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Status: Available
Owner: ----
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EstimatedDays: ----
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OS: Linux
Pri: 3
Type: Bug



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Chrome OS (Kernel) - Ubuntu in chroot - Chrome browser flickering bug

Reported by goo...@theflat.gen.nz, Oct 28 2017

Issue description

Chrome Version: 62.0.3202.75 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Chrome OS Version: 

This is a slightly complex one to explain:

1. Running the Chrome browser on a Chromebook via a linux chroot (crouton)
2. There is a known issue with the Chrome browser flickering with specific kernel versions
3. The issue was fixed in the kernel (was related to the i915 video drivers)
4. I don't believe this patch has made its way downstream into Chrome OS and can't be fixed without an update to those drivers.


The kernel driver issue was documented here: 
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=94987

There is an open Chromium bug here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1586539

There was an Ubuntu bug as well, now closed as it was fixed in the kernel:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1586539

Basically it would be great if someone could take a look at recent fixes applied to the drm/i915 drivers in the stable kernel and see if they could be applied to Chrome OS.
 
Just some more information.
So you can replicate this on:

Ubuntu 16.04.3 (running via crouton in a chroot)
Kernel version: 4.4.79-11650-ge987f76b729a
Chrome OS version: 62.0.3202.74 (Platform version: 9901.54.0/1 
Chromebook Hardware: Acer 11 C730

Seems to affect Chromebooks using the i915 drivers - assume intel video chipset.
My particular hardware is:

Video information:

 *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 0e
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:104 memory:d0000000-d03fffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:1000(size=8)

Components: OS>Kernel>Display
Status: Available (was: Unconfirmed)
Components: -OS>Kernel>Display
Labels: -OS-Chrome OS-Linux
That's linux chrome not Chrome OS
Hey Marc - thanks for taking a look at this one. Its kind of both!
So basically the use case is running linux in a chroot on a Chromebook. There is a known issue with the linux kernel drm/i915 video drivers causing flickering in the Chrome browser. They got fixed at some stage (in the latest stable kernel) but I'm assuming if ChromeOS didn't take those changes in downstream the issue will persist. From a Linux distribution POV - Ubuntu has closed the bug now as being fixed in the kernel. Basically I'm looking for wisdom from the Chrome OS developers if they could consider backporting any recent fixes to the i915 drivers (I think the Intel Chipset is quite common in Chromebooks) so that it can be fixed. I know its a bit of an edge case, but from my research it seems like it needs to be fixed in those kernel drivers rather than Chrome/Chromium.

Here is a link to the Chromium bug btw I think in my original bug report I copied the same link twice. This one is still open and I'm hopeful maybe the Chromium project might consider a workaround as well but the primary issue seems to be in those drivers: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=606152
Components: Internals>GPU

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