Over the past few weeks I've had loads of issues with what now seem to be driver related problems. Some have sorted themselves out but I can't be sure if they will re-occur.
I use Ubuntu 20.04 and use MATE.
Here is a list of problems I've currently got:
1: --- Display lag / sudden low frame rate intervals even when the system isn’t busy
This issue is very noticeable when gaming or watching videos, but it isn't there the whole time. One way of explaining it is when you drag a window about, rather than being smooth, it appears jerky as if the frame rate is low. If I get the system to display the FPS rate, it is totally fine, so it is clearly the display output that is the problem. This experience is awful with fast paced gaming and watching videos is annoying at times too. I'm not 100% certain, but it seemed that when I have 2 monitors connected (which I don't want or have the space for), the display lag never seems to happen. I usually just use 1 monitor with HDMI, but weather I use DVI or HDMI, if I just use one monitor, that is when this problem is here. If I connect both and turn one off, the other one interestingly doesn't seem to have the problem then.
2: --- Tearing with horizontal movement
This happens all the time with everything weather I use one or 2 monitors. Usually a rather wide bar going the entire width of the screen whenever there is any horizontal movement. Again, horrible in gaming and videos. It is also noticeable when doing things as simple as dragging a window around and it just looks to be ripping badly. The tearing line isn't always in the same location, but there is always at least 1 somewhere horizontally.
3: --- Loads of errors when I attempt any changes at Additional Drivers (has been the case for many months)
I'm really hoping that this will be the issue and that someone can advice me how to sort this issue out. Any time I attempt to change the drivers, the error messages in this picture pop up:
It is stuck using the drivers the blue dot highlights. Not sure if this is related though. I used to be able to change this many months back and testing open source or some others likely will help prove if this certainly is a driver problem.
Some problems seem to have sorted themselves out in the past few days, but I may as well mention them in case anyone knows if they are likely to have been related to this.
--- In game brightness wasn't adjustable via the toggle when using the native resolution
Some of the games I play have an in-game brightness control. And until whatever sorted this issue out, the in-game brightness control had no effect at all It was as if i enabled OpenGL in the game which states you then can only control the brightness from your graphics card program which was indeed my case. However, if I added another monitor making the system resolution 3840x1080 and played the game full screen in just one screen (so 1920x1080), i then had full control of the brightness, but if i set it to fullscreen across both, it had the issue again. It seemed it just wouldn't go to the system's set resolution without disabling my ability to control the brightness and it was just way too dark to play. If I set the game to any resolution lower than the native, it also would then allow me to change brightness in full screen but it then looked grainy.
--- Blank screen at Login
The system also had a problem that although I found away around it at the time and it seems solved now, it again seemed related to all this. A blank screen at login - unless I used 2 monitors!
It was simply a black screen with the cursor and nothing else. I saw all the boot up information so knew my monitor was connected. The way around this was to do Ctrl+Alt+F1 and enter the command line and without even needing to login there, just leave it and the login screen appears. Even if you left it as a blank screen, logging in did work, but I couldn't see my desktop until I entered and left the command line. If I connected another monitor via DVI on boot-up, both monitors always worked. But it seemed the DVI one was primary at the time as that showed the log in screen while my main one just showed the purple screen with the ubuntu logo in the middle. So I either had to use 2 monitors and switch to my main one via Nvidia control panel every time or use the command line to log in. But luckily this problem seems to have gone now.
Both the 2 problems above lasted a coupe of weeks but all of them other than being stuck with the selected drivers started at the same time several weeks back.
Anyhow, all these problems look to be related to nvidia and one of them certainly seems to be related to my PC possibly assuming I have more than 1 monitor connected. The tearing and lagging problem is very confusing but I hope that too will be related to the drivers issue.
My system is pretty hard to use at the moment a lot of the time so would much appreciate some help!
Many thanks
I use Ubuntu 20.04 and use MATE.
Here is a list of problems I've currently got:
1: --- Display lag / sudden low frame rate intervals even when the system isn’t busy
This issue is very noticeable when gaming or watching videos, but it isn't there the whole time. One way of explaining it is when you drag a window about, rather than being smooth, it appears jerky as if the frame rate is low. If I get the system to display the FPS rate, it is totally fine, so it is clearly the display output that is the problem. This experience is awful with fast paced gaming and watching videos is annoying at times too. I'm not 100% certain, but it seemed that when I have 2 monitors connected (which I don't want or have the space for), the display lag never seems to happen. I usually just use 1 monitor with HDMI, but weather I use DVI or HDMI, if I just use one monitor, that is when this problem is here. If I connect both and turn one off, the other one interestingly doesn't seem to have the problem then.
2: --- Tearing with horizontal movement
This happens all the time with everything weather I use one or 2 monitors. Usually a rather wide bar going the entire width of the screen whenever there is any horizontal movement. Again, horrible in gaming and videos. It is also noticeable when doing things as simple as dragging a window around and it just looks to be ripping badly. The tearing line isn't always in the same location, but there is always at least 1 somewhere horizontally.
3: --- Loads of errors when I attempt any changes at Additional Drivers (has been the case for many months)
I'm really hoping that this will be the issue and that someone can advice me how to sort this issue out. Any time I attempt to change the drivers, the error messages in this picture pop up:
It is stuck using the drivers the blue dot highlights. Not sure if this is related though. I used to be able to change this many months back and testing open source or some others likely will help prove if this certainly is a driver problem.
Some problems seem to have sorted themselves out in the past few days, but I may as well mention them in case anyone knows if they are likely to have been related to this.
--- In game brightness wasn't adjustable via the toggle when using the native resolution
Some of the games I play have an in-game brightness control. And until whatever sorted this issue out, the in-game brightness control had no effect at all It was as if i enabled OpenGL in the game which states you then can only control the brightness from your graphics card program which was indeed my case. However, if I added another monitor making the system resolution 3840x1080 and played the game full screen in just one screen (so 1920x1080), i then had full control of the brightness, but if i set it to fullscreen across both, it had the issue again. It seemed it just wouldn't go to the system's set resolution without disabling my ability to control the brightness and it was just way too dark to play. If I set the game to any resolution lower than the native, it also would then allow me to change brightness in full screen but it then looked grainy.
--- Blank screen at Login
The system also had a problem that although I found away around it at the time and it seems solved now, it again seemed related to all this. A blank screen at login - unless I used 2 monitors!
It was simply a black screen with the cursor and nothing else. I saw all the boot up information so knew my monitor was connected. The way around this was to do Ctrl+Alt+F1 and enter the command line and without even needing to login there, just leave it and the login screen appears. Even if you left it as a blank screen, logging in did work, but I couldn't see my desktop until I entered and left the command line. If I connected another monitor via DVI on boot-up, both monitors always worked. But it seemed the DVI one was primary at the time as that showed the log in screen while my main one just showed the purple screen with the ubuntu logo in the middle. So I either had to use 2 monitors and switch to my main one via Nvidia control panel every time or use the command line to log in. But luckily this problem seems to have gone now.
Both the 2 problems above lasted a coupe of weeks but all of them other than being stuck with the selected drivers started at the same time several weeks back.
Anyhow, all these problems look to be related to nvidia and one of them certainly seems to be related to my PC possibly assuming I have more than 1 monitor connected. The tearing and lagging problem is very confusing but I hope that too will be related to the drivers issue.
My system is pretty hard to use at the moment a lot of the time so would much appreciate some help!
Many thanks
