Arch Linux

jneem

Member

Registered: 2011-07-14

Posts: 13

[SOLVED] Graphics flicker after screen wakes up

I have a Dell XPS 13 9310 (with intel xe graphics), and the graphics work fine except that when the screen "wakes up" after blanking, I get lots of flickering. (This is reproducible by running `xset dpms force off`, waiting one second, and then moving the mouse to wake it up.) I can get rid of the flickering by changing to a different virtual console and back (i.e. `ctrl+alt+F1` and then `ctrl+alt+F7`), but it would be nice to solve the issue more permanently.

I don't see any interesting messages in `dmesg` or the `xorg` log. Oh, and I'm using the modesetting graphics driver.

Does anyone have suggestions?

Last edited by jneem (2021-01-24 04:15:45)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,230

Re: [SOLVED] Graphics flicker after screen wakes up

Potentially a hicup with panel self refresh? https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … flickering

jneem

Member

Registered: 2011-07-14

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] Graphics flicker after screen wakes up

Thanks for the pointer! Unfortunately, setting i915.enable_psr=0 didn't fix it for me. (Also, the last comment on FS#49371 suggests that PSR might be removed from newer kernels.)

I should have specified, by the way, that I'm running 5.10.9-arch1. Also, I've observed the flickering with both the laptop's internal panel and also on an external monitor.

(edit: argh I've gotten too used to markdown)

Last edited by jneem (2021-01-23 17:37:41)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 76,009

Re: [SOLVED] Graphics flicker after screen wakes up

Does it also flicker if you suspend from a linux console (not X11, ideally not even running)?
Do you use a compositor?

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jneem

Member

Registered: 2011-07-14

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] Graphics flicker after screen wakes up

I just checked, and there's no flicker if I suspend from a linux console (with X11 not running). But to be clear, there also isn't any flicker if I *suspend* from X11 (using, either "systemctl suspend" or just shutting and re-opening the lid). The flickering only appears if I run "xset dpms force off", or just wait until the screen turns itself off to save power.

I am running a compositor (picom), and if I disable it then the issue stops. Good call! I would be sad to disable it permanently, though, because I like some of the features it gives. I will try playing with some of its settings, though.

jneem

Member

Registered: 2011-07-14

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] Graphics flicker after screen wakes up

Ok, I turned off glx-use-copysubbuffer-mesa in the picom configuration, and I think it's better now. (At least, I blanked and unblanked a bunch of times and didn't run into any problems.) Thanks for your help!

Edit: and for future reference, I found the picom issue report: https://github.com/yshui/picom/issues/578

Last edited by jneem (2021-01-24 04:18:24)