[i915] Screen flickering in Ubuntu 22.04 (until i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2 are added) (fixed in 5.17.7 and later)

adding dmesg for 5.15 without cstate paramater

This change was made by a bot.

on 5/04/2022 Ubuntu 22.04 Beta with kernel 5.15.0-25-generic

this flickering is still persisting and needs the parameter intel_idle.max_cstate=4
to be usable again

Filed bug upstream:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/intel/-/issues/5569

booting with kernel parameter i915.enable_psr=0 does not influence the flickering

Does it look like the flickering shown in bug 1970426 and its duplicates?

@ Daniel #7

the bug reports look very similar to my flickering, but mine are much worst
when booting into desktop i have a few seconds till the flickering gets
unworkable and scrambles up the screen to almost black

so i'm not sure its a dupe or not myself

if you look at my upstream bug on #5 that guy Ozan has very similar symptons
to what i experience, + the kernel versions tested are similar to his

Can you provide a video?

Video with the flickering, currently testing kernel 5.15.0-27-generic

also worth mentioning, on the kernels of ubuntu 20.04 i never had this flickering

Thanks for the video. Although it looks a little different to bug 1970426 I would definitely still class it as the same bug until proven otherwise (when a fix for that bug is available and if it doesn't work for your machine).

The solution to bug 1970426 ended up being:

  i915.enable_dc=0
  intel_idle.max_cstate=2

Can you try those?

@ Daniel #13

That kernel parameter looks promising! on cstate=4 i still had some glitches here and there
now they seem to be gone

great job!

Adding dmesg with kernel parameter i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2

I'm having the same issue, I'd like to add that I've tested both Xubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 22.04 and was able to reproduce the same error. Now I'm running Kubuntu 22.04 with the following spec:

OS: Kubuntu 22.04 LTS x86_64
Kernel: 5.15.0-27-generic
Shell: bash 5.1.16
Resolution: 1920x1080 @ 120Hz
DE: KDE Plasma 5.24.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.93.0
WN: Kwin 5.24.5
Qt Version: 5.15.3
Graphics Platform: X11

Host: GL62 6QF REV:1.0
CPU: Intel i5-6300HQ (4) @ 3.200GHz
GPU: Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 530
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M

Here's another video of the issue: https://streamable.com/b9792p

PS: I added GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2" to /etc/default/grub and I still have some instances of screen shaking.

@ Diogo #16

did you also sudo update-grub after the kernel paramater?
and doublechecked if you are using your intel card and not your nvidia on wayland?

I'm not using wayland. I stated that I was on X11.

I did sudo update-grub indeed!

Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) asked for a kernel bisect with the kernel mainline PPA:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1970426/comments/22

If someone is willing to do it he can do this (from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/KernelBisection#Version_bisecting_upstream_kernels):

The first step in the bisect process is to find the last "Good" kernel version, followed consecutively in version by the first "Bad" one. That is done by downloading, installing and testing kernels from https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/?C=N;O=A

Thanks.

When I upgraded to 22.04 I started getting flicker on my external HDMI monitor.
Latitude 7300, i7-8665U.
A batch of flicker every 15 or 30 minutes or so, not very easy to use for bisecting...
There are instances of
[336186.058517] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* CPU pipe B FIFO underrun
in dmesg but it doesn't always appear when there is flickering.

@ Oibaf #19

If it can help, i start helping debug ubuntu 22.04 from the start
with kernel 5.13.0-19.19-generic with light flickering (workable)

see bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mutter/+bug/1948778

and heavy unworkable flickering started (in this bug) with kernel series
5.15.0-17-generic

I can confirm that adding `i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2` works for me on i7-7600u. No more screen flickering in the last two days. Without the workaround the flickering occurs randomly and definitively in correlation to mouse movement, but I'm not sure how exactly. As already stated by ernstp (#20), kernel bisection is going to be a rocky road ...

