Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-video-intel package

Random characters in screen text suddenly disappear

Bug #1342675 reported by Ashraf Amayreh on 2014-07-16

This bug report is a duplicate of: Bug #1573959: On-screen text disappears after suspend. Edit Remove

138

This bug affects 29 people

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu)	Incomplete	Low	Unassigned

Bug Description

While using my machine, characters suddenly disappear. No character in particular, not in any single application in particular, and copying and pasting the text preserves the characters.

Scrolling the text out of view and back into view doesn't affect the missing characters. Switching between applications may change the affected characters (possibly due to a redraw operation?)

Restarting often solves the problem, but it comes back after a couple of hours working. I've attached a screenshot to show you the problem.

I do believe this is different than the bug relating to garbled characters in a number of ways
1. I don't ever get garbled characters
2. Scrolling out/in of the affected text doesn't re-show the missing characters, even navigating inside the application has no effect. 3. It's global, I can even see it on Desktop icon names

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-30.55-generic 3.13.11.2
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-30-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Wed Jul 16 14:48:25 2014
DistUpgraded: 2014-06-29 16:38:35,552 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
virtualbox, 4.3.10, 3.11.0-24-generic, x86_64: installed
virtualbox, 4.3.10, 3.13.0-30-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device [1854:0803]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-28 (109 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
MachineType: LG Electronics R590-G.ARIBE8
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-30-generic root=UUID=79c2f2b5-87cb-44d0-83fa-d99e73bb0a73 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-intel
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-06-29 (16 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 01/06/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: INSYDE
dmi.bios.version: QL4L3I51
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: Base Board Product Name
dmi.board.vendor: Intel Corp.
dmi.board.version: Base Board Version
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Chassis Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacturer
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnINSYDE:bvrQL4L3I51:bd01/06/2010:svnLGElectronics:pnR590-G.ARIBE8:pvr05:rvnIntelCorp.:rnBaseBoardProductName:rvrBaseBoardVersion:cvnChassisManufacturer:ct1:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: R590-G.ARIBE8
dmi.product.version: 05
dmi.sys.vendor: LG Electronics
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11.1+14.04.20140701-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.52-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Wed Jul 16 01:52:06 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
product id 560
vendor LGD
xserver.version: 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2

Tags:

Revision history for this message

Ashraf Amayreh (r-ashraf) wrote on 2014-07-16:

Screenshot from 2014-07-16 14:39:42.png Edit (319.7 KiB, image/png)
BootDmesg.txt Edit (54.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
BootLog.txt Edit (4.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
CurrentDmesg.txt Edit (11.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Dependencies.txt Edit (4.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
DpkgLog.txt Edit (94.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
GconfCompiz.txt Edit (45.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmDisplayLog.txt Edit (2.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmGreeterLog.txt Edit (5.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmGreeterLogOld.txt Edit (5.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmLog.txt Edit (4.9 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lspci.txt Edit (12.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lsusb.txt Edit (449 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
MonitorsUser.xml.txt Edit (688 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcCpuinfo.txt Edit (3.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcEnviron.txt Edit (316 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcInterrupts.txt Edit (2.0 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcModules.txt Edit (3.5 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UdevDb.txt Edit (135.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UdevLog.txt Edit (314.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UnitySupportTest.txt Edit (611 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
XorgLog.txt Edit (31.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
XorgLogOld.txt Edit (28.0 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Xrandr.txt Edit (3.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xdpyinfo.txt Edit (5.0 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xserver.devices.txt Edit (454 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Revision history for this message

Chris Wilson (ickle) wrote on 2014-07-27:

I believe this is

commit fb89bfc73f4103ca6116c8f91970f4bfa491636c
Author: Chris Wilson <email address hidden>
Date: Wed Feb 12 16:41:51 2014 +0000

sna/gen5: Flush the render cache between operations

    When we change the blend mode between operations, it appears that we
    must flush the render cache or else we risk render corruption. This is
    usually noticeable in rendering of single glyphs.

