Laptop's LCD shows a shadow of closed windows

mehdi · 2017-01-22 16:28:08

It is hard for me to explain this problem so I was unable to find related material on the net or the forum. I'll try my best to explain it clearly.

I have a Lenovo X250 and I think its LCD is broken. However, I want to make sure whether this is a hardware problem or a problem with X11 or Wayland or some other piece of software.

The problem goes like this:

I start using the OS as normal. I open windows, edit text, open terminals, etc. After a while I close them and open some others. However, if I look carefully at the panel, I can still recognize windows which I have closed. One good example is the login screen. At the moment I use GDM, when I lock the screen I can still recognize a dim shadow of open windows! Or when I watch a movie in full screen mode, I can still see a faint version of currently open or previously closed programs.

Can you help me to find the reason for this misbehavior?

Thanks in advance.

Slithery · 2017-01-22 17:08:39

Try booting a Live CD of another distro and see if the issue persists. This will tell us whether it's a hardware or a software problem.

ewaller · 2017-01-22 17:19:41

In my day job, I work daily with LCDs attached to various embedded computer and subject them to thermal extremes, solar loading, and other environmental extremes. It is possible to get an LCD to exhibit persistence and burn in, but it isn't easy. Modern LCDs attached to modern, mass produced computers don't generally have these problems.

Occam's Razor would lead me to believe it to be a software problem, probably having to do with a compositor. Do you see this with other operating systems? Try turning of any compositors. I get the impression you are using Gnome. Try a desktop environment that does not try to control everything -- like Openbox or twm -- and see if the problem *er* persists What video chipset(s) does that system use and which drivers are you using?

mehdi · 2017-01-22 18:08:17

slithery wrote:

Try booting a Live CD of another distro

I'll reboot and report back, after finishing my movie of course

ewalla wrote:

Modern LCDs attached to modern, mass produced computers don't generally have these problems.

good point.

I get the impression you are using Gnome.

Yes I use. However the combination of GDM, GNOME, X11 and Wayland has been a pain so far, which is a story for another day.

What video chipset(s) does that system use and which drivers are you using?

The laptop has an intel CPU with intel graphics and no discrete graphic chip:
CPU: Intel Core i5-5200U CPU @ 2.7GHz
GPU: Mesa DRI Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500 (Broadwell GT2)

Here is my intel config:

  Section "Device"
     Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
     Driver      "intel"
     Option      "TearFree"    "true"
  EndSection

I have installed default drivers, I suppose it is mesa package (i915 module). Perhaps the output of `modinfo -p i915` comes useful:

➜  ~ modinfo -p i915
modeset:Use kernel modesetting [KMS] (0=disable, 1=on, -1=force vga console preference [default]) (int)
panel_ignore_lid:Override lid status (0=autodetect, 1=autodetect disabled [default], -1=force lid closed, -2=force lid open) (int)
semaphores:Use semaphores for inter-ring sync (default: -1 (use per-chip defaults)) (int)
enable_rc6:Enable power-saving render C-state 6. Different stages can be selected via bitmask values (0 = disable; 1 = enable rc6; 2 = enable deep rc6; 4 = enable deepest rc6). For example, 3 would enable rc6 and deep rc6, and 7 would enable everything. default: -1 (use per-chip default) (int)
enable_dc:Enable power-saving display C-states. (-1=auto [default]; 0=disable; 1=up to DC5; 2=up to DC6) (int)
enable_fbc:Enable frame buffer compression for power savings (default: -1 (use per-chip default)) (int)
lvds_channel_mode:Specify LVDS channel mode (0=probe BIOS [default], 1=single-channel, 2=dual-channel) (int)
lvds_use_ssc:Use Spread Spectrum Clock with panels [LVDS/eDP] (default: auto from VBT) (int)
vbt_sdvo_panel_type:Override/Ignore selection of SDVO panel mode in the VBT (-2=ignore, -1=auto [default], index in VBT BIOS table) (int)
reset:Attempt GPU resets (default: true) (bool)
enable_hangcheck:Periodically check GPU activity for detecting hangs. WARNING: Disabling this can cause system wide hangs. (default: true) (bool)
enable_ppgtt:Override PPGTT usage. (-1=auto [default], 0=disabled, 1=aliasing, 2=full, 3=full with extended address space) (int)
enable_execlists:Override execlists usage. (-1=auto [default], 0=disabled, 1=enabled) (int)
enable_psr:Enable PSR (0=disabled, 1=enabled - link mode chosen per-platform, 2=force link-standby mode, 3=force link-off mode) Default: -1 (use per-chip default) (int)
preliminary_hw_support:Enable preliminary hardware support. (int)
disable_power_well:Disable display power wells when possible (-1=auto [default], 0=power wells always on, 1=power wells disabled when possible) (int)
enable_ips:Enable IPS (default: true) (int)
fastboot:Try to skip unnecessary mode sets at boot time (default: false) (bool)
prefault_disable:Disable page prefaulting for pread/pwrite/reloc (default:false). For developers only. (bool)
load_detect_test:Force-enable the VGA load detect code for testing (default:false). For developers only. (bool)
invert_brightness:Invert backlight brightness (-1 force normal, 0 machine defaults, 1 force inversion), please report PCI device ID, subsystem vendor and subsystem device ID to dri-devel@lists.freedesktop.org, if your machine needs it. It will then be included in an upcoming module version. (int)
disable_display:Disable display (default: false) (bool)
enable_cmd_parser:Enable command parsing (1=enabled [default], 0=disabled) (int)
use_mmio_flip:use MMIO flips (-1=never, 0=driver discretion [default], 1=always) (int)
mmio_debug:Enable the MMIO debug code for the first N failures (default: off). This may negatively affect performance. (int)
verbose_state_checks:Enable verbose logs (ie. WARN_ON()) in case of unexpected hw state conditions. (bool)
nuclear_pageflip:Force atomic modeset functionality; asynchronous mode is not yet supported. (default: false). (bool)
edp_vswing:Ignore/Override vswing pre-emph table selection from VBT (0=use value from vbt [default], 1=low power swing(200mV),2=default swing(400mV)) (int)
enable_guc_loading:Enable GuC firmware loading (-1=auto, 0=never [default], 1=if available, 2=required) (int)
enable_guc_submission:Enable GuC submission (-1=auto, 0=never [default], 1=if available, 2=required) (int)
guc_log_level:GuC firmware logging level (-1:disabled (default), 0-3:enabled) (int)
enable_dp_mst:Enable multi-stream transport (MST) for new DisplayPort sinks. (default: true) (bool)
inject_load_failure:Force an error after a number of failure check points (0:disabled (default), N:force failure at the Nth failure check point) (uint)
enable_dpcd_backlight:Enable support for DPCD backlight control (default:false) (bool)
enable_gvt:Enable support for Intel GVT-g graphics virtualization host support(default:false) (bool)

Arch Linux

#1 2017-01-22 16:28:08

Laptop's LCD shows a shadow of closed windows

#2 2017-01-22 17:08:39

Re: Laptop's LCD shows a shadow of closed windows

#3 2017-01-22 17:19:41

Re: Laptop's LCD shows a shadow of closed windows

#4 2017-01-22 18:08:17

Re: Laptop's LCD shows a shadow of closed windows

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