Re: Debian 9 stretch screen flicker on w3m and command line applications

[Benny Simonsen]

I want to share my experiences - I have not searched for an issue.

Same issue here - but not limited to terminal - occurs also in Graphical
mode (KDE). When the screen flickers it flickers both in GUI and terminal.

The flickering is fast moving left and right. Sometimes the top ~1/5 of the
display is displayed in the bottom.

I am not sure if the flickering is triggered by toggling windows (Alt-TAB)
or it just occurs randomly.

Closing the lid (suspend) and opening the lid again makes the machine
usable again.
I am using kernel 4.9.0-4 on a Lenovo E550:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 5500 (rev
09)
CPU: Intel Core i5-5200U

I have not tried using reverting to kernel 4.8.0-3 but the timing of the
issue matches well.

Br,
Benny

Re: Debian 9 stretch screen flicker on w3m and command line applications

[josh cha]

Ok, thanks for the info.

On Jan 2, 2018 2:32 AM, "Tino Calancha"  wrote:

>
>
> >Instead the following fix works:
> >Create a file:
> >/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-fix-screen-flickering.conf
>
> >with content:
> >--8<-cut here---start--
> --->8---
> >Section "Device"
> >   Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
> >   Driver  "intel"
> >   Option "AccelMethod"  "uxa"
> >EndSection
> >--8<-cut here---end
> --->8---
>
> Unfortunately the fix above causes another issue:
> switching between applications became slow with Xorg using > 70 % of the
> CPU.
>
> I see this issue with kernel 4.9.0-4.
> Smilar thing has been reported:
> As mentioned elsewhere kernel 4.9.0-3 doesn't show this problem; then, a
> temporary
> workaround is boot the system with a previous kernel <= 4.9.0-3
> Best regards,
> Tino
> From: Tino Calancha 
> Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2018 19:31:46 +0900
> Message-ID: <87h8s4sga5@gmail.com>
>

Re: Debian 9 stretch screen flicker on w3m and command line applications

[Tino Calancha]

>Instead the following fix works:
>Create a file:
>/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-fix-screen-flickering.conf

>with content:
>--8<-cut here---start->8---
>Section "Device"
>   Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
>   Driver  "intel"
>   Option "AccelMethod"  "uxa"
>EndSection
>--8<-cut here---end--->8---

Unfortunately the fix above causes another issue:
switching between applications became slow with Xorg using > 70 % of the CPU.

I see this issue with kernel 4.9.0-4.
Smilar thing has been reported:
As mentioned elsewhere kernel 4.9.0-3 doesn't show this problem; then, a 
temporary
workaround is boot the system with a previous kernel <= 4.9.0-3
Best regards,
Tino
From: Tino Calancha 
Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2018 19:31:46 +0900
Message-ID: <87h8s4sga5@gmail.com>

Re: Debian 9 stretch screen flicker on w3m and command line applications

[Tino Calancha]

FWIW I have been suffering screenn flickering in Debian 9 since 1 or 2
weeks ago.
The flickering is _very_ serious: it makes my box almost unusable.

Booting with kernel option:
i915.enable_rc6=0

significantly reduces the problem but it doesn't completely fix it.

Instead the following fix works:

Create a file:
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-fix-screen-flickering.conf

with content:
--8<-cut here---start->8---
Section "Device"
   Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
   Driver  "intel"
   Option "AccelMethod"  "uxa"
EndSection
--8<-cut here---end--->8---

Best regards,
Tino

Re: Debian 9 stretch screen flicker on w3m and command line applications

[Aslam Sayyed]

We had similar issues (flickering and continous moving of the screen 
horizontally) for 2 of our dell latitude 3460 running on Debian 9.3 configured 
with i915 driver. Observed that it was mostly on terminal with some key 
combinations like CTRL + C but happened randomly.

We choose advance option to boot in with old kernel 4.9.0.3 and issue seems 
resolved. Likely problem with kernel 4.9.0.4

Let us know if you need more info in order to fix issue.

Regards,
Aslam Sayyed

Re: Debian 9 stretch screen flicker on w3m and command line applications

[davidson]

On Fri, 15 Dec 2017, davidson wrote:


On Thu, 14 Dec 2017, josh cha wrote:


How do i fix screen flickering while scrolling and pressing down
buttion?  While im on my command-line applications like w3m?

I notice screen flickering while scrolling on down button. its a
problem since stretch release.


Does this happen all the time, or only occasionally?


I ask this question because I have noticed a similar issue (a terminal
flickering phenomenon that I first noticed after upgrading to
stretch), but it only occurs after I've resized a terminal (xterm)
while running a certain application (lynx) in the foreground. (I don't
use w3m.)

My workaround is to put the offending application (lynx in my case) in
the background before resizing its terminal, and not to bring it back
into the foreground without first restoring the terminal to its
original size.

Or, when using the affected application within a terminal multiplexer
like GNU screen, there are other workarounds available. (Namely, to
keep windows running applications susceptible to flickering-on-resize
hidden, until the terminal is restored to its original size.)

Basically, if OP's problem is the same problem I have noticed, the key
to avoiding it seems to be this: Never make the affected application
adapt itself to a resized terminal.

Re: Debian 9 stretch screen flicker on w3m and command line applications

[davidson]

On Thu, 14 Dec 2017, josh cha wrote:


How do i fix screen flickering while scrolling and pressing down
buttion?  While im on my command-line applications like w3m?

I notice screen flickering while scrolling on down button. its a
problem since stretch release.


Does this happen all the time, or only occasionally?


My laptop
Levono thinkpad T510
Core i5 450m
4gb
240gb ssd

Debian 9 stretch screen flicker on w3m and command line applications

[josh cha]

How do i fix screen flickering while scrolling and pressing down buttion?
While im on my command-line applications like w3m?

I notice screen flickering while scrolling on down button. its a problem
since stretch release.

My laptop
Levono thinkpad T510
Core i5 450m
4gb
240gb ssd