Bug 1610954 - MATE desktop is not displayed properly
Summary: MATE desktop is not displayed properly
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED EOL
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: mate-desktop
Version: 30
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Wolfgang Ulbrich
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2018-08-01 17:03 UTC by Al Schapira
Modified: 2020-05-26 17:51 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2020-05-26 17:51:00 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
Correct Login screen prior to selecting MATE (104.01 KB, image/jpeg)
2018-08-01 17:03 UTC, Al Schapira
no flags Details
MATE scrambled display (115.94 KB, image/jpeg)
2018-08-01 17:04 UTC, Al Schapira
no flags Details
Output of rpm -qa for relevant packages (3.20 KB, text/plain)
2019-05-01 20:29 UTC, Al Schapira
no flags Details

Description Al Schapira 2018-08-01 17:03:15 UTC
Created attachment 1472173 [details]
Correct Login screen prior to selecting MATE

Description of problem:
After selecting MATE from the login splash screen, the desktop display is scrambled.  I see hints of windows of running applications that should be there, but the horizontal and/or vertical syncs are wrong.  LXDE works fine.


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


How reproducible:
Every time MATE is selected.

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Boot up fc28
2.Select MATE desktop
3.

Actual results:
Scrambled display

Expected results:
Correct display

Additional info:
Same failure with fc27.
LXDE works properly when selected from the Login screen.

In response to changing workspace using Ctrl-Alt-F2, the CORRECT MATE desktop windows are momentarily flashed before the new workspace (F2) is displayed.
Likewise, in response to changing back to the F1 workspace using Ctrl-Alt-F1, the CORRECT MATE desktop windows are momentarily flashed before the display scrambles again.

DPI is correct at 96x96.
Fails as above with 1600x1200 and 1280x1024 and others. (Vert is 59.95 or 60)

Comment 1 Al Schapira 2018-08-01 17:04:25 UTC
Created attachment 1472174 [details]
MATE scrambled display

Comment 2 Wolfgang Ulbrich 2018-08-01 17:19:52 UTC
I never saw such an issue with MATE desktop.
Which DM are you using?
We switched to slick-greeter as backend for lightdm in f28.

Comment 3 Al Schapira 2018-08-01 20:43:22 UTC
Here is some additional information:

1) the problem occurs on two different laptops, although they are of the same type:  Dell Latitude C840's.

2)  Until I upgraded to fc27, everything worked fine on these laptops. 
I have the same problem with both fc27 and fc28.

3)  Runing marco/caja/mate.

4)  I have a feeling that MATE sets the display parameters incorrectly, or just over some limit.  Why else would the proper display flash briefly when changing workspaces using CTRL-ALT-F2, etc, whereas LDXE does not exhibit the problem.

5) Changing the display from 1600x1200 to something less does not correct the problem.

Comment 4 Al Schapira 2019-04-18 18:59:10 UTC
The problem persists!  Now in Linux ADS2 5.0.7-100.fc28.i686 #1 SMP Mon Apr 8 16:54:10 UTC 2019 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

I would like to be able to understand how MATE sets the display parameters (V and H clock rates, etc) down through levels of software to the display hardware registers themselves.  I believe MATE is doing something not quite correct somewhere, whereas LXDE and other are working properly.  Can anyone help to figure this out?  Thanks.

Comment 5 Wolfgang Ulbrich 2019-04-18 21:05:51 UTC
What is Linux ADS2 ?
And why using obsolete i686?
This isn't a supported arch since several releases.
I 'am using x86_64 arch since 2006.
Sorry i can't reproduce this with supported archs from fedora.
And i don't use laptops which do white-listining hardware in bios like Dell, HP, or Lenovo.
My MSI Laptop FX700 (x86_64) works fine since 2012 with fedora.

Comment 6 Wolfgang Ulbrich 2019-04-18 21:07:45 UTC
(In reply to Al Schapira from comment #4)
> The problem persists!  Now in Linux ADS2 5.0.7-100.fc28.i686 #1 SMP Mon Apr
> 8 16:54:10 UTC 2019 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
> 
> I would like to be able to understand how MATE sets the display parameters
> (V and H clock rates, etc) down through levels of software to the display
> hardware registers themselves.  I believe MATE is doing something not quite
> correct somewhere, whereas LXDE and other are working properly.  Can anyone
> help to figure this out?  Thanks.