@Oibaf (oibaf) - I experienced the same issue on Xubuntu 22.04 too. The very last available xubuntu 21.10 kernel was fine. I upgraded from fully updated 21.10 to 22.40 and then the problem started.
Not sure what is the latest 21.10 available kernel. Perhaps 5.13.0.1022.23 ? Not sure how to do a full research on that.

@lotuspsychje : I think it would be useful to detect a behaviour change, even if symptoms are slight different (eventually it can still help for bug 1948778 if there are two different bugs).

@kjur : kernel series from https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/?C=N;O=A are vanilla kernels, Ubuntu kernels has some more patches added. If you can bisect you could start with 5.13.19, hopefully it should be bug free. If so then try 5.15. If 5.15 is "bugged", then select a kernel between 5.13.19 and 5.15 (says 5.14) then continue until you find the first one with the problem.

Following up on this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1958191/comments/16

Booting with 5.15.0-25-generic and the i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2 configs seems to fix the issue on my hardware.

5.15.0-27-generic won't stop shaking randomly no matter what value I test on intel_idle.max_cstate. It seems to get worse when there are many windows on the screen or something is zoomed in/out. For example, on shopping sites like aliexpress, hovering with the mouse on the product normally spawns this window with the zoomed product, I noticed that this caused a lot of shaking. Reading stuff, especially with images seems to cause it more regularly as well. However, watching videos was fine all the time.

I can also confirm that the kernel 5.13.0-20-generic works without an issue with the same hardware as some of my work colleagues have the same machine running Ubuntu 21.10 with that kernel.

Hi, following up on this - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1970426/comments/9

GRUB PARAM - `i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2` has fixed the flicker for me.

$ uname -a
Linux home 5.15.0-30-generic #31-Ubuntu SMP Thu May 5 10:00:34 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ grep GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2"

---

Also in additional to Debian Unstable (5.17.x kernel), this flicker problem (without GRUB workaround) does not exist in recent Fedora 36 release (5.17.x kernel) as well during my testing.

---

Responding to this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1970426/comments/22

Last kernel without the bug was definitely 5.13.x on Xubuntu 21.10 (used it for about 6 months)
The bug started when I wiped and installed 22.04 release (5.15.x)

Also, I remember when 1st release - 5.15.x was released, I installed it on 21.10 release with https://github.com/bkw777/mainline and the flicker problem occurred and I reverted back to stock Ubuntu 5.13.x. So bug could be somewhere between >= 5.14.x and <= 1st release of 5.15.x.

I just updated my Ubuntu to 22.04 and I'm having the same issue. Hopefully it'll get fixed ASAP.

Updated ubuntu from 21.04 and no matter what I do with settings, all monitors go black every 30 seconds I do not touch the keyboard or mouse (or running movie). I hope it will be fixed soon.

The monitor going black is a different bug. Please don't discuss that here, but open a new bug by running:

  ubuntu-bug linux

Half-related to this bug but worth mentioning it because it is certainly linked to it. On a HP x360 Spectre (i7-8565U WhiskeyLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics 620]), the trick with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT.

The problem is more serious here because the screen flickers and goes to black, purple, green, entirely, immediately after the boot (so basically when the kernel presumably changes the graphics mode)

I tried different kernels:
- 5.17.8: failed
- 5.15.x: all failed (from Ubuntu 22.04)
- 5.13.19: works and back to normal

I found the following errors in the logs:
* i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* Atomic update failure on pipe A (start=43426 end=43427) time 300 us, min 2146, max 2159, scanline start 2131, end 2171
* i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_04.bin (v1.4)
* i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] [ENCODER:102:DDI B/PHY B] is disabled/in DSI mode with an ungated DDI clock, gate it
* i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] [ENCODER:113:DDI C/PHY C] is disabled/in DSI mode with an ungated DDI clock, gate it
* i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* CPU pipe A FIFO underrun

So the problem is > 5.13.x series

I solved it by downgrading to 5.13.19 from ubuntu mainline on a newly updated ubuntu 22.04!

