Nvidia - KDE and tearing

[steveblezy]

Hello, just looking for a little information if it is available. It is in regards to the video tearing with Nvidia and KDE.

I am currently running Mint Sylvia KDE and have the nvidia proprietary drivers installed. The card is a K2000m in a dell M4700.The drivers are the latest396. In the past I have tried a few different Nvidia drivers and they all seem to have the same issue with video tearing. After countless hours of searching on the internet regarding this topic and trying countless things, I have found nothing that seems to work.

Does anyone have any suggestions? It is not a "deal breaker" but damn,it would be nice to find a solution for this issue. Any info would be helpful.

Steve

[catweazel]

Does anyone have any suggestions?

First, try this: viewtopic.php?t=129879

Post back if you still have tearing.

[steveblezy]

Well, i gave that a try. I added the line
Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x1"
to my already existing xorg.conf file and rebooted.
Under the powermizer tab, I am at performance level 1 (my options are level 0 or level 1)> letting the computer idle, it remains at level 1, but that did nothing for the video tearing. It is still there as it has always been. Kind looks like an issue of vertical sync to be honest.

Steve

[catweazel]

The next step is to add { ForceFullCompositionPipeline = On } to xorg.conf.

Find the "Screen" section and add it to the end of the Option "metamodes" ... line, like this:

Option "metamodes" "DVI-I-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 { ForceFullCompositionPipeline = On }"

Save the changes and reboot. Note that your "metamodes" line will not look like the one above as that's from my setup.

[steveblezy]

Ok, before I start, regarding the line
Option "metamodes" "DVI-I-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 { ForceFullCompositionPipeline = On }"

Seeing that it is a laptop, do I still use "DVI-I-1" ???? or would it be something like X screen 0

Just curious.

Steve

[steveblezy]

here is a copy paste of my current xorg.conf

There is not section called "metamodes"

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout"
Screen 0 "nvidia"
Inactive "intel"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "intel"
Driver "modesetting"
BusID "PCI:0@0:2:0"
Option "AccelMethod" "None"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "intel"
Device "intel"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia"
Driver "nvidia"
BusID "PCI:1@0:0:0"
Option "ConstrainCursor" "off"
Option "TripleBuffer" "on"

EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "nvidia"
Device "nvidia"
Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "on"
Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "CRT"
EndSection

[catweazel]

Seeing that it is a laptop, do I still use "DVI-I-1" ???? or would it be something like X screen 0

No. As I already explained, find the "Screen" section and add { ForceFullCompositionPipeline = On } to the end of the Option "metamodes" ... line.

It should look like this:

Option "metamodes" "whatever_is_there-now { ForceFullCompositionPipeline = On }"

Note that the added option is to the left of the closing double quote at the end of the line.

[catweazel]

here is a copy paste of my current xorg.conf

Please don't do that. Enclose terminal output or text in-between [ⅽode] and [/ⅽode] code markers by selecting </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply. It's impossible to read otherwise and it takes up unnecessary space.

Don't make the changes I suggested just yet. How did you get or create that xorg.conf?

[steveblezy]

that xorg.conf has always been there from the day that i installed.

The only modification that I have made to it was to add the line
Option "TripleBuffer" "on" sometime last week.

I never created it, It was always present.

Steve

[steveblezy]

In the X11 folder, there is another file called xorg.conf.05292018 with the following contents

Code: Select all

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Default Card 1"
    BusID "PCI:1@0:0:0"
EndSection

Not sure if that is useful information

[catweazel]

In the X11 folder, there is another file called xorg.conf.05292018 with the following contents

Code: Select all

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Default Card 1"
    BusID "PCI:1@0:0:0"
EndSection

Not sure if that is useful information

No, it isn't. Also, please don't post output unless asked. We have to give you all our attention when figuring these things out and the constant appearance of superfluous information is off-putting. It's not a criticism, just a gentle reminder that helping you costs me brain power, and at my age I need all I can get

[catweazel]

I never created it, It was always present.

It can't have been always present. There is no xorg.conf on a clean installation, it's only created in exceptional circumstances. Perhaps you created it while making the other changes you've mentioned and didn't realise. Anyway, issue this terminal command:

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.orig

Then reboot, then start the nvidia X Server Settings manager.
Click on X Server Display Configuration.
In the bottom right-hand corner, click Save to X Configuration File.
In the text box, type /etc/X11/xorg.conf then click save. Note the capital X in X11, and lower case x elsewhere in the line.

Nvidia Settings will ask for your password. Inspect the file you just created for the "metamodes" option. If you find it, repeat all of the instructions that you've followed so far, including the instructions I linked to earlier. After all the changes have been made, reboot.

See how that goes.

[steveblezy]

When I go to "X server display configuration" I have a drop down option.
1. Prime Display (prime displays cannot be controlled by the nvidia-settings and must be configured by an external RandR capable tool. The display is shown in the layout window above for informational purposes only
or
2. X screen 0

For either one, when I click "save to X Configuration File" a dialog box appears saying "failed to generate X Config file! If I click "ok" in that dialog box, and new dialog box titled "Save X Configuration"
with the following path highlited /etc/X11/xorg.conf and a checkbox for "Merge with existing file.

Do you feel that I should continue with the X screen 0 option?

Please note, I can only imagine how confusing this must be for you.

Steve

[steveblezy]

Well, i followed thru with the save (merge) for option 2 (X Screen 0)

rebooted with no issue.

I inspected the xorg.conf file and there still is no "metamodes" option available

Steve

[catweazel]

1. Prime Display (prime displays cannot be controlled by the nvidia-settings and must be configured by an external RandR capable tool.

Crikey, I'm stupid sometimes. I should have checked if this was a hybrid setup. My sincere apologies. This is out of my area of expertise. I recommend a new thread with a subject line of something like "Prime displays and nvidia - screen tearing". It shouldn't matter that you're using KDE so there's no need to put it in the title of the post. In the new post, include the output of this terminal command:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

Enclose the results in-between [ⅽode] and [/ⅽode] code markers by selecting </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply.

Normally I wouldn't recommend a new thread but I fear that everything done so far will simply detract from getting the problem solved quickly.

Again, my apologies for leading you down the garden path with this.

[steveblezy]

No worries

and thanks for the tip regarding enclosing the results in-between [ⅽode] and [/ⅽode]

I am booting without an issue at this time so no harm. Thanks for taking the time to help.

i will start a new thread as I expect it will eventually help out others.

Steve

[catweazel]

Thanks for taking the time to help.

You're very much welcome. I'm just sorry I couldn't resolve it for you.

Cheers.