Ubuntu – Flickering screen + CPU pipe B FIFO underrun when I use the termnal

i915kernelkubuntulibreofficexorg

This is my configuration:

$ inxi -b
System:    Host: balrog Kernel: 4.8.0-42-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.5.5
           Distro: Ubuntu 16.04 xenial
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Latitude E4310 v: 0001
           Mobo: Dell model: 0D8H24 v: A00 Bios: Dell v: A14 date: 12/05/2013
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5 M 560 (-HT-MCP-) speed/max: 1199/2667 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1280x1024@75.02hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ironlake Mobile GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 12.0.6
Network:   Card-1: Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e
           Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 driver: iwlwifi
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 256.1GB (27.4% used)
Info:      Processes: 253 Uptime: 50 min Memory: 2115.3/7780.9MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35

I run kubuntu 16.04 on a Latitude E4310.

I got some issues with display windows refresh. I checked some resources on the internet and decided to apply the Ubuntu LTS Enablement Stack to upgrade my kernel from 4.4.x to 4.8.x.

This seemed to solve my initial problem. Great.

Actually, it seems it brought somes regressions too (not sure they are all linked to this).

a) Buttons display in LibreOffice are readable anymore (several layers mixed together).

b) Cells selection in LibreOffice Calc is now invisible.

c) I get kernel messages and flickering screen when I work on my terminal (yakuake or Konsole), and after several issues like this, my X freezes and I need to rebobot. This is not really predictable.

Last one is the most important issue. This is the error message in dmesg :

[drm:intel_cpu_fifo_underrun_irq_handler [i915]] *ERROR* CPU pipe B FIFO underrun
[drm:intel_pch_fifo_underrun_irq_handler [i915]] *ERROR* PCH transcoder B FIFO underrun

Note regarding similar issues on this forum :

  • No problem when I boot the computer.
  • No problem when I unlock the system.

I found some more or less similar issues on Arch forum, but I guess that Xorg is not managed the same way in Kubuntu 16.04.

Note : I applied the same Ubuntu LTS Enablement Stack on my desktop without this issue.

Thanks if you have a solution to this bug.

Best Answer

I found a pretty logical workaround : the rollback.

I followed the below tutoriel:

http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2017/02/install-remove-enablement-stacks-ubuntu-16-04/

The first part of the removal process actually removes xorg and kubuntu-desktop. We have to remember to reinstall them right after.

After that, I rebooted. It seems that the system kept one 4.8.x kernel by default, but it replaced the graphical stack with the previous one.

This solved the issue I got with LibreOffice (selections and buttons). It seems that it also solved the kernel CPU pipe issue.

Right now, I don't think I am going to dig this deeper.

Note : I am still with the new graphical stck and 4.8.x kernel on my desktop and it works well.

Cheers

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