Arch Linux

Amanda S

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Registered: 2013-09-21

Posts: 276

Website

[SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

EDIT: SOLVED. See: https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/p … post865241

I've been having screen flickering problems for several months now, but didn't have the chance to report it. Now I have the time, but I don't know who should receive the report: Mesa, Xorg, or AMD? I don't know if the problem is on the Firmware, the free drivers, or Xorg.

GPU: Sapphire Radeon Dual-X R9 270X OC Edition
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 796MB 17" Flat

The problem occurs on these resolutions:

1600x1200 65 Hz- Doesn't Occur
1280x1024 75 Hz - Frequent
1152x865 75 Hz - Sometimes
1024x768 - Doesn't happen
800x600 - Doesn't happen
640x480 - Doesn't happen

Using Catalyst instead of Radeon solves the problem, but I decided not to use Catalyst anymore. No closed-source modules on my Kernel.

I can't use other resolutions than 1280x1024, the one that flickers. 1600x1200 has a refresh rate of 65 Hz and this causes my eyes to hurt and it gives me headackes. 1152x864 and lower res are too "big" and I can't work (with Blender) or game on them.

Last edited by Amanda S (2016-04-14 05:56:35)

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Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 15,541

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

For clarity :

Is this the CRT screen shown at [1] ?

Many CRTs (and some LCD screens) send faulty/incomplete information to the adapter.

The specs for that monitor at [2] show  : Native Resolution 1600 x 1200 at 68 Hz

$ gtf 1600 1200 68

  # 1600x1200 @ 68.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 84.86 kHz; pclk: 184.66 MHz
  Modeline "1600x1200_68.00"  184.66  1600 1712 1888 2176  1200 1201 1204 1248  -HSync +Vsync

$

Is that the modeline shown in xrandr for 1600x1200 ??

[1] http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-sy … onitor-17/
[2] http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-sy … -17/specs/

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nomorewindows

Member

Registered: 2010-04-03

Posts: 3,544

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

You could try manually setting the resolution in Xorg.conf

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Amanda S

Member

Registered: 2013-09-21

Posts: 276

Website

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

For clarity :

Is this the CRT screen shown at [1] ?

Yup.

Many CRTs (and some LCD screens) send faulty/incomplete information to the adapter.

But how would this happen only in one resolution and only with the free drivers?

The specs for that monitor at [2] show  : Native Resolution 1600 x 1200 at 68 Hz

$ gtf 1600 1200 68

  # 1600x1200 @ 68.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 84.86 kHz; pclk: 184.66 MHz
  Modeline "1600x1200_68.00"  184.66  1600 1712 1888 2176  1200 1201 1204 1248  -HSync +Vsync

$

Thanks, but 1600x1200 is too "small", and 68 Hz isn't enough. The optimal res for me is 1280x1024 75 Hz.

According to xorg.log, the modeline is:

[ 97177.408] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1600x1200"x65.0  175.50  1600 1664 1856 2160  1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync (81.2 kHz e)

For 1280x1024:

Modeline "1280x1024"x60.0  108.00  1280 1328 1440 1688  1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync (64.0 kHz e)

You could try manually setting the resolution in Xorg.conf

I already do. Thanks.

Last edited by Amanda S (2015-12-16 22:45:42)

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If it ain't broke, you haven't tweaked it enough...

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 15,541

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

The 1280x1024 modeline suggests X uses a 60Hz mode,that would explain the flickering.
could you post Xorg.0.log so we can see which modelines X thinks your monitor reports ?

You could try the modelines below to see if they improve things.

$ gtf 1280 1024 75

  # 1280x1024 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 80.17 kHz; pclk: 138.54 MHz
  Modeline "1280x1024_75.00"  138.54  1280 1368 1504 1728  1024 1025 1028 1069  -HSync +Vsync

$ gtf 1280 1024 79

  # 1280x1024 @ 79.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 84.69 kHz; pclk: 147.70 MHz
  Modeline "1280x1024_79.00"  147.70  1280 1376 1512 1744  1024 1025 1028 1072  -HSync +Vsync

$

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ewaller

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From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,715

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

The question is whether that monitor will support 80kHz horizontal frequencies.  It is possible to damage the old CRT based monitors by driving them beyond what they were capable of.

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Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 15,541

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

The question is whether that monitor will support 80kHz horizontal frequencies.  It is possible to damage the old CRT based monitors by driving them beyond what they were capable of.

from the specifications (2nd link in #2 post)  :

Horizontal Refresh Rate
85 kHz

I looked that up before posting any modelines.

