HDMI output: Visual artifacts and sound problems

[ParaDice]

Hello everyone,

I've had to upgrade recently from Mint 17.3 to 18 (fresh install) and since have encountered problems with HDMI output from my notebook to an external TV screen. If I can start a video at all (sometimes Youtube videos will start loading, but refuse playback), both audio and video are buggy.

First there are some visual artifacts that turn pixels of a certain brightness either green or red (this can be seen most prominently on the default Linux Mint background, which uses a circular gradient, so that all pixels of said brightness form a circle).



The other problem is the sound, which is played at 0.5 times its normal speed.

This is not a cable issue; using other cables will yield the same result. My best guess is that it's a "driver thing" but since I'm still pretty new to Linux, I don't have an idea how to solve this.

I have attached my inxi output for details on the hardware involved.

I would appreciate any hints as to sources or solutions to this problem.

Best wishes,
ParaDice.

Code: Select all

System:    Host: m-h-Notebook-Linux Kernel: 4.4.0-34-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.0.7  Distro: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Machine:   System: Notebook (portable) product: W840AU
           Mobo: Notebook model: W840AU
           Bios: American Megatrends v: 5.6.5 date: 04/01/2015
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i7-5500U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB 
           clock speeds: max: 3000 MHz 1: 2512 MHz 2: 2326 MHz 3: 2744 MHz
           4: 2388 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.05hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 5500 (Broadwell GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0
Audio:     Card-1 Intel Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-2 Intel Broadwell-U Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-34-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: ac:fd:ce:68:45:b1
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169
           IF: enp3s0f1 state: down mac: 80:fa:5b:18:d8:40
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (56.0% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: Samsung_SSD_850 size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 48G used: 7.9G (18%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 54.0C mobo: 12.0C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 209 Uptime: 23 min Memory: 1333.9/7905.8MB
           Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35 

[ParaDice]

Hi there,

I'm back with the same problem.

Since I couldn't fix it under Mint 18, I went back to Mint 17.3, which runs on Kernel version 3.19.0-32. While there were no visual artifacts in the HDMI output, playback suffered from considerable video lag (both with and without HDMI attached), so I updated the Kernel to v 4.4.0-57. This made the lags go away but brought back the artifacts and sound problems described above. So this narrows it down to a "Kernel/driver problem".

Apart from that, I'm still clueless as to how to fix this. Any help would be much appreciated. I like Mint, but if it forces me to choose between video lags and visual artifacts, I guess I'll have to go for a Distro/OS where this just works out of the box.

Here's the new inxi -F output:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: mh-note-lin Kernel: 4.4.0-57-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 2.8.8  Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   Mobo: Notebook model: W840AU
           Bios: American Megatrends v: 5.6.5 date: 04/01/2015
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i7-5500U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB 
           clock speeds: max: 3000 MHz 1: 2000 MHz 2: 1999 MHz 3: 1999 MHz
           4: 1999 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics
           Display Server: X.org 1.17.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           tty size: 80x24 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Audio:     Card-1 Intel Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-2 Intel Broadwell-U Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-57-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: ac:fd:ce:68:45:b1
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: 80:fa:5b:18:d8:40
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (80.5% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: Samsung_SSD_850 size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 48G used: 19G (42%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 27.8C mobo: 12.0C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 262 Uptime: 3:05 Memory: 1223.0/7905.9MB
           Client: Shell (sudo) inxi: 2.2.28

Regards,
ParaDice.

[rbo8383]

This is a known problem with the Intel Integrated Graphics from Bradwell, Braswell and up to Skylake. The i915 driver has major fixes that have not been backported to 4.4 or 4.8 kernels in Mint. Kernel 4.9.6 and up with the new graphics stack for X solves many of these problems, but not all. Hoping they will be backported by Ubuntu so Linuxmint can offer it. In the meantime, the intel web site has an update of the i915 and i965 drivers for Ubuntu 17.04 to be relased in April. I have been havint this problem since Novemver 2016 on an Intel Quad Core N3150 (Braswell) and had to go back to Mint 17.3, or disable hardware video acceleration (Mate has this by default and could be better for you)

