Score:0

Frequent screen flicker after kernel update

th flag

Been running Ubuntu for many years. After kernel 5.8.0.55 update to 5.8.0.59 screen flickers once or twice a second. It's variable but is continuous. Rebooted into kernel 5.8.0.55 and all is well. New kernel update arrives 5.8.0.63 flickers as above continuously. Reverted to kernel 5.8.0.55 and all is well. Tried changing from Nvidia to Nouveau driver but no difference, flickering continues same as before.Also changed to Wayland driver but no improvement. Latest kernel update Kernel 5.11.0.25 no improvement. Returning to kernel 5.8.0.55 and all is fine.

This happened before with Ubuntu 16.04 kernel 4.15. Upgraded kernel myself to 4.19 and no more flickering until 20.04lts kernel 5.8.0.59 & higher.

For now I continue with Kernel 5.8.0.55 as it is working perfectly re screen flicker.Kernels prior to 5.8.0.55 were fine too.

If anyone has a clue here I'd be very grateful if you could share it. I've tried the Intel mod but that didn't work. As can be seen above it's a kernel problem. Just to say I'm using the hwe kernel version and have been for years.

Using this on a Notebook Asus N550J. 16gb ram.

cheers

Terrance avatar
id flag
What is the output of `dkms status`?
Kesselkopf avatar
th flag
HI, I've entered 'sudo dkms status', the cursor just moves to the next line for next command i.e. nothing happens & no list or result appears.
Terrance avatar
id flag
The driver for the NVIDIA is not being carried over into the new kernel versions. If you install the NVIDIA drivers from the default repositories instead of from NVIDIA they survive kernel updates / upgrades. I would recommend removing the existing drivers you have then installing from the repos by doing `sudo apt install nividia-driver-470`
Terrance avatar
id flag
BTW, `dkms` is for Dynamic Kernel Module Support so when you have a driver that is installed using dkms it is carried over.
Kesselkopf avatar
th flag
Not been using Nvidia drivers for about 2 months now. Only using Wayland. When I was using Nvidia was via Additional Hardware route.
Kesselkopf avatar
th flag
Using X.Org X server - Nouveau driver...
Terrance avatar
id flag
So which one are you currently using? Wayland or X.Org?
Kesselkopf avatar
th flag
Appears to be both - in Additional Drivers shows X.Org X Server chosen plus on login page Wayland is enabled.
Kesselkopf avatar
th flag
Conclusion: Uninstalled HWE kernel versions, no difference. HWE is a bit bleeding edge anyway and don't need it for my 2016 laptop. Also uninstalled .59, .63.& 5.11 kernels. Now have the .55 Generic kernel and all is working as expected. Kernel updates for Generic versions hopefully will be fine. So that concludes this exercise for me. Thanks to Terrance for his input. Cheers y'all!
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