Screen, windows, and menus are flickering horribly
Solution 1
OK - that is an old graphics card which will not support Unity. Dont worry though, you can try unity by installing Unity-2d through the Software Center.
More of a problem though is the flickering with ubuntu classic.
This is a worth a try -
Reboot, immediately after booting press shift to display your grub. press e to edit the config of that kernel line. Find the line ending 'quiet splash'. Edit that line so that is reads "i915.modeset=0 quiet splash" and press ctrl+x to boot.
i.e. add the phrase "i915.modeset=0" immediately before "quiet splash"
To make this persistent (i.e. after each reboot) then do the following:
In a terminal type
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
find the line
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
change it to
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="i915.modeset=0 quiet splash"
Type CTRL O to write the file Type CTRL X to exit
Then type
sudo update-grub
Solution 2
If you're running ubuntu 11.04 and have a 82855G, the only solution at the moment is to run the GUI in classic mode.
If you're running kubuntu, hit start (K) -> Computer -> System Preferences -> Desktop Effects and disable them.
Related videos on Youtube
user15263
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
-
user15263 over 1 year
I just installed 11.04 (with updates/ubuntu extras installed).
I am using a Dell Dimension 3000, and it is apparently not capable of running Unity.
There was no flickering during the install, but once I rebooted and logged in, it was so bad that everything on the screen was unreadable. Clicking on a menu will cause it to open, but it flickers so as to be unreadable. If you hover over the options, they will be visible for a moment, but it will them continue flickering.
If I immediately open Firefox upon login and touch nothing else (no menus, panels, or other windows), then I am able to use Firefox without the flickering, but the panels look fragmented and corrupted.
Here are a couple screenshots, which I hope have turned out okay (since as soon as I take the screenshot everything will begin flickering :P).
Note that in this second image that the 'Take screenshot' window is actually no longer open--the image just sticks to the screen anyway.
My graphics card:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
Things I have tried:
As soon as I saved the second screenshot, my whole machine froze up. After absolutely no response to anything after ~10 minutes, I unplugged the machine (shudder) and started it up again. Thankfully, Firefox saved my post, and I was able to submit it.
This flickering happens in Ubuntu Classic as well ,and menus flicker.
Adding the phrase "i915.modeset=0" immediately before "quiet splash" did stop the flickering. However, it also changed my Princeton monitor's resolution to 640x460. Should I follow the instructions here?
Note: my monitor is marked as "Unknown" in the Monitor Settings window. There aren't any other resolutions available in the dropdown.
I have succeeded in making the change persistent. I will let you know how fixing the resolution goes.
Edit4: The instructions didn't work. Here's the terminal output:
jacob@hawaiian-punch:~$ xrandr xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 640 x 480, maximum 640 x 480 default connected 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm 640x480 0.0* 1280x1024_60.00 (0xf9) 109.0MHz h: width 1280 start 1368 end 1496 total 1712 skew 0 clock 63.7KHz v: height 1024 start 1027 end 1034 total 1063 clock 59.9Hz jacob@hawaiian-punch:~$ cvt 1280 1024 # 1280x1024 59.89 Hz (CVT 1.31M4) hsync: 63.67 kHz; pclk: 109.00 MHz Modeline "1280x1024_60.00" 109.00 1280 1368 1496 1712 1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync jacob@hawaiian-punch:~$ xrandr --newmode "1280x1024_60.00" 109.00 1280 1368 1496 1712 1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default X Error of failed request: BadName (named color or font does not exist) Major opcode of failed request: 150 (RANDR) Minor opcode of failed request: 16 (RRCreateMode) Serial number of failed request: 19 Current serial number in output stream: 19 jacob@hawaiian-punch:~$
Just tried
jacob@hawaiian-punch:~$ xrandr --rmmode "1280x1024_60.00" xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Tried a lower resolution, that did not work either
jacob@hawaiian-punch:~$ xrandr xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 640 x 480, maximum 640 x 480 default connected 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm 640x480 0.0* 1280x1024_60.00 (0x10d) 109.0MHz h: width 1280 start 1368 end 1496 total 1712 skew 0 clock 63.7KHz v: height 1024 start 1027 end 1034 total 1063 clock 59.9Hz 1024x768_60.00 (0x110) 63.5MHz h: width 1024 start 1072 end 1176 total 1328 skew 0 clock 47.8KHz v: height 768 start 771 end 775 total 798 clock 59.9Hz jacob@hawaiian-punch:~$ cvt 1024 768 # 1024x768 59.92 Hz (CVT 0.79M3) hsync: 47.82 kHz; pclk: 63.50 MHz Modeline "1024x768_60.00" 63.50 1024 1072 1176 1328 768 771 775 798 -hsync +vsync jacob@hawaiian-punch:~$ xrandr --newmode "1024x768_60.00" 63.50 1024 1072 1176 1328 768 771 775 798 -hsync +vsync xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default X Error of failed request: BadName (named color or font does not exist) Major opcode of failed request: 150 (RANDR) Minor opcode of failed request: 16 (RRCreateMode) Serial number of failed request: 19 Current serial number in output stream: 19 jacob@hawaiian-punch:~$
I found a workaround.
I undid the change to GRUB, and installed Unity 2d. There is no flickering of any kind in Unity 2d, and the resolution is just right. However, feel free to ask me anything else if someone would like to know more about the bug.
-
nilsonneto about 13 yearsPlease can you edit your question with the following answers: Suggest change your session to ubuntu classic (bottom of the screen on logon page). Do you have flickering menus? What is your graphics card? lspci | grep VGA
-
nilsonneto about 13 yearsExcellent - I'll amend my answer to show you how to make it persistent. Yes, please try those instructions - edit your question with any findings.
-
nilsonneto about 13 yearsok I think there is an issue with the X server - try a slightly lower resolution - cvt 1024x768 OR try removing the 1280x1024_60.00 mode i.e. xrandr --rmmode "1280x1024_60.00" before trying your xrandr --newmode command.
-
nilsonneto about 13 yearsok - run xrandr again - you should just see the 640x480 available. Retry adding 1024x768 and/or 1280x1024_60
-
nilsonneto about 13 yearsThat's strange - your xrandr now has the lower resolution - can you choose this new resolution in the Monitors window?
-
user15263 about 13 yearsNo, I can't. There's only 640x480 available. Also, I just noticed something odd--the refresh rate is reporting itself as 0Hz. Here's a screenshot: i.imgur.com/dJGPJ.png
-
nilsonneto about 13 yearsOK - many of my questions and answers have been borrowed from this thread: ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594308 .... sorry got to go to bed now... very late! Have a read of the thread. It has some useful ideas and ways to analyse what's wrong.