Arch Linux

Frimkron

Member

Registered: 2010-01-21

Posts: 6

Screen Flicker with KMS on ATI X1800

Hi there

I have an ATI X1800 card and I'm using the open source driver xf86-video-ati. Since the kernel update where KMS was enabled by default, I've been having an issue with screen flicker. Every few seconds the screen will flicker slightly with horizontal black bands and this starts happening even before X starts. I had previously disabled KMS to work around the problem, but since the last update X segfaults if I don't have it enabled.

According to the wiki the power-saving features of the driver can cause flicker, so I've been trying to set the power method as described on that page. However I don't appear to have the "power_method" or "power_profile" files that it mentions. Does this mean I don't have the sysfs interface enabled, or is the documentation out of date? Or am I doing something wrong?

If anybody has experienced a similar issue and has any pointers it'd be much appreciated.

venky80

Member

Registered: 2007-05-13

Posts: 1,002

Re: Screen Flicker with KMS on ATI X1800

i had this issue on my mobility radeon hd3670 in the chakra 2.6.35 kernel....I am yet to find a solution

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Acer Aspire V5-573P Antergos KDE

wu.soldier

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2006-12-19

Posts: 22

Re: Screen Flicker with KMS on ATI X1800

I have the same problem with my ATI X1700. In my case it happens from time to time when system starts up.
You can try to disable KMS and then disable "glx" module in X server by adding the following entry to xorg.conf:

Section "Module"
        Disable "glx"
EndSection

Frimkron

Member

Registered: 2010-01-21

Posts: 6

Re: Screen Flicker with KMS on ATI X1800

You can try to disable KMS and then disable "glx" module in X server

Yes this gets around the segfault. Its a workable solution if you can stand to lose OpenGL.