Update to 21.10 breaks stability on external displays

[n-hebert]

Distribution (run cat /etc/os-release):
NAME="Pop!_OS"
VERSION="21.10"
ID=pop
ID_LIKE="ubuntu debian"
PRETTY_NAME="Pop!_OS 21.10"
VERSION_ID="21.10"
HOME_URL="https://pop.system76.com"
SUPPORT_URL="https://support.system76.com"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://github.com/pop-os/pop/issues"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://system76.com/privacy"
VERSION_CODENAME=impish
UBUNTU_CODENAME=impish
LOGO=distributor-logo-pop-os

Related Application and/or Package Version (run apt policy $PACKAGE NAME):

?

Issue/Bug Description:
On the latest update, connections to external displays are very flaky. They do not enable without considerable effort to connect them (read: repeated attempts to connect to the display via various means) and beyond this fault, they do not store settings thoroughly (display resolutions and screen layouts get forgotten after the reconnect does succeed).

Steps to reproduce (if you know):

1. Upgrade to 21.10
2. Connect in a mini Display Port device (HDMI untested, I convert from miniDP to HDMI)
3. Turn on the computer / resume from suspend / wake from blank screen

Expected behavior:
The external monitor turns on, as normal (worked in last rev - 20.04)

Other Notes:

• Hitting Super+P and choosing "Join" until the monitor comes on works here.
• Monitor is a Samsung U32J590
• Model is an Oryx Pro (oryp8)

[leviport]

Hmm, I haven't seen this running 21.10 on my oryp6 over the last few months. Which generation Oryx do you have? And which graphics mode is it set in? Hybrid mode is still not optimal for use with external displays, so I'd recommend trying Nvidia mode for that.

[n-hebert]

It's an oryp8.

How do you find the graphics settings on 21.10? It used to be in the top menu by power, but it's gone now.

[leviport]

It hasn't moved, so if you don't see it, that might point towards the issue. Let's try reinstalling the Nvidia driver:

sudo apt purge ~nnvidia
sudo apt clean && sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt install system76-driver-nvidia

then reboot

[n-hebert]

Hm! Then this bug might be nvidia installation status and preference are lost upon upgrade.

I'll try that!

[n-hebert]

I followed these steps but the options to change to Nvidia are still missing.

nicholas@rewind-oryx-pro:~$ sudo apt list  --installed | grep nvidia  |wc -l

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

25

[leviport]

Just to clarify, what do you see when the battery drop-down is opened?

[n-hebert]

Oh - I see that I need to update to a new brain model -- mine doesn't store memories so good 😉

Bug still persists. Given that this was a misread on the user side, I would actually wager it maintained the nvidia status across the upgrade. journalctl -xb -1 (prior to following the steps) has 95 hits for nvidia. If one is more authoritative than the other (a line where the display driver is selected authoritatively, I can quote you what it says).

[n-hebert]

This is still occurring several upgrades and reboots later.

It seems worse on the DisplayPort output than HDMI, but that could be random sampling errors.

I also notice the screen is turning off every 60s which is aggravating this issue. The "Dim Screen When Inactive" feature being disabled does not seem to change that.

[jacobgkau]

Does this issue occur in a live disk, or in the Recovery partition (space bar during boot)?

[n-hebert]

I'm running PopOS installed to disk.

I can try the Recovery part later.