KDE: Problem with graphics

jk7800 · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2014 Posts: 8

Hi.

This is my first Gentoo installation ever, so please be understanding.

I seem to be having several irritating, to say the least, problems with graphics in KDE:
When I suspend/switch user/switch to tty, every time I return to desktop I get a black screen with occasional small polygons of somewhat properly rendered screen. Alternatively I can get an endlessly blurring itself desktop to the point of not seeing anything. Unfortunately I can't show this on a screenshot, because when trying to blindly save one, it saves an empty file.
Window effects also don't work correctly. For example: when the "Fall apart" finishes and disappears, it suddenly starts again, finishes halfway through and causes redrawing problems (leaves traces of previous window on the screen).
Also switching to TTY takes a loong time (~5s). It isn't natural, even on my netbook with Arch installed it takes next nothing!

I give up already, I have no idea what to do anymore to fix this... I'll be glad to share any needed logs or configuration files.

Voltago · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:33 pm Post subject:

Hi jk7800,

some more details would be helpful. What kind of hardware do you use? What is your KDE version, your xorg-server version, and what is your x11 graphics driver? Do you have direct rendering enabled (check with 'glxinfo | grep direct')? Have you checked /var/log/messages, /var/log/Xorg.log.* and /var/log/kdm.log for helpful error messages? Could you post the output of 'emerge --info' for a rough overview over your system?

jk7800 · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2014 Posts: 8

Well this is embarassing, I seem to have removed my hardware details when formatting the post : :oops:

:

I have NVidia GeForce GTX285, Intel Core i7 920.
I'm using KDE 4.12.5, nvidia-drivers-340.24, X.Org X Server 1.15.0,
Direct rendering is on.

xorg.log:

RazielFMX · l33t Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 835 Location: NY, USA

If you have no /var/log/messages file, it is one of two things:

1) You attempted to access it as a non-root user and it is only accessible to root.
2) You never installed and/or started a syslog daemon.

I personally recommend syslog-ng.

jk7800 · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2014 Posts: 8

Right. It wasn't started.

http://pastebin.com/tURq8D8R

RazielFMX · l33t Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 835 Location: NY, USA

Unfortunately you are using systemd and I have no experience with it (I use openrc/eudev with my KDE). However, I believe that systemd implements a syslog somehwere (so you may not need syslog-ng; I defer to those who know systemd) and that there is a systemd command you can execute to get log info. Would it be possible to for you to post said logging?

Also, it might not hurt to snap a dmesg and share that with us when the problem occurs to see if there is anything telling there.

VoidMage · Watchman Joined: 14 Oct 2006 Posts: 6196

How old is your mesa ?
I wonder how big a role does that missing symbol error plays...
Reminds me a bit of this bug, but it's most likely completely different problem.

jk7800 · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2014 Posts: 8

Mesa is latest according to portage: mesa-10.0.4
According to google the missing symbol is normal with nvidia drivers. Don't know how much of this is true.

Also, journald (logging manager for systemd) says this: http://pastebin.com/SWw8h20X

RazielFMX · l33t Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 835 Location: NY, USA

When this happens, can you get on the console as root? If so, can you run 'dmesg' and post the output?

jk7800 · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2014 Posts: 8

You mean the black screen? I tried it just now. Dmesg doesn't show any error or warning. Neither does journald.
dmesg:
http://pastebin.com/WzMu2g77

shazeal · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 8:20 pm Post subject:

You need to disable the VESAFB in the kernel to fix this.

Drivers -> Graphics Support -> Support for frame buffer devices

Disable everything except Enable firmware EDID, and if you use UEFI boot make sure EFI-based Framebuffer support is enabled.
_________________
CFLAGS="-OmgWTFR1CE --fun-lol-loops --march=asmx86go"

jk7800 · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2014 Posts: 8

Nope. All the problems I had before are still present. What should I do now?

shazeal · Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:35 pm Post subject:

Check that DRM is not enabled also.

jk7800 · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2014 Posts: 8

Sorry for not replying for so long, I was on a vacation. I tried everything already. I got rid of numerous warnings in the logs, upgraded to KDE 4.13.3, fixed everything you said to fix but nothing helps. Whatever the problem is I can't find it's source.

jk7800 · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2014 Posts: 8

Sorry for bumping, but the system is nearly unusable in it's current condition. Is there some sort of way of showing debugging info in KDE, something more than error logs which give minimal info? KWin now crashes randomly, the problem with switching to TTY and back to desktop persists, I can't even suspend the computer without ending up with a black screen after resuming. There has to be a way to figure out what causes this! What can I do to debug KDE?

RazielFMX · l33t Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 835 Location: NY, USA

It sounds like one of three things:

1) Hardware problem. However, you should see something in dmesg or your system log.
2) Misconfigured Kernel or other use flags/make.conf settings (as someone mentioned, VIDEO_CARDS).
3) Build/linking issue. On rare occassion I've had problems with X after certain upgrades that even revdep-rebuild missed (usually related to evdev). I suspect this was was my problem, hence why emerge -e world has completely fixed my system.

The anti-systemd advocate in me would love to blame systemd, but until we have confirmed 1-3 aren't the problem or proof that it is in fact systemd, I'm withholding judgment.

lagalopex · Guru Joined: 16 Oct 2004 Posts: 562

I think I have/had similar problems. The graphics got corrupted after vt switch. But I could work-around and temporarily fix it by disabling desktop effects (shift+alt+f12 for me) and enable them again.

Did you try the new beta 343.13? Had a lot of fixes...