If you think MATE has a bug, feel free to file out a report at upstream MATE project.

Comment 7 Al Schapira 2019-04-19 00:11:38 UTC
To answer your questions:  The line "Linux ADS2..." is the output from `uname -a`.
I use an 'obsolete i686' (Dell) since I have four of them and they all run linux fedora 28 perfectly except for MATE.
I thought that this is the proper venue for MATE bug reporting.

Comment 8 Al Schapira 2019-04-23 15:40:30 UTC
>> Sorry i can't reproduce this with supported archs from fedora.
>> And i don't use laptops which do white-listining hardware in bios like Dell, HP, or Lenovo.

You do not have to reproduce this problem -- I can reproduce this problem.
I just need some help in fixing it. Specifically, I would like to understand the sequence by which MATE sets
the display timing parameters, and how this differs from the way other window managers, which work properly such as LXDE, do it.

Any pointers to the code which does this and how and where the display timing parameters are computed would be appreciated.

Comment 9 Al Schapira 2019-05-01 20:29:16 UTC
Created attachment 1561127 [details]
Output of rpm -qa for relevant packages

Comment 10 Al Schapira 2019-05-01 20:41:05 UTC
Additional information:

I installed a disk with fedora 22 on the same laptop and with this MATE runs perfectly, (but fails with (at least) fc27 and fc28.)

Attached is a file showing the versions of MATE, caja, marco and Xorg that MATE works properly with on this laptop with fc22.
I think this demonstrates that something got broken between fc22 and fc27 that affects the display timing that MATE uses.

Please rethink the changes to the display timing that were introduced which broke MATE (but did not break anything else that I am aware of.)

Thanks.

Comment 11 Ben Cotton 2019-05-02 19:23:01 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 28 is nearing its end of life.
On 2019-May-28 Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for
Fedora 28. 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 '28'.

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 28 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 12 Ben Cotton 2019-05-29 00:10:13 UTC
Fedora 28 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2019-05-28. Fedora 28 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
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. If you
are unable to reopen this bug, please file a new report against the
current release. If you experience problems, please add a comment to this
bug.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.

Comment 13 Al Schapira 2019-08-16 19:03:58 UTC
Same problem using Fedora 29.  Works fine with Fedora 26.

Comment 14 Ben Cotton 2019-10-31 18:57:01 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 29 is nearing its end of life.
Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora 29 on 2019-11-26.
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 '29'.

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 29 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 15 Al Schapira 2019-11-10 21:32:35 UTC
Same problem using Fedora 30.  Works fine with Fedora 26.

Comment 16 Al Schapira 2019-11-11 21:39:42 UTC
Using fedora 30, MATE still scrambles the display as first reported on 2018-08-01.  However, lxde, openbox, sugar, cinnamon desktops all function properly (on the same hardware.)

As reported previously, I suspect that MATE sets the display clock timing parameters improperly.  Here are some clues:

 . When MATE scrambles the display, the cursor appears normal.
 . When MATE scrambles the display and I use CTRL-ALT-F3 to switch to another window, the MATE display is momentarily normal just before the new window appears.
 . When switching back to MATE from another window using CTRL-ALT-F1, the MATE window is momentarily display properly and then scrambles.

If someone can suggest where MATE sets the display clock timing parameters, and how they may be different from the other desktop environments, I would be happy to run some experiments.

Comment 17 Ben Cotton 2020-04-30 20:43:49 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 30 is nearing its end of life.
Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora 30 on 2020-05-26.
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 '30'.

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 30 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 18 Ben Cotton 2020-05-26 17:51:00 UTC
Fedora 30 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2020-05-26. Fedora 30 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
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. If you
are unable to reopen this bug, please file a new report against the
current release. If you experience problems, please add a comment to this
bug.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.


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