nVidia and Compiz installed and working, but screen doesn't refresh correctly?

Vector · #1 30th October 2010, 01:18 AM

I've had this problem since F12, and i'm not exactly sure what it is; to make matters worse, i'm not exactly sure how to DESCRIBE the problem either...

What it does is, if you do something to change anything on the screen, for example, highlighting text, or switching from one tab/menu in an application to another. The screen doesn't show the change. The only way to SEE the change is to do something else to the screen, like grabbing and moving the application around, or scrolling the page of a website, etc. If you don't do that, you won't see what's really on the screen, but rather what WAS on the screen.

Another example:
*) say you have an application open with 3 tabs: tab1, tab2, and tab3.
*) Switch from tab1 to tab2 and you see no change on the screen.
*) Switch from tab2 to tab3 and you see tab 2 on the screen, NOT tab 3.
*) Switch from tab3 to tab 2 and you see tab3 on the screen, and NOT tab2.

Or, if you're typing in this box to make a post, and you hit ctrl+a to select all, you see no change. If you click in the box to deselect all, then it looks like you've selected all text still. The only way to see what's currently on the screen is to scroll the text box or page just a bit, or, if you're using an application, then you'd have to move it around on the screen a bit.

It's weird, and aggravating.

As i've said, the nVidia drivers are installed and working, as well as compiz, etc.

Code:

[=v=]$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 Northbridge only single slot PCI-e GFX Hydra part (rev 02)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port B)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port D)
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port E)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port F)
00:07.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port G)
00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 40)
00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 41)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 IDE Controller (rev 40)
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller (rev 40)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:14.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI2 Controller
00:16.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:16.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control
01:06.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2800 802.11n PCI
02:00.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 03)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8059 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 11)
04:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6315 Series Firewire Controller
05:00.0 SATA controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB362/JMB363 Serial ATA Controller (rev 03)
05:00.1 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB362/JMB363 Serial ATA Controller (rev 03)
06:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT215 [GeForce GT 240] (rev a2)
06:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
[=v=]$

Code:

[=v=]# yum list installed *nvidia*
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Adding en_US to language list
Installed Packages
akmod-nvidia.x86_64                1:260.19.12-1.fc14 @rpmfusion-nonfree-updates
kmod-nvidia-2.6.35.6-48.fc14.x86_64.x86_64
                                   1:260.19.12-1.fc14 installed                 
nvidia-settings.x86_64             1.0-8.fc14         @rpmfusion-nonfree-updates
nvidia-xconfig.x86_64              1.0-5.fc14         @rpmfusion-nonfree-updates
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia.x86_64         1:260.19.12-2.fc14 @rpmfusion-nonfree-updates
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.x86_64    1:260.19.12-2.fc14 @rpmfusion-nonfree-updates
[=v=]#

Code:

[=v=]# yum list installed *compiz*
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Adding en_US to language list
Installed Packages
compiz.x86_64                        0.8.6-3.fc14            @fedora/$releasever
compiz-fusion.x86_64                 0.8.6-1.fc14            @fedora            
compiz-fusion-extras.x86_64          0.8.6-1.fc14            @fedora            
compiz-gnome.x86_64                  0.8.6-3.fc14            @fedora/$releasever
compiz-manager.noarch                0.6.0-10.fc12           @fedora            
compizconfig-python.x86_64           0.8.4-3.fc14            @fedora            
libcompizconfig.x86_64               0.8.4-3.fc14            @fedora            
[=v=]#

Code:

[=v=]# lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia              10213047  38 
i2c_core               26900  3 nvidia,videodev,i2c_piix4
[=v=]#

Also, i did BOTH the dracut thing, and the extra kernel paramter in the grub.conf. So, nouveau is blacklisted. Oddly enough though, i do NOT have this problem when using the nouveau driver...

