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Situation: the display of Zenbook UX303UA is flickering almost like here, but I do not get it in Youtube, only when resolving the new Google Plus website's community section (green one) in Chromium 51.x and Google Chrome 52.x but not in Firefox; and Ubuntu's documentation of Zenbooks does not mention the problem but it is hardware-specific (Intel), and internet-site specific because I can reproduce it only with Google Plus' website about communities.
Resolution options

  1. Doing sudo apt-get purge xserver-xorg-video-intel deletes the bug origin (xserver-...-intel) and expresses the package modesetting which is used by Ubuntu when no other option. No such a problem here. Without the package, however, you cannot do fixes of brightness adjustments with the file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf for F5/F6 (here).

  2. Joakim's 4th proposal seems to work in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf and install then back again intel drivers by sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel. This proposal works with the brightness adjustments of F5/F6 but complicates in Matlab here. Here we do not understand why it works, maybe some conflict is disabling the bug, particularly associated with intel_backlight

    # Joakim
Section "Device"
   Identifier "Intel Graphics"
   Driver "intel"
   Option "AccelMethod" "sna"
   Option "TearFree" "true"
   Option "DRI" "3"
   Option "Backlight" "intel_backlight"
EndSection

Best option is (2) by including all features (no flickering and adjustment possibility with 20-intel.conf for F5/F6 about brightness, ... However, we do not understand why (2) works.
Characteristics

  • xdpyinfo|grep resolution returns resolution: 96x96 dots per inch so the pixel size is good for Xorg-server (here)

  • lspci -k | grep -EA2 'VGA|3D' gives

    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Integrated Graphics (rev 07)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Skylake Integrated Graphics
    Kernel driver in use: i915_bpo

  • I updated to Linux kernel 4.7 by wgetting generic packages of amd64 and headers (3 files) here. Output: the amount of flickering maybe decreased but still some flickering every 10-15 seconds.

  • Internet browser specific in Chromium 51.x and Google Chrome 52.x because the problem does not reproduce in Firefox.

  • Hardware-specific (Intel).
  • Internet site specific because I can reproduce it only with the new Google Plus of Communities in Zenbook. I cannot reproduce it in Youtube, like in the other bug report of Ubuntu listed below.

Unsuccessful Resolution attempts

  • Ticket in Chromium Ticket Tracker here with the issue number 640932.

  • Joakim's answer unsuccessful. My /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf. Blinking/flickering stays the same after the reboot. 

    # https://askubuntu.com/a/816703/25388
Section "Device"
   Identifier "Intel Graphics"
   Driver "intel"
   Option "AccelMethod" "sna"
   Option "TearFree" "true"
   Option "DRI" "3"
EndSection

  • Joakim's second proposal unsuccesful. Relevant part of my /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf. Blinking/flickering stays the same after the reboot. I did not purge the proposel intel package. 

    # https://askubuntu.com/a/816703/25388
Section "Device"
        Identifier "card0"
        Driver "intel"
        Option "AccelMethod" "sna"
        Option "TearFree" "true"
        Option "DRI" "3"
        Option "Backlight" "intel_backlight"
        BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
 EndSection

Hardware: Asus Zenbook UX303UA R4028T
System: Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit
GPU: Intel integrated
Linux kernel: 4.4, 4.7.0-040700-generic
Internet browsers: Chromium 51.0.2704.79 64 bit, Google Chrome 52.0.2743.116 64-bit
Test site: the new version of Google Plus etc in any communities (green version)
Related bugs in Ubuntu: Major screen flickering in Chromium and Google Chrome
Hardware's Documentation: Ubuntu's AsusZenbook

Community
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Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
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2 Answers2

2

It's a bug in Xorg 1.18 that 16.04 ships with.

You can fix it like so:

sudo nano /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

Paste this:

Section "Device"
   Identifier "Intel Graphics"
   Driver "intel"
   Option "AccelMethod" "sna"
   Option "TearFree" "true"
   Option "DRI" "3"
EndSection

Save (CTRL + O) and reboot.

Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/1586539 and https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=606152

If this does not work, try this:

  1. sudo apt-get purge xserver-xorg-video-intel
  2. sudo rm /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf (for those who created this file before)
  3. reboot

If this also does not work, please install xserver-xorg-video-intel again.

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-intel
Joakim Koed
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  • I though you said Firefox was not affected? – Joakim Koed Aug 25 '16 at 12:52
  • Just saw your edit, maybe remove the first part of the config? I don't think they can stay there both. – Joakim Koed Aug 25 '16 at 12:56
  • See my edit: try that instead. – Joakim Koed Aug 25 '16 at 12:58
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    purging it simply removes it, and makes sure there is nothing left of it. The bug is in that package. If you remove it, Xorg display server will use another driver called modesetting. It's totally safe. – Joakim Koed Aug 25 '16 at 13:12
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    You are still using your intel GPU, just another driver. If modestting works great for you, just keep using it. Debian + ubuntu 16.10 seems to be removing xserver-xorg-video-intel anyway in the future, because it's so buggy. – Joakim Koed Aug 25 '16 at 13:28
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    Not sure how to do that, as it simply works on my laptop without it.. Maybe try this: http://paste.ubuntu.com/23089178/ , and sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-intel – Joakim Koed Aug 25 '16 at 14:37
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    Not really sure :) I just took the part I found on chromium-bugtracker and added your intel_backlight. – Joakim Koed Aug 25 '16 at 17:09
  • See here complications of the option 2) here http://askubuntu.com/q/816874/25388 Cluttering of texture in Matlab. I will try without Intel now . – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영 Aug 25 '16 at 20:13
  • I accept this answer because we worked out the packages where the source of the problem is. I am now working with modesetting package and trying to find out answers to complications with the package etc with Matlab service. – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영 Aug 27 '16 at 20:59
0

There are bug fixes released on this issue in the packages OEM Priority Project, XOrg XServer and Linux kernel. The recent package fixes also solve the issue in Debian. The condition occurred with the old Linux kernel (LK < 4.10) regardless of the OS version.

Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
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