Arch Linux

otherbob

Member

Registered: 2012-02-22

Posts: 12

Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

After an update I'm having some problems with my Intel graphics,I think I figured out the basic behavior by look at the clock applet switching from one minute to the next:
When the time chances from 15:00 to 15:01 for example it will start swapping irregularly between the two images,  somewhere between 1Hz and 10Hz randomly. Then after about 10 to 30 seconds it will stop and be stable at the new time. This kind of behavior is present in all applications and show with every visual change, making this post has been a challenge .
I've tried the LTS kernel first, which didn't help, I've tried all permutations of these options:

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

And the i915.enable_rc6=0 kernel parameter

Any suggestions on what to try? Could downgrading the kernel help?

I have a Dell XPS 15 9530, so Intel Haswell.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,665

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

remove xf86-video-intel and that configuration. Let xorg use the modesetting driver (which it will do as soon as it doesn't find any xf86-video-intel driver and config anymore).

otherbob

Member

Registered: 2012-02-22

Posts: 12

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

Ok so `pacman -Qs intel` returns nothing related to intel and I've removed the file, yet the behavior persists, now I'm worried that I never actually used the intel driver...

jaergenoth

Member

Registered: 2015-01-16

Posts: 85

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

Well, if you never had it installed maybe you should try installing xf86-video-intel instead of using the modesetting driver? For me the modesetting driver causes really bad tearing while xf86-video-intel does not.

Edit:
I also have a Haswell (i7-4720HQ).

Last edited by jaergenoth (2016-11-11 14:43:03)

otherbob

Member

Registered: 2012-02-22

Posts: 12

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

Well, if you never had it installed maybe you should try installing xf86-video-intel instead of using the modesetting driver? For me the modesetting driver causes really bad tearing while xf86-video-intel does not.

Sorry, I should have clarified, I did have it installed and the xorg logs do show lines from the intel driver previously, I just found it curious that swapping the driver doesn't influence the behavior.

jaergenoth

Member

Registered: 2015-01-16

Posts: 85

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

Well, if you never had it installed maybe you should try installing xf86-video-intel instead of using the modesetting driver? For me the modesetting driver causes really bad tearing while xf86-video-intel does not.

Sorry, I should have clarified, I did have it installed and the xorg logs do show lines from the intel driver previously, I just found it curious that swapping the driver doesn't influence the behavior.

Have you tried running xf86-video-intel without the AccelMethod option? Just using the TearFree option solved tearing in my case. But I never had any flickering or ghosting issues so your problem might be elsewhere.

Last edited by jaergenoth (2016-11-11 14:51:53)

otherbob

Member

Registered: 2012-02-22

Posts: 12

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

Well, if you never had it installed maybe you should try installing xf86-video-intel instead of using the modesetting driver? For me the modesetting driver causes really bad tearing while xf86-video-intel does not.

Sorry, I should have clarified, I did have it installed and the xorg logs do show lines from the intel driver previously, I just found it curious that swapping the driver doesn't influence the behavior.

Have you tried running xf86-video-intel without the AccelMethod option? Just using the TearFree option solved tearing in my case. But I never had any flickering or ghosting issues so your problem might be elsewhere.

That didn't help, but the setting DRI to False did help a bit, I still have some ghosting (when dragging a window), but typing works and the clock works. Everything is slow though...

spacepluk

Member

Registered: 2014-07-24

Posts: 8

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

I'm also running into this, I tried downgrading the intel driver, mesa and linux but it didn't help :?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,665

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

Can you post your xorg log and maybe

glxinfo | grep OpenGL

? On tearing with the modesetting driver:  The modesetting driver doesn't have a dedicated 2D acceleration code and should therefore be used with something providing compositing via OpenGL e.g. compton if you don't use a window manager which provides a compositor. Another thing you haven't mentioned so far is switching to DRI 2 as opposed to 3 because DRI 3 support in xf86-video-intel is subpar at best.

otherbob

Member

Registered: 2012-02-22

Posts: 12

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

Can you post your xorg log and maybe

glxinfo | grep OpenGL

? On tearing with the modesetting driver:  The modesetting driver doesn't have a dedicated 2D acceleration code and should therefore be used with something providing compositing via OpenGL e.g. compton if you don't use a window manager which provides a compositor. Another thing you haven't mentioned so far is switching to DRI 2 as opposed to 3 because DRI 3 support in xf86-video-intel is subpar at best.

Can you post your xorg log and maybe

glxinfo | grep OpenGL

? On tearing with the modesetting driver:  The modesetting driver doesn't have a dedicated 2D acceleration code and should therefore be used with something providing compositing via OpenGL e.g. compton if you don't use a window manager which provides a compositor. Another thing you haven't mentioned so far is switching to DRI 2 as opposed to 3 because DRI 3 support in xf86-video-intel is subpar at best.

DRI 2 gives the same issues mentioned in the first post.

With DRI disabled (intel driver):

OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.9, 256 bits)
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.0 Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.00
OpenGL ES profile extensions:

With DRI 2 (intel driver)

penGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Haswell Mobile
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.1 Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.10
OpenGL ES profile extensions:

Without modesetting driver, no config file:

OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Haswell Mobile
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.1 Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.10
OpenGL ES profile extensions:

The modesetting driver is way more performent, so the behavior of the flickering is the same but it happens much faster

With modesetting driver, and these settings:

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Intel Graphics"
    Driver        "modesetting"
    Option     "TearFree" "true"
    Option       "DRI" "2"
EndSection

OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Haswell Mobile
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.1 Mesa 13.0.0
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.10
OpenGL ES profile extensions:

spacepluk

Member

Registered: 2014-07-24

Posts: 8

Re: Intel graphics flickering/ghosting

this fixed the issue for me: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=217850