    This was originally fixed for bug 51422, but was reintroduced by
    commit 37eb7343be1aeeb90a860096756603a577df1a77
    Author: Chris Wilson <email address hidden>
    Date: Sat Dec 1 09:40:11 2012 +0000

sna/gen5: Inspired by gen4, reorder the flushing
and the desire to reduce the impact of this w/a.

    Reported-by: <email address hidden>
    Bugzilla: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=74882
    Signed-off-by: Chris Wilson <email address hidden>

in 2.99.911

Changed in xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Fix Committed

Revision history for this message

Ashraf Amayreh (r-ashraf) wrote on 2014-09-06:

Great. If you don't mind me asking how I can get this fix? I've checked my package version and it's still on 2.99.910

Revision history for this message

Chris Wilson (ickle) wrote on 2014-09-26:

Still? 2.99.914 should be available now at least on utopic

Revision history for this message

Ashraf Amayreh (r-ashraf) wrote on 2014-09-26:

Right. But I'm still on Trusty. Any chance I can get it for Trusty?

I guess utopic is soon-to-come. But I usually delay upgrading to it for a few months.

Revision history for this message

seth goldstein (seth-u) wrote on 2015-03-23:

screenshots of graphics corruption Edit (381.7 KiB, image/png)

This bug also affects me on both trust and utopic. For both unity and xfce. I have attached some screenshots I have taken over the past few days. The non-rendering of characters remains until I reboot. The duplicated characters or noise can go away after a redraw, but they come back until a reboot.

$ sudo lspci -v
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Lenovo Device 5036
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 61
Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
I/O ports at 3000 [size=64]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [a4] PCI Advanced Features
Kernel driver in use: i915

$ uname -a
Linux pada 3.16.0-31-generic #43~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Mar 10 20:13:38 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Revision history for this message

Tim Colbert (colbert-tim) wrote on 2015-04-19:

This bug affects me on utopic, same as previous comment

sudo lspci -v

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Lenovo Device 5041
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 61
Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=512M]
I/O ports at 3000 [size=64]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [a4] PCI Advanced Features
Kernel driver in use: i915

uname -a
Linux tim-Yoga 3.16.0-34-generic #47-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 10 18:02:58 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Revision history for this message

Maurizio (iciocunicio) wrote on 2015-04-23:

This bug is still present on 15.04

Revision history for this message

Ashraf Amayreh (r-ashraf) wrote on 2015-04-26:

I'm on utopic and it's still happening

Changed in xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu):
status:	Fix Committed → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

Ashraf Amayreh (r-ashraf) wrote on 2015-04-26:

#10

Screenshot from 2015-04-22 00:09:46.png Edit (239.8 KiB, image/png)

Guys, this is still happening. Here's a screenshot after I updated to utopic.

Revision history for this message

firfin (firfin) wrote on 2015-05-12:

#11

Happens to me too. Minutes after booting. I found a workaround though ( so at least the laptop is usable again) install ubuntu-tweak . And use it to make the font smaller. 0.9 restores some of the characters and 0.8 size restores them all.
Been working fine for hours now.

Revision history for this message

fossfreedom (fossfreedom) wrote on 2015-05-31:

#12

This affects me too. Oddly, if I swap to using gnome-shell instead of Unity this fixes this problem.

For the moment I've changed to using gnome-shell since this happens too frequently.

