistently) when I upgraded to Fedora 22.
Filed bug 1236402 on it.

Comment 4 Fedora End Of Life 2015-11-04 11:20:09 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 21 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 4 (four) weeks from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 21. It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time
this bug will be closed as EOL if it remains open with a Fedora  'version'
of '21'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora version.

Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not 
able to fix it before Fedora 21 is end of life. If you would still like 
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version 
of Fedora, you are encouraged  change the 'version' to a later Fedora 
version prior this bug is closed as described in the policy above.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's 
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a 
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes 
bugs or makes them obsolete.

Comment 5 Fedora End Of Life 2015-12-02 09:15:16 UTC
Fedora 21 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2015-12-01. Fedora 21 is
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of
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