David, please open a new bug for the above.

done in Bug #1973676
Thanks Daniel

I also experience flickering with Ubuntu 22.04's 5.15.0-27-generic kernel, which goes away with i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2, and was not present with Ubuntu 20.04's latest 5.13 kernel.

Due to another bug affecting my machine, I'm now running the vanilla 5.14.20 kernel from the mainline-ppa. Out of curiosity, I tried removing "i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2" and I've been flicker-free for several days now (I used to experience flickering a few times a day initially).

So, either the problem is specific to Ubuntu kernels, or it was introduced between 5.14 and 5.15.

Due to that other bug, and the fact the the flickering used to be infrequent, I'm not sure I'll be able to version-bisect this issue, but I'll give it a try if I can find the time.

Having the same issue on a Lenovo T480s laptop.

Linux JP 5.15.0-30-generic #31-Ubuntu SMP Thu May 5 10:00:34 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

        *-display
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: UHD Graphics 620
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             logical name: /dev/fb0
             version: 07
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pciexpress msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list ro
m fb
             configuration: depth=32 driver=i915 latency=0 resolution=1920,1080
             resources: irq:160 memory:e7000000-e7ffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:e000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

adding "i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2" doesn't help in my case (kernel 5.15, Intel UHD / i915 graphics)

If the suggested solution doesn't work for you then please open a separate new bug by running:

  ubuntu-bug linux

Shouldn't an update be released that adds the workaround(s) mentioned above (the Kernel boot parameters i915.enable_dc=0 or/and, if necessary, intel_idle.max_cstate=$MAX_CSTATE_THAT_WORKS)?

So the Ubuntu 22.04 experience is improved for users with Intel graphics while the kernel regression is tracked down and patched?

Peter, I don't think it's a fix, but only a workaround that limits two important power management functionalities (cpu cstates and gpu display cstates). I hope and believe they're still working on finding a real fix for the bug.

Reported a new bug here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-signed-lowlatency/+bug/1976398
as in my case adding extra option to GRUB didn't help.
Please follow there if you are also affected.

Same issue here. Heavy black flickering on the screen with Ubuntu 22.04 after upgrade from 20.04 and after a clean install. No extra repos, only default packages.

Aspire 3 A315-31 series
N17Q2

Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 500 (APL 2)

Linux laptop 5.15.0-33-generic #34-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 18 13:34:26 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I'm unsure if this is really fixed in Jammy

I'm seeing flickering with 5.15.0-41 as well which seems to improve with i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2

cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.15.0-41-generic root=/dev/mapper/vgubuntu-root ro quiet splash i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2 vt.handoff=7

sudo lshw -c display
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: TU117GLM [Quadro T2000 Mobile / Max-Q]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: a1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
       resources: irq:205 memory:ad000000-adffffff memory:80000000-8fffffff memory:90000000-91ffffff ioport:3000(size=128) memory:ae080000-ae0fffff
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: CometLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics]
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       logical name: /dev/fb0
       version: 05
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pciexpress msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb
       configuration: depth=32 driver=i915 latency=0 mode=1920x1080 resolution=1920,1080 visual=truecolor xres=1920 yres=1080
       resources: iomemory:600-5ff iomemory:400-3ff irq:185 memory:6040000000-6040ffffff memory:4000000000-400fffffff ioport:4000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

Well it's fixed for the majority of people in kernel 5.15.0-40 but I had forgotten that doesn't include the OP (comment #73).

@ Daniel #83 thank you!

the last kernel version i tested was 5.15.0-40-generic

please let me know wich kernel version to test next that will inclde the fix

Based on comment #78, I expect the main task at the top of this bug should close when kernel 5.19 is (soon) released to Ubuntu 22.10. Assuming there's no regression in 5.19.

I don't know if or when such a fix will ever reach Ubuntu 22.04 because we really thought it was the same fix at play in both 5.17.7 and 5.15.0-40. Turns out we need two different fixes, unless...

Can you double check that 5.15.0-40 or 5.15.0-41 still has the bug?