This problem started occurring for me with the last round of trusty updates using the utopic HWE -

apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-video-intel
xserver-xorg-video-intel:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1.6
  Version table:
     2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1.6 0
        500 http://ubuntu.mirrors.uk2.net/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages

Revision history for this message

fossfreedom (fossfreedom) wrote on 2015-05-31:

#13

oops - wrong package - this is the installed utopic package installed on trusty:

apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-video-intel-lts-utopic
xserver-xorg-video-intel-lts-utopic:
Installed: 2:2.99.914-1~exp1ubuntu4.2~trusty1
Candidate: 2:2.99.914-1~exp1ubuntu4.2~trusty1

Revision history for this message

fossfreedom (fossfreedom) wrote on 2015-05-31:

#14

just noticed also this question and answers on Ask Ubuntu - http://askubuntu.com/questions/584922/how-do-i-fix-fonts-not-rendering-and-missing-letters

seems like the issue is most definitely the version of intel graphics driver ubuntu is using. Some people have "fixed" this by changing to the pure intel graphics driver.

Like others, I noticed that using unity-tweak-tool and changing the text scaling factor from 1.0 to 1.15 together within (in firefox) increasing the font size via ctrl+ mouse scroll up fixed these issues in Unity.

Revision history for this message

Camil Staps (f7-info) wrote on 2015-06-04:

#15

This affects me too., but I can confirm that the ubuntu tweak workaround works for me.

$ uname -a
Linux zenbook 3.19.0-18-generic #18~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 20 09:38:33 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Revision history for this message

Rod Hubbard (roderickhubbard) wrote on 2015-06-17:

#16

Download window with missing characters Edit (29.0 KiB, image/png)

I have this problem on Ubuntu 15.04. I had it on previous versions of Ubuntu as well. I did a clean install of 15.04 so the bug is still present in 15.04 (not a remnant of the earlier versions). See attached screenshot. I've seen the missing characters occur in Nautilus and in the gray bar at the top of windows in Ubuntu (e.g., Firefox, gedit, Libreoffice, file download window). On the bright side, it seems to occur less frequently and less severely on 15.04 than in previous versions.

Revision history for this message

firfin (firfin) wrote on 2015-06-25:

#17

Link from #14 / ubuntu tweak only works temporarily and not very very well when using multiple screens.
Some goes for changing fonts sizes.

I posted a workaround (using UXA instead of SNA) http://askubuntu.com/questions/584922/how-do-i-fix-fonts-not-rendering-and-missing-letters

Revision history for this message

Vlad Omir (treeant34) wrote on 2015-08-05:

#18

I am running Lubuntu 14.04.2 and it ran fine until the last xserver-xorg-video-intel-lts-utopic update.
My installed version was 2:2.99.914-1-exp1ubuntu4.3-trusty1
The update was for version 2:2.99.914-1-exp1ubuntu4.5-trusty1

I get text randomly missing from icons on the desktop and the only cure (albeit temporary) is to logout and log back in.

How can I revert back to the previous driver?

Thanks

Nick

Revision history for this message

MathUHenry (mathuhenry) wrote on 2015-09-17:

#19

text2.png Edit (251.3 KiB, image/png)

I find this problem is usually triggered by something I do in LibreOffice.
Using LO 5.0.1
Ubuntu 15.04-64bit
Intel i5 CPU M 520

LO content not affected (picture attached)
Chrome content not affected (but title bar is)
Firefox, Gedit, Files are all affected.

Revision history for this message

MathUHenry (mathuhenry) wrote on 2015-09-23:

#20

My previous comment was wrong. All windows are affected, but not necessarily at the same time.

Revision history for this message

penalvch (penalvch) wrote on 2015-09-27:

#21

Ashraf Amayreh, any change updating to the Vivid enablement stack as outlined in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack ?

tags:	added: bios-outdated-ql4l3i81
Changed in xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu):
importance:	Undecided → Low
status:	Confirmed → Incomplete

Revision history for this message

Eugene Romanenko (eros2) wrote on 2016-04-10:

#22

Same problem on 16.04 after resume or switching user.

Revision history for this message

penalvch (penalvch) wrote on 2016-04-24:

#23

eros2, it will help immensely if you filed a new report with Ubuntu by ensuring you have the package xdiagnose installed, and that you click the Yes button for attaching additional debugging information running the following from a terminal:
ubuntu-bug xorg

Also, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

For more on why this is helpful, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.