Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

homagetocatalonia · 2012-02-07 12:41:23

Hello. Here is an album of some screenshots of my problem: http://imgur.com/a/pX7w5#0

The hidden letters (or parts of them) often reappear, then disappear again. But some are always hidden at any point in time. I've noticed it began happening soon after my last system upgrade, but I'm not sure if it's related. Sometimes all will be well for about ten minutes after system startup, then will degrade into this glitchy display once more.

Could it be a hardware issue, a problem with my graphics card?

This seems to be an issue with characters only. Any other GUI elements are displayed correctly.

Thanks for any help.

Earnestly · 2012-02-07 13:12:12

Just a heads up that you might want to give folks more details.
---
Architecture? (32/64)
uname -r
Xorg -version
Graphics and it's version? (Radeon, Intel, Nvidia, Nouveau, Catalyst, etc)
dmesg?
Desktop Environment/Window Manager?
etc.
---
This is just a general idea, fill it out with relevant information and use [ code ] tags to keep it tidy.

Last edited by Earnestly (2012-02-07 13:13:52)

homagetocatalonia · 2012-02-07 13:32:58

Thanks for the tip.

It's a 64-bit architecture, but a 32-bit Arch install.

~ λ uname -r
3.2.4-1-ARCH

~ λ Xorg -version
X.Org X Server 1.11.4
Release Date: 2012-01-27
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 3.2.2-1-ARCH i686 
Current Operating System: Linux mike 3.2.4-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Feb 4 11:21:15 UTC 2012 i686
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=8b8a0208-a91f-4e71-b810-48cb3827b863 ro quiet
Build Date: 29 January 2012  03:41:53PM
 
Current version of pixman: 0.24.2

NVIDIA driver version is 290.10.

Output of dmesg.

I'm using XFCE in combination with the xmonad tiling window manager.

homagetocatalonia · 2012-02-07 13:42:01

I appear to be experiencing "NVIDIA Xid" errors, according to dmesg (bottom).

Some say it might have something to do with the voltage supplied to the graphics card, which would cause the glitches and make this a hardware issue.

But I'm not sure. If nobody had the same problem, I'll try changing the power supply.

Earnestly · 2012-02-07 14:15:58

Perhaps the output of the xorg log would be helpful and an lspci.

According to Nvidia, Xid errors are general GPU problems and probably not related to the PSU. Each number (8, 32) corresponds to a different fault.

"There are many things that can cause Xid errors, so you really do need to generate and post the bug report because they have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis." - Some Nvidia developer.

Have you tried using the Nouveau driver?

Edit: Did you have the issues with previous versions of the Nvidia driver?

Last edited by Earnestly (2012-02-07 14:19:43)

homagetocatalonia · 2012-02-07 14:41:40

Kaustic wrote:

Perhaps the output of the xorg log would be helpful and an lspci.

Thanks. Here's the xorg log and the output of lspci:

~ λ lspci
00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP65 Memory Controller (rev a3)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP65 LPC Bridge (rev a3)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP65 SMBus (rev a1)
00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP65 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.0 USB controller: nVidia Corporation MCP65 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:02.1 USB controller: nVidia Corporation MCP65 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:07.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP65 High Definition Audio (rev a1)
00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP65 PCI bridge (rev a1)
00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP65 IDE (rev a1)
00:0a.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP65 SATA Controller (rev a3)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 045b (rev a1)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP65 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:0d.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP65 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:0e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP65 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 13)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GF104 [GeForce GTX 460] (rev a1)
04:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation GF104 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)

Have you tried using the Nouveau driver?

No, but that's a very good idea. I'll try it out.

Edit: Did you have the issues with previous versions of the Nvidia driver?

No, none. I don't think the nvidia drivers were even updated in my last system update. I tend to update at least weekly.

Earnestly · 2012-02-07 14:54:26

Hm, besides testing Nouveau, try downgrading the nvidia package.

sudo pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/nvidia-285.05.09-3-i686.pkg.tar.xz #Or whichever it was.

homagetocatalonia · 2012-02-07 15:03:41

I tried Nouveau, but I end up getting a completely borked screen and have to reset the computer manually. I've used other drivers before (including nouveau, just for fun) and didn't have issues like these.

About downgrading the nvidia package: I don't have the earlier version in my cache. It appears I've upgraded nvidia on the 5th of January, which would make it a month old upgrade. This would seem to rule out the newest drivers as the culprit, as the problem only started appearing a few days ago.

Last edited by homagetocatalonia (2012-02-07 15:06:31)

homagetocatalonia · 2012-02-08 13:13:32

I've installed a copy of Windows (gasp!) alongiside Arch, and am experiencing severe graphical glitches and crashes there as well.

Looks like this is definitely a sort of hardware issue.

Kaustic, thanks for the suggestions. I truly wish it had been an issue with my installation of Arch alone.

Thanks!

Last edited by homagetocatalonia (2012-02-08 13:14:14)

Earnestly · 2012-02-08 14:25:29

Frankly, I was secretly hoping that your graphics card itself wasn't the cause of the issues, it's an expensive problem.
Perhaps you can get a refund, or a return on the card?

At any rate, best of luck to you.

hydn · 2014-01-16 10:18:17

Same problem. Thinkpad x301. Random letters disappear and reappear.

Kartious · 2014-01-16 10:28:03

This thread is over a year old....

It is in the Etiquette not to Necro bump.

Last edited by Kartious (2014-01-16 10:28:18)

Inxsible · 2014-01-16 17:13:02

Kartious, please report the threads so mods can take action. This thread is close to 2 years old...

Closing...

Arch Linux

#1 2012-02-07 12:41:23

Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#2 2012-02-07 13:12:12

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#3 2012-02-07 13:32:58

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#4 2012-02-07 13:42:01

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#5 2012-02-07 14:15:58

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#6 2012-02-07 14:41:40

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#7 2012-02-07 14:54:26

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#8 2012-02-07 15:03:41

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#9 2012-02-08 13:13:32

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#10 2012-02-08 14:25:29

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#11 2014-01-16 10:18:17

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#12 2014-01-16 10:28:03

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

#13 2014-01-16 17:13:02

Re: Random letters keep disappearing partially or completely, in any GUI.

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