How to fix missing characters from font after awakening from suspend?

gnome graphics suspend fonts gui

10,141

Solution 1

This might be symptom of a kernel bug since 4.4.6, see here which reportedly got fixed in Linux kernel 4.8.x, and the fix will be in Ubuntu 17.04 (which will likely have 4.10 kernel).

On Fedora bug tracker, someone reported that changing / adding this in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf helps:

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

Didn't try, I am going to wait for 17.04.

To me, this happens also after switching to another user account and back.

Solution 2

When my Ubuntu has display problems when recovering from suspend, I fix it with a quick visit to console: Ctrl+Alt+F1.

Wait a couple of seconds if your display blinks, changes resolution etc. Then back: Ctrl+Alt+F7.

Solution 3

Workaround, use kernel 4.8:

sudo apt install linux-generic-hwe-16.04

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/1573959

10,141

Admin

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Admin over 1 year

I find that often after awakening from suspend on Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 with GNOME 3.20 (I have only found this issue on the latest version, though I have not tried with GNOME 3.18 on 16.04) that I get this strange font issue which can't be fixed by restarting gnome-shell and seemingly only by restarting my entire machine:

I do not believe that this is a theme issue as I have tried all the built-in themes (including the dark and light versions) and it is the same for them all. Though it does not seem to affect gnome-shell areas, that is the top-bar, the Activities Overview, etc, are not affected for some reason. So what could this issue be caused by and how can I fix or workaround it?

Information Update:

I have had a look at this answer but the only options in the gnome-tweak-tool for Antialiasing are Rgba, None, and Grayscale, but none of them seem to have any affect on the issue. Is there something I'm missing?
- groovy354 almost 8 years
  
  It seems to be a known issue with the Intel drivers. Perhaps you'll find an answer here: askubuntu.com/questions/584922/…
- Admin almost 8 years
  
  @groovy354: I have updated my question.
- groovy354 almost 8 years
  
  Have you tried that one? askubuntu.com/a/640839
- Carolus over 7 years
  
  Not a solution, but maybe you can just log out to fix it instead of restarting? I have seemingly same issue on Kubuntu 16.04.
- Ondra Žižka about 7 years
  
  Log out does not help, actually this happens to me after switching user and back. Gnome flashback, Ubuntu 16.04.
- Lambart almost 7 years
  
  Possible duplicate of How do I fix fonts not rendering and missing letters?
- Admin almost 7 years
  
  @Lambart: Although they are similar issues, this is caused by a bug, it doesn't look like the other one is so given that the cause and solution are different I don't think this should be closed as a duplicate of that one.
- Lambart almost 7 years
  
  @ParanoidPanda I suspect you're right... although that ticket doesn't mention a connection to "suspend" (which was a key symptom of my issue--and this one here), the fix using unity-tweaks did the trick for me on a Mac Mini.
Finn over 7 years

It won't fix for me
infoclogged about 7 years

This will : askubuntu.com/questions/818390/…
geethujoseph about 7 years

In 16.04 the Xorg config files are placed in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d. Shouldn't this file be placed there too?
Andrey Izman almost 7 years

hm, after when I did that I can't return back
gandolf almost 7 years

What does the LTS mean, if this fix wont come to 16.04? Such a major issue, and no fix yet to 16.04? Switching to 17.04 is the only solution. Shame on canonical!
BingsF almost 7 years

@ashishsony The fix is available for 16.04. Just update to a 4.8.x kernel, which is available in official 16.04 repositories.
IsaacS over 6 years

+1, except that I think the issue started being shipped from kernel 4.4.0 as many people reported in the referenced ticket, instead of 4.4.6. I'm having this issue with 4.4.0-96, on my 14.04 machine.
Ondra Žižka over 6 years

Then possibly there are more bugs with these symptomps? Thanks for the info, rewording.
BurninLeo over 6 years

Didn't encounter the problem any more since modifying /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf (Ubuntu 16.04). Thanks!
Dimitry K over 6 years

I have this problem on 14.04 with kernel Linux mars-hub 4.4.0-83-generic #106~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Mon Jun 26 18:10:19 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux