Comment 534 for bug 359392

How would one reinstall the old driver? I didn't think it was an option.
Heck, I'd downgrade back to Intrepid if I there was a way to do it. There
should be a "downgrade" button that's as big and shiny as the Jaunty upgrade
button was.
(Or maybe the upgrade buttons could just have little warning labels on the
side... like cigarettes do.)

On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 8:08 PM, Vincenzo Ciancia <email address hidden>wrote:

> Il giorno gio, 04/06/2009 alle 20.00 +0200, Vincenzo Ciancia ha scritto:
> >
> >
> > In this case, putting the old driver back in the distribution and
> > starting to chose the right driver based on user's feedback until the
> > too many intel issues are solved, would be mandatory.
> >
> > @Bryce, it's easy to put back the old driver in the distribution, and
> > if
> > there is not enough manpower to create the whitelist, I would chose
> > the
> > old one as a default. May I ask you "why not"?
> >
>
> A piece is missing here "the whitelist" would be created based on user
> feedback to enable the new driver only for those combinations where it
> actually works. I said "works" without any attributes :)
>
> V.
>
> --
> [i965] X freezes starting on April 3rd
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/359392
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in X.org xf86-video-intel: Confirmed
> Status in “compiz” source package in Ubuntu: In Progress
> Status in “xserver-xorg-video-intel” source package in Ubuntu: Fix Released
> Status in compiz in Ubuntu Jaunty: Fix Committed
> Status in xserver-xorg-video-intel in Ubuntu Jaunty: Confirmed
> Status in compiz in Ubuntu Karmic: In Progress
> Status in xserver-xorg-video-intel in Ubuntu Karmic: Fix Released
>
> Bug description:
> [Problem]
> Starting around 4/3, when mesa was upgraded from 7.3 to 7.4, several i965
> users started noticing X freeze after several hours of use, triggered by
> application usage especially noticeable with (but not unique to) compiz
> enabled.
>
> [Impact]
> The freeze bug affects a subset of i965 based systems, most particularly
> those using compiz. Exact numbers cannot be determined, but may be as high
> as 25-50% based on rough estimates.
>
> The problem is severe: An unpredictable lockup of the system that requires
> a power cycle to recover from. For some users it comes on within minutes,
> while for others it comes after a few hours of use.
>
> [How Addressed in Development Version]
> For now, the patch being proposed for Jaunty has been uploaded to Karmic.
>
> Longer term, we plan to move from EXA to UXA once the latter is stable
> enough. It has been found that while UXA exhibits other kinds of freezes,
> we've not yet been able to reproduce this particular freeze there.
>
> [Patch for Jaunty]
> A low-risk workaround that has proven effective at eliminating freezes, or
> at least greatly reducing their frequency, is to increase the Virtual
> framebuffer size. Some users do this locally as a matter of course to gain
> dual-head support, so this setting has received extremely widespread testing
> already.
>
> The patch for Jaunty causes the Virtual size to be set to 2048x2048 if it
> is not otherwise specified. Users can still override this with their own
> settings, larger or smaller, as desired.
>
> A side effect of this patch is that it also mitigates bug 158415 to a
> degree, which will make projector usage somewhat easier for this hardware
> because it will enable X to recognize higher resolutions available from the
> external monitor than were available on initial boot.
>
> [Test Case]
> The best method found to reproduce the bug is:
> a. Enable compiz
> b. Set your desktop to a 6x1 workspace layout
> c. Run http://launchpadlibrarian.net/25683477/repro.sh
> d. System will freeze anywhere from 1-20 min typically
> e. Power-button shutdown is required to reset the system
>
> [Regression Potential]
> In general, Virtual has been widely and extensively tested, so we do not
> expect this patch to trigger regressions.
>
> The patch is coded to only take effect on i965 systems, so the scope of any
> regression that might conceivably be triggered will be limited to just that
> hardware.
>
> [Suspects]
> Omitting obviously trivial, unrelated changes, here are what changed in
> several suspect packages in the timeframe in question:
>
> * intel driver:
> 4/01: 118_drop_legacy3d.patch: Removed Legacy3D
> 4/03: 114_fix_xv_with_non_gem.patch: Dropped since it caused regression
> 4/06: 119_drm_bo_unreference_needs_null.patch: Fixes various nullptr
> derefs
> 4/08: 120_fix_vt_switch.patch: Fix nullptr deref in video playback
>
> * xserver:
> 4/08: 177_animated_cursor_change_master.patch: fixes animated cursors
> 4/06: 174_set_bg_pixmap_of_cow_to_none.patch: Sets bg pixmap of
> composite overlay window to None
> 3/30: 172_cwgetbackingpicture_nullptr_check.patch: fix race condition
> when minimzing/maximizing firefox with flash video playing.
>
> * mesa:
> 4/03: 7.4 released
> * Added MESA_GLX_FORCE_DIRECT env var for Xlib/software driver
> * GLSL version 1.20 is returnd by the GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION query
> * glGetActiveUniform() returned wrong size for some array types
> * Fixed some error checking in glUniform()
> * Fixed a potential glTexImage('proxy target') segfault
> * Fixed bad reference counting for 1D/2D texture arrays
> * Fixed VBO + glPush/PopClientAttrib() bug #19835
> * Assorted i965 driver bug fixes
> * Fixed a Windows compilation failure in s_triangle.c
> * Fixed a GLSL array indexing bug
> * Fixes for building on Haiku
>
> * linux:
> 4/04: 2.6.28-11.41: Revert MCHBAR patch
> 4/02: 2.6.28-11.40: Add MCHBAR patch
>
> * libdrm:
> 4/04: 02_libdrm_nouveau_update.patch: Only affects nouveau code
> 3/29: libdrm-nouveau1.symbols: Probably innocuous
>
> [Workarounds]
> Various people have found one or more of the following have helped to
> reduce the frequency or eliminate the freezes:
>
> * Turn off compiz
> * AccelMethod UXA
> * Set NoAccel true
> * Set Virtual to something high
> * MigrationHeuristic greedy
> * Revert to 2.4 -intel driver
>
> [Current Theory]
> A 3D memory buffer accumulates data until something gets in there
> incorrectly and leads to a freeze. This can happen either slowly over a
> long period of light use, or fairly soon if using the system heavily. It is
> not simply a matter of filling the memory up, so the trigger often seems to
> be random, but usually follows some sort of graphics transition (such as the
> 3D effect from alt-tab, or closing a firefox window).
>
> It is fairly certain that there are multiple freeze bugs present in X.org
> with the -intel driver. This causes significant confusion when people
> having different bugs think they might have the same one, and find the
> symptoms and workarounds don't match. It is also suspected that the same
> root bug may have multiple different ways of triggering it.
>
> Increasing the Virtual settings seems to either eliminate or greatly reduce
> the frequency of these freezes. Presumably this allocates larger memory
> buffers so the chances of something hitting a wrong thing are greatly
> lessened. However, none of this is well understood.
>
> [Original Report]
> I am using kubuntu jaunty beta. My system is freezing randomly. I have the
> latest updates.
> After freezing the mouse pointer still works. And sometimes the power off
> button works. On powering off , when the stage for kubuntu logo comes its
> showing a distorted image.
>
> This happens with or without desktop effects. These freezes are very
> randomly, but mostly when I run some new applications.
> I am using intel graphics.
>
> [lspci]
> 00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960
> Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 0c)
> Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:30be]
> 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile
> GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a02] (rev 0c)
> Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:30be]
>
>