[ParaDice]

Hello there,

thank you ever so much for this information! At least now I've got something to work with. If I read our posting correctly (and please, correct me if I didn't), I now have the following options:

• Manually install kernel v4.9.6 (which hasn't been tested with Mint yet and hence might kill my system)
• Hope for the Mint team to backport v4.9.6 (which is safer than the option above, but may or may not happen anytime soon)
• wait for Ubuntu 17.04 and the Mint version built on top of it, which is going to come with v4.9.6 or higher
• install 17.3 (w/ kernel v3.19) with Mate desktop (which comes with disabled hardware acceleration)
• go back to my old v3.19 kernel under Mint 17.3 w/ Cinnamon and manually disable hardware acceleration to get rid of the lags (I presume that's possible?)

For the moment, I would prefer the last option and then wait for the next Mint version which will hopefully come with better drivers. Can somebody tell me if the last option is a viable solution (or even possible)?

[ParaDice]

I've found a solution that works for the moment, so I've come back to share it in case anyone runs into the same problems as I did.

Due to other problems I ran into a couple of days ago, I decided to update the kernel again. I updated from v3.19.0-32 (which is the default version that comes with Mint 17.3) to kernel v3.19.0-79 . And, lo and behold: Everything works as it should! both the visual artifacts/sound problems I experienced under 4.4.0 and the video lags I had under 3.19.0-32 are gone now.

Now, not applying any more changes is the order of the day.

[rbo8383]

To: ParaDice

There is another simpler option to temporarily fix this problem. On Mint 18, simply delete the intel_drv_so driver from the directory /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers. This piece of code is simply used to match the intel chipset on your computer to the graphics rendering capabilities of xorg. Only tested on intel Braswell (aka Cherryview) but should work on all intel <=Gen8 chips, Not tested on multi-graphics or Nvidia setups.

Doing this eliminates the intel chip graphics detection and forces xorg to fallback on the old modesetting. The neat result is you will then get the direct rendering by the intel GPU (mesa) and good performance, while enjoying all the new Mint18 stuff without the artefacts. But you will have to watch your software updates for changes to the x graphics stack that will probably re-install the intel_drv_so driver.

Finally, there ae signs that the new mesa stack and linux kernel fixes for intel will be backported to 16.04 some time soon (a few weeks or months...). A developer at Canonical is working on it.

[Tomsat50]

I sometimes have some random pixels appearing on my HDMI monitor. These are red coloured, and are flickering (like a nightly star sky).
It has a particular random spread pattern, and sometimes a horizontal line of pixels.
At first I was suspecting my monitor, but dependent of the background the pixels disappear (especially when a partially white screen is present).

In addition, I cannot get any sound from the external ports. I only can get audio from the built-in (very small) speaker(s) inside the computer.
I am using Linux Mint Sylvia 18.3, 32 bits version.
This is my system information (Dell Optiplex 760), and I hope that someone can help me with these problems:

inxi -Fxz:
System: Host: OptiPlex-760 Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine: System: Dell product: OptiPlex 760
Mobo: Dell model: 0G919G v: A00 Bios: Dell v: A02 date: 02/18/2009
CPU: Dual core Pentium E5200 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB
flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 9974
clock speeds: max: 2493 MHz 1: 2493 MHz 2: 2493 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Q45/Q43 x86/MMX/SSE2
GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 17.2.8 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card Intel 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-37-generic
Network: Card: Intel 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection
driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: ecc0 bus-ID: 00:19.0
IF: enp0s25 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 80.0GB (14.5% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST380815AS size: 80.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 72G used: 9.0G (14%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.07GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 183 Uptime: 23 min Memory: 744.8/1944.2MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35

Any help is very welcome!

Regards, Tom
The Netherlands

[Tomsat50]

UPDATE: the video problems have been solved, simply by changing the HDMI cable with another one!
The old cable was probably not very well shielded, so I have discarded it.

In addition, I still have the audio problem for which I still have not found a solution.... Hopefully someone can help me out with that...

Regards, Tom
The Netherlands