Also, fwiw, i think that i should mention that i'm not using the "Desktop Settings > Enable Desktop Effects" method, because i always seem to have problems with getting certain features to work, like the background for the cube skydome, etc. How i do it is that i install a package called compiz-manager, and i have it set to run at session start. This makes all of the compiz features work fine. One thing that i've noticed though, is that on my other workstation, i haven't set that up yet, and it seems that is is NOT having the same issue. While compiz-manager was running, i tried to use the "desktop settings" method, and it crapped out and reverted back to the old school desktop. I then tried it again, and it reloaded compiz, and there is no screen update issues now. So it seems that you have to have both of them running in order to get all of the compiz options to work, and not have the screen refresh issue?

Thanks

leigh123linux · #2 30th October 2010, 03:37 AM

Try disabling smooth scrolling in firefox preferences.

Vector · #3 30th October 2010, 10:12 AM

Well, this isn't just firefox that was doing it, it was ALL applications. I just used that as an example.

Thanx

---------- Post added 2010-10-30 at 05:12 AM GMT ---------- Previous post was 2010-10-29 at 10:40 PM GMT ----------

Hmmm, well i played around some more, and finally removed "compiz-manager" from my user's startup applications and the issue is gone, AND, it seems that compiz kept all of its settings this time. So i guess that the issue was something in compiz-manager... I still wonder why it wasn't keeping the settings i set in ccsm before this...

I guess that this issue is "solved"???

disjointed · #4 30th October 2010, 07:01 PM

There's an option in 'Workarounds' in ccsm: "Force synchronization between X and FLX". Enabling it solves the incorrect redrawing issue with nvidia cards.

Vector · #5 30th October 2010, 10:28 PM

On my other workstation i noticed that i did not have the screen refresh issue at all when enabling compiz via "Desktop Effects", however none of the settings i made/changed in ccsm would update, even after a logout/login. So i opened a terminal, and ran "compiz-manager" and compiz (or something with the graphical environment) reloaded and all of my changes to the compiz settings worked immediately, without a screen refresh/update issue...

Not sure what "compiz-manager" is, and why "Desktop Effects" doesn't work with ccsm, and why compiz-manager and desktop effects are not the same thing, nor do they seem to work together... It's a bit confusing to me.

disjointed · #6 30th October 2010, 10:42 PM

'compiz-manager' is just a special script to start compiz with 'proper' options. It detects nvidia card and sets corresponding environment for compiz.

Vector · #7 31st October 2010, 08:59 PM

What's funny, is that on this third computer that i'm setting up for a friend, everything i said in my last post is backwards. To get it to work on this third computer, i have to disable "Desktop Effects" and just put "compiz-manager" in my startup apps. This is what caused screen refresh issues on my other 2 computers, but it's fine on this one...

So, it would seem that there are a few ways to get this damned thing working... Hopefully that helps anyone else with this problem.

Thanx all, for your help.

skyxn3t · #8 10th November 2010, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vector

What's funny, is that on this third computer that i'm setting up for a friend, everything i said in my last post is backwards. To get it to work on this third computer, i have to disable "Desktop Effects" and just put "compiz-manager" in my startup apps. This is what caused screen refresh issues on my other 2 computers, but it's fine on this one...

So, it would seem that there are a few ways to get this damned thing working... Hopefully that helps anyone else with this problem.

Thanx all, for your help.

Hey,

I have a similar problem with Fedora 14 x86_64, scrolling in web browsers lags and it's choppy, watching youtube or streaming videos in Full Screen in any web browser lags and becomes very slow. I also notice lags whenever I move or resize Windows. I've installed nvidia using Leighs guide and it loads correctly. I have compiz + effects enabled.

Where you able to solve this problem, if so what exactly did you do?

Vector · #9 10th November 2010, 10:51 PM

You quoted exactly what i did to fix it on one computer. You've got to trial and error between compiz-manager and destop effects.

skyxn3t · #10 10th November 2010, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vector

You quoted exactly what i did to fix it on one computer. You've got to trial and error between compiz-manager and destop effects.

I'm not sure but I think installing the compiz-manager wrapper startup script from the repositories and removing fusion-icon from the startup applications might have fixed the problem. I will continue testing to see if it was actually fixed or not and reply back. Thanks for the tips...