@ Daniel #85

just tested linux-image-5.15.0-41-generic and linux-image-5.15.0-43-generic

wich both still result in flickering indeed,

5.15.0-40 i tested before in #73

back to 5.17.7-051707-generic #202205121146 to fix

lotuspsychje,

If you need a different fix to the rest of us then it may not have been introduced in 5.17.7 but earlier. Please try to find the earliest kernel version that works for you, or the latest kernel version that still has the bug. Without this information there isn't much hope of a 22.04 fix. The bug would just be closed as fixed in 5.19 (Ubuntu 22.10).

I updated to 22.04.1 after receiving the notification from 20.04 to do so.

I now have continuous screen flickering, making it impossible to edit the grub file as instructed. I tried and must have made an edit mistake somewhere which is impossible to spot due to continuous flickering. It's absolutely ridiculous.

What options do I have now? Re-install completely from USB - can I keep home partition intact?

@frombeyondthegrave,

Firstly if either:

  i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2

or

  intel_iommu=off

don't solve the flicker for you then you are commenting on the wrong bug. But before opening a new bug of your own, you should also try kernel parameter:

  i915.enable_psr=0

Thanks, my problem is that I cannot reliably edit the grub file because the flickering is continuous. Literally, I cannot get more than half a second to read what I'm typing. Using my mouse doesn't appear to affect it at all. I tried to edit the first two parameters, but running sudo update-grub returns an error so must have made a typo somewhere but as I said.. impossible to 1) read what exactly errors and 2) read the contents of the grub file due to the flickering. Is there a command that would wipe the grub file to default so I can try again?

The only time the display doesn't flicker is when I need to enter my encryption password. After unencrypting, it starts flickering even before I log into user.

You can also add kernel parameters before Linux starts. If you tap Esc early enough then the grub menu will appear and you can do it there.

Thanks a lot, didn't know about that (i self identify as a noob hence LTS)

intel_iommu=off as temporary kernel parameter reduced flickering by just enough for me to properly set i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2 and now seems fixed (fingers crossed). Thanks!

Since kernel 5.19 is now released to Ubuntu 22.10, this bug is Fix Released. But as mentioned in comment #87, we cannot fix Ubuntu 22.04 without further investigation done by those experiencing the bug.

Why not backport this kernel version to 22.04 too?

Because Ubuntu 22.04 is LTS (long term support), changes happen slowly. It will get a new kernel in version 22.04.2 but that's not till February 2023.

The screen flicker also happened to me after updating to 22.04. I think the cause for the error is actually Memtest86+. When I tried to do the fix by adding parameters to /etc/default/grub and update I got the following.

:~$ uname -a
Linux alwayssk 5.15.0-50-generic #56-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 20 13:23:26 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

:~$ sudo update-grub
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.15.0-50-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.15.0-50-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.15.0-48-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.15.0-48-generic
Memtest86+ needs a 16-bit boot, that is not available on EFI, exiting
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done

Having this issue on razer blade 17 pro (2021) on Ubuntu 22.10. Don't see anything relevant in logs. It works fine most of the time but every so often has heavy flickering for a few seconds or minutes.

Been using 22.10 for several days on X11, enabled Wayland and have discovered that my screen flickers and app windows fail to render correctly. Tried the 2 GRUB parameters mentioned above - with no success. Going back to X11 and a usable machine, hopefully this is fixed soon - happy to try any fixes if offered.

My issue is that only when mouse pointer is moved to bottom portion of screen, I see a flicker/repaint issue.

I'm on 5.19.0-23-generic (Ubuntu 22.10) and adding the said options `i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2` did not work.

Only adding `i915.enable_psr=0"` worked as I noted in [this](https://github.com/ljvmiranda921/comments.ljvmiranda921.github.io/issues/41#issuecomment-1328125275)

This bug is closed for Ubuntu 22.10 and later so please log your own new bugs unless you're using 22.04.

P.S. i915.enable_psr=0 is a common solution to flickering but if it works for you then that is LAPTOP MODEL SPECIFIC and we need you to log a bug mentioning the model details of the laptop.

