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[Geir Ove Myhr <gomyhr@xxxxxxxxx>]

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-intel

On two computers of the model Dell Optiplex 760, Ultrasmall Form Factor
the monitor shows some flickering kind of corruption when Xorg is
started.

Present when:
- KMS is used, Monitor (Dell 20" 2007FP) connected via DVI-I cable to the DVI-I output of the computer and DVI-D input of the monitor
Not present when:
- UMS is used (i.e nomodeset boot option)
- Monitor is connected using VGA (DVI-I to VGA adapter on computer, VGA input on monitor)
- When booting a Lucid LiveUSB image
(none of the not-present cases are thoroughly tested, so some of them may be coincidentally working when I tried it)
Untested (so far):
- Karmic LiveUSB image
- With a different monitor

Since the problem seems to be related to KMS I have tried the standard
Karmic kernel, the mainline build [1] of 2.6.32 and the current Lucid
kernel (2.6.32-7.10-generic) and they all show the problem.

Problem description:
Most times (i.e. not always) when the computer is booted, some colors will have flickering blue dots at various places. It seems that some of the dots are always present while others flicker on and off. It seems that some colors are more susceptible than others, and that shows up as bands of corruption in gradients (see attached photo of Ubuntu login screen). The exact pattern is a little bit different from boot to boot, sometimes it is worse and sometimes better. On a normal single-color brown desktop there are flickering blue horizontal lines every now and then spanning the whole desktop. 
Sometimes also the VTs and the usplash screen shows flickering blue dots on the black background.

In order to get as much debug information as possible, I'm reporting
this bug with `ubuntu-bug` running the Lucid kernel and the DRM KMS
debug option drm.debug=0x04. [2]

As a side note, the DVI connection is reported as HDMI2 even though it
is a DVI, but that is probably a separate issue.

I was considering not reporting this, since I will only have access to
this hardware for about one more week. However, I opted for filing a bug
report it so that it may solve as a model bug report for others having
the same problem.

[1]: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/
[2]: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/intel-gfx/2009-July/003310.html

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Dec  7 13:14:07 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
MachineType: Dell Inc. OptiPlex 760
Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-7-generic root=UUID=6ca55718-1b9f-4ebb-b4b1-8175de7a008c ro quiet splash reboot=bios drm.debug=0x04
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-7.10-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu10
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0-1ubuntu4
 libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-intel
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-7-generic i686
XorgConf: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1777): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1777): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1816): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:1808): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
dmi.bios.date: 08/17/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A05
dmi.board.name: 0G919G
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A01
dmi.chassis.type: 16
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA05:bd08/17/2009:svnDellInc.:pnOptiPlex760:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0G919G:rvrA01:cvnDellInc.:ct16:cvr:
dmi.product.name: OptiPlex 760
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
fglrx: Not loaded
system:
 distro:             Ubuntu
 architecture:       i686kernel:             2.6.32-7-generic

** Affects: xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: apport-bug corruption dvi flicker i386 karmic kms lucid q45

-- 
[Q45] Flickering corruption with KMS and DVI output
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/493707
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