Arch Linux

MauriceIsAG

Member

Registered: 2015-10-07

Posts: 4

Intel Lenovo Y70 screen flickering

So my friend got a Lenovo Y70 and convinced me to help him setup Arch on it.
We have everything up and running including bumblebee and all that fun stuff, but anytime he unplugs ac power the screen starts to flicker especially when things such as chromium launches or the Plasma 5 effects happen.

I've tried adding i915.powersave=0 to grub, tried using testing drivers, and we even tried using UXA. We've also used every setting combo in plasma 5's compositor settings.

We are at wit's end trying to figure out what is causing these flickers, and are kinda hoping some fresh minds might shed some light on the issue.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,797

Re: Intel Lenovo Y70 screen flickering

What do we mean by flicker?   Is the back light brightness changing? Or are there issues with the rendering of the image on the LCD?
You might look under /sys and find the "files" that represent the back light brightness and see if they are changing.  On my system. they are in
/sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness
/sys/class/acpi_video0/brightness

Check you journal and see if anything interesting were posted when you disconnected power.
Are you using acpid to respond to events?  That may conflict with Plasma.   Have you tried a simpler environment than kde?  Like twm or openbox?
I assume this is using Intel video.  Does that system have hybrid graphics?

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

MauriceIsAG

Member

Registered: 2015-10-07

Posts: 4

Re: Intel Lenovo Y70 screen flickering

It's mainly white lines that are flashing everywhere occasionally the screen will go completely black. It is dual graphics, and we got Bumblebee and primus setup and they work as they should. We did try disabling the dual graphics in the bios to see if that changed anything, but nope still got the flicker. We got flickers without any graphical environment.  We aren't using acpid, so I don't think that's an issue. I'll check journqlctl when we meat up tonight. We also plan on flashing the bios to see if that does anything tonight.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,797

Re: Intel Lenovo Y70 screen flickering

...I'll check journqlctl when we meat up tonight.

Gonna be doing some grilling or some Bar-B-Que for dinner, eh? 
It does not sound like a back light issue.  I'll wager on it being the hybrid graphics.    Sadly, I've no experience with them.

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

MauriceIsAG

Member

Registered: 2015-10-07

Posts: 4

Re: Intel Lenovo Y70 screen flickering

Pork chops, they're pretty good. I want to say hybrid graphics too, but it's just so odd that it's fine when we have the ac plugged. And he can even use primus when he is unplugged. I saw on the Lenovo forums that some people are getting a similar issue in Windows, and they recommend flashing the bios. I'm hoping that stops the seizure inducing onslaught of flicker.

MauriceIsAG

Member

Registered: 2015-10-07

Posts: 4

Re: Intel Lenovo Y70 screen flickering

So we are in a bit of a pinch. The bios update is an .exe, and we have no idea how we are supposed to run it from a linux os. I feel like wine is waaaaay too risky for something like a bios update.

Link to lenovo's site with the bios update in case you see something I don't.

http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds100998

perok

Member

Registered: 2015-10-19

Posts: 1

Re: Intel Lenovo Y70 screen flickering

Adding 'nomodeset' to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT (in /etc/default/grub) will remove the flickering. Remember to run update-grub afterwards. 

I am running ubuntu 14.04 on a lenovo y70, and had similar start-up problems.  Doing this removed the flickering on my machine.  (No credit on me, I found this elsewhere on the internet.  Don't remember were.)

Be warned: I don't have a solution on how to control the brightness of the screen -- it feels a bit too bright to me.  ...Unless sunglasses helps :-)

headkase

Member

Registered: 2011-12-06

Posts: 1,977

Re: Intel Lenovo Y70 screen flickering

Be warned: I don't have a solution on how to control the brightness of the screen -- it feels a bit too bright to me.  ...Unless sunglasses helps :-)

The screen's so bright I gotta wear shades..