HP Envy 13 aq1176ng

i915.enable_psr=0 worked for me.

Flickering stopped, flickering began by setting intel_iommu=off (to get the slow system faster).

Currently testing HWE-EDGE on 22.04
5.19.0-28-generic #29~22.04.1-Ubuntu

The flicker is no longer present here,
thanks to all users & devs testing this bug

Same problem on my notebook. Added a comment to the upstream bugreport.
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/intel/-/issues/5569#note_1770025

Notebook: Medion E3223-MD62351 (MSN 30032549) (convertible with touchscreen)
CPU & GPU: Pentium Silver N5030 CPU

See upstream bugreport for details.

This bug is unresolved for 22.04 only. If that includes you then please see comment #87.

I report my strange experience with flickering.

I had the problem as described on Dell Inspiron 1764/Ubuntu 20.04 with 50% of occurence at boot with the screen flickering indefinitely, Linux version 5.15.0-60-generic (buildd@lcy02-amd64-017). I suspected HW but nevertheless tried GRUB configuration modification with no success.

I installed Ubuntu 22.04 and now I have the flicker just during 30seconds of boot. The kernel is the same only the build is different, Linux version 5.15.0-60-generic (buildd@lcy02-amd64-054). Perhaps the build may modify some timings during the boot.

Also fixed in linux-hwe-5.19 for Ubuntu 22.04 per comment #104.

So I guess you just need:

  sudo apt install linux-generic-hwe-22.04

Hi,

Please note that linux-hwe-5.19 has been released as the linux-generic-hwe-22.04 variant now, so the -edge meta is not needed anymore to install the 5.19 kernel.

Reposting this from bug 1970426:

This happens to my machine as well. The flickering appears to only happens at the left-hand side of the screen or at the bottom of the screen. I don't think I've ever seen the whole screen flicker or on other areas of the screen except on the one I've mentioned.

I've tried most of the suggestions here and online by changing the kernel parameters but to no avail.

Currently, I have `i915.enable_psr=0` set up but that only appears to reduce the symptoms not fixing the problem completely.

System info:

```
$ lsb_release -a
LSB Version: core-11.1.0ubuntu4-noarch:security-11.1.0ubuntu4-noarch
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS
Release: 22.04
Codename: jammy
```

```
$ sudo lshw -C display
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       logical name: /dev/fb0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb
       configuration: depth=32 driver=i915 latency=0 resolution=1366,768
       resources: irq:28 memory:f0000000-f03fffff memory:e0000000-efffffff ioport:5000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff
```

This bug is closed so please open new bugs for any unresolved issues.

The bug has returned on kernel 6.2 series, i filed a new bug report here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-signed-hwe-6.2/+bug/2028365

Tested on the new HWE kernel on Ubuntu desktop 22.04.2 kernel 6.2.0-26-generic @ 3/8/2023

where the flickering continues, i can still fix it with the same workaround

i915.enable_dc=0 intel_idle.max_cstate=2 as kernel parameter

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Using the suggested workaround as described in the description _used_ to work for a few months for me, now it doesn't.

I'm only seeing people reporting this for 6.2.0 kernel; but my kernel version is `5.19.0-46-generic`.

Am I experiencing a different bug?

clevo laptop N750WU intel graphic flicker

previous and old issue https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1825823
 appears again , laptop completely unusable

How to rollback ?

clevo laptop N750WU intel graphic flicker

I had liked to add an input for your eventual and subsequent version validation

Booting from USB a Mint21.2 image dated of 2023-07-16 on the same hardware ALSO causes Flickering

clevo laptop N750WU intel graphic flicker

According my logbook the last time I successfully booted was 2023-8-17 and I resumed my work this morning 2023-08-26

Everyone please log your own bugs so they can be investigated separately without confusing each other. And remember to try the kernel parameter: i915.enable_psr=0

Currently testing kernel 6.5.0-1003-oem on 5/9/2023 on 22.04 desktop

and the flickering does not occur anymore