My panel gets patches

[aes2011]

Mint 11, Main edition, Gnome with Gnome effects turned off....

I'm having a small problem and I don't know the cause. I've noticed that the area of the panel which contains the date and time, Connection Status and Update Manager icons, and a few other applets (temperature, CPU usage, read/write to hard disk) gets black patches that can get progressively worse and obscure the notification area, icons and applets.

I'm trying to put up three images which are all of the lowest right hand corner of my screen.

Is there some way I can know what's going on or at least get the screen to redraw/refresh? I'm not been using Mint long enough to make proper correlations (cause and effect). And I think that sometimes the black patches reduce by themselves but don't go away altogether after appearing.

I had posted inxi -F information here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 14#p455614

If there's anymore information that may help troubleshoot, please ask along with instructions on how to provide it.

[wyrdoak]

see if this helps, in your terminal
Type

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#echo N> /sys/module/drm_kms_helper/parameters/poll

This should drastically reduce the system load and put your system back to normal.
Note that this will only be sustained till system reboot. After reboot the value will revert back to poll=Y
For a sustained effect:

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#echo "options drm_kms_helper poll=N">/etc/modprobe.d/local.conf

[aes2011]

see if this helps, in your terminal ...
...

Hi, thanks for your reply but the black patches seemed to be absent ever since I complained here. I've bookmarked your suggestions and will try them if there's a recurrence. Thanks once again

[aes2011]

see if this helps, in your terminal
Type

Code: Select all

#echo N> /sys/module/drm_kms_helper/parameters/poll

This should drastically reduce the system load and put your system back to normal.
Note that this will only be sustained till system reboot. After reboot the value will revert back to poll=Y
For a sustained effect:

Code: Select all

#echo "options drm_kms_helper poll=N">/etc/modprobe.d/local.conf

Okay, a patch has appeared. But typing the two commands gives me:
aes@Dell1545 ~ $ echo "options drm_kms_helper poll=N">/etc/modprobe.d/local.conf
bash: /etc/modprobe.d/local.conf: Permission denied
aes@Dell1545 ~ $
aes@Dell1545 ~ $ echo N> /sys/module/drm_kms_helper/parameters/poll
bash: /sys/module/drm_kms_helper/parameters/poll: Permission denied
aes@Dell1545 ~ $

[cecar]

You have to sudo those commands.

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#sudo echo N> /sys/module/drm_kms_helper/parameters/poll

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#sudo echo "options drm_kms_helper poll=N">/etc/modprobe.d/local.conf

[aes2011]

You have to sudo those commands.

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#sudo echo N> /sys/module/drm_kms_helper/parameters/poll

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#sudo echo "options drm_kms_helper poll=N">/etc/modprobe.d/local.conf

Thanks, cecar, but I must be doing something wrong. I still get the same permission denied message.

BTW, I left the computer idle for a while, and got the Mint screen with the login panel. After logging in, the patches are gone. So that's one way to get rid of them!

[wyrdoak]

try this, $ symbol is a user command in the terminal the # symbol is a root command.
so try this

$ su
it will ask for your pasword

then you will see the #

#

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sudo echo N> /sys/module/drm_kms_helper/parameters/poll

#

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sudo echo "options drm_kms_helper poll=N">/etc/modprobe.d/local.conf

for fun read this about Intel video and kernel 2.6.35 and above.
http://souriguha.wordpress.com/2011/03/ ... 2-35-2-36/

[aes2011]

try this, $ symbol is a user command in the terminal the # symbol is a root command.
so try this

$ su
it will ask for your pasword

then you will see the #

#

Code: Select all

sudo echo N> /sys/module/drm_kms_helper/parameters/poll

#

Code: Select all

sudo echo "options drm_kms_helper poll=N">/etc/modprobe.d/local.conf

for fun read this about Intel video and kernel 2.6.35 and above.
http://souriguha.wordpress.com/2011/03/ ... 2-35-2-36/

Thanks for the clarification. I managed to enter both the commands and each time, after hitting "enter", I just got the # prompt which presumably means that this time things went okay.

However, there was no visible change on my screen.

I read the link you provided and I'm not sure that my system is being overloaded in any way. I have the temperature and CPU applets in my panel and they don't seem to be at alarming levels. Nor does "top" throw up significant CPU usage. Also, there are no other freezes or delays in mouse activity, scrolling etc. It's just those patches. I can make them go away in parts by clicking panel items in their vicinity. That's the solution that's working for me though it shouldn't be needed in the first place.

[aes2011]

One way to get rid of the patches is to right-click on a blank space in the panel (which is the bottom panel), click "channel properties" and choose a "top" location. This moves the panel to the top and "redraws" the area at the bottom. Next, choose the "bottom" location again and the patches are gone.

BTW, the color of the patches is the same as the background color.

[AlbertP]

Often just a simple reboot takes everything back to normal working. Or perhaps it's your graphics driver. Please post the output of:

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inxi -Gx

[aes2011]

Often just a simple reboot takes everything back to normal working. Or perhaps it's your graphics driver. Please post the output of:

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inxi -Gx

Thanks for your interest

Here's the output:

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aes@Dell1545 ~ $ inxi -G
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller 
           X.Org: 1.10.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express Chipset GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 7.10.2
aes@Dell1545 

[AlbertP]

This should be OK. I have no idea what else can cause your graphics problems.

[aes2011]

This should be OK. I have no idea what else can cause your graphics problems.

Thank you! In any case, it's not a serious problem since it is restricted to the "panel" area and I can make it go away each time it appears.