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Amanda S

Member

Registered: 2013-09-21

Posts: 276

Website

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

The 1280x1024 modeline suggests X uses a 60Hz mode,that would explain the flickering.
could you post Xorg.0.log so we can see which modelines X thinks your monitor reports ?

You could try the modelines below to see if they improve things.

$ gtf 1280 1024 75

  # 1280x1024 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 80.17 kHz; pclk: 138.54 MHz
  Modeline "1280x1024_75.00"  138.54  1280 1368 1504 1728  1024 1025 1028 1069  -HSync +Vsync

$ gtf 1280 1024 79

  # 1280x1024 @ 79.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 84.69 kHz; pclk: 147.70 MHz
  Modeline "1280x1024_79.00"  147.70  1280 1376 1512 1744  1024 1025 1028 1072  -HSync +Vsync

$

Actually, these are the exact modelines already present.

My xorg.log: http://pastebin.com/kHHs5c1V

The question is whether that monitor will support 80kHz horizontal frequencies.  It is possible to damage the old CRT based monitors by driving them beyond what they were capable of.

But how could I know what proprietary Catalyst does that makes the monitor work? Both proprietary NVIDIA and AMD work fine, but I won't install them. Also, older versions of Xorg/mesa/radeon-firmware also work fine. So something has changed in these 3 software that makes the monitor flicker.

Last edited by Amanda S (2015-12-17 22:56:11)

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If it ain't broke, you haven't tweaked it enough...

nomorewindows

Member

Registered: 2010-04-03

Posts: 3,544

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

The 1280x1024 modeline suggests X uses a 60Hz mode,that would explain the flickering.
could you post Xorg.0.log so we can see which modelines X thinks your monitor reports ?

You could try the modelines below to see if they improve things.

$ gtf 1280 1024 75

  # 1280x1024 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 80.17 kHz; pclk: 138.54 MHz
  Modeline "1280x1024_75.00"  138.54  1280 1368 1504 1728  1024 1025 1028 1069  -HSync +Vsync

$ gtf 1280 1024 79

  # 1280x1024 @ 79.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 84.69 kHz; pclk: 147.70 MHz
  Modeline "1280x1024_79.00"  147.70  1280 1376 1512 1744  1024 1025 1028 1072  -HSync +Vsync

$

Actually, these are the exact modelines already present.

My xorg.log: http://pastebin.com/kHHs5c1V

The question is whether that monitor will support 80kHz horizontal frequencies.  It is possible to damage the old CRT based monitors by driving them beyond what they were capable of.

But how could I know what proprietary Catalyst does that makes the monitor work? Both proprietary NVIDIA and AMD work fine, but I won't install them. Also, older versions of Xorg/mesa/radeon-firmware also work fine. So something has changed in these 3 software that makes the monitor flicker.

Why are you using nvidia?

---

I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

Amanda S

Member

Registered: 2013-09-21

Posts: 276

Website

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

Why are you using nvidia?

I'm not. I didn't express myself correctly there, sorry.

Proprietary NVIIDA, when I had an NVIDIA card, worked fine. Proprietary AMD too. Older versions of (either) Xorg/Radeon/AMD-Firmware too.

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If it ain't broke, you haven't tweaked it enough...

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 15,541

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

Actually, these are the exact modelines already present.

Look more carefully, the numbers behind the resolutions are different then those in Xorg.0.log

Xorg.0.log didn'tmake clear which mode is used, please post xrandr --verbose

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

Trinakrian

Member

From: Acushnet, MA

Registered: 2014-10-13

Posts: 26

Website

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

I know this isn't a fix, but I have been experiencing this same thing for about 6 months across a variety of laptops and graphic cards.

What I do is change the compositor from 2.0 to 3.1 or vice versa. You can then change it back or leave it. It works for that session.

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Amanda S

Member

Registered: 2013-09-21

Posts: 276

Website

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

OK guys, I'm here on Debian and using proprietary Catalyst. What should I copy over to Arch?

BTW, here's my current Xorg.log: http://pastebin.com/ia7rYp3y

xorg.conf: http://pastebin.com/SzgkJWsi

Last edited by Amanda S (2016-01-01 16:41:43)

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If it ain't broke, you haven't tweaked it enough...

Amanda S

Member

Registered: 2013-09-21

Posts: 276

Website

Re: [SOLVED] To whom should I report this?

Late response, but it's only to show that the problem is solvable with a simple boot config tweak: https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/p … post865241

Last edited by Amanda S (2016-04-14 05:56:47)

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If it ain't broke, you haven't tweaked it enough...