Screen flickering in my Asus Extensa 215-54

Dear All

I have a weird screen flickering issue with my laptop. Due to the flickering issue I have changed the OS in the laptop from Windows to Linux thinking that there may be a display driver issue. I have used Endeavour OS , Fedora and finally settled on my favorite Garuda OS. In all the distros there was no flickering issue. But today the flickering started in my Garuda OS and I had to force shut down the system.

Here my Garuda Inxi

System:
Kernel: 5.19.13-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=4d8c04f6-36f8-4520-bf7f-5bd54fdff568 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
loglevel=3
Console: pty pts/0 wm: kwin_x11 DM: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux
base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Extensa 215-54 v: V1.29 serial: <filter>
Mobo: TGL model: Jameson_TL v: V1.29 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde
v: 1.29 date: 07/01/2022
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 38.4 Wh (93.9%) condition: 40.9/41.6 Wh (98.5%)
volts: 13.0 min: 11.2 model: LGC AP19B8K type: Li-ion serial: <filter>
status: charging cycles: 190
CPU:
Info: model: 11th Gen Intel Core i3-1115G4 socket: U3E1 bits: 64
type: MT MCP arch: Tiger Lake gen: core 11 level: v4 note: check
built: 2020 process: Intel 10nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8C (140)
stepping: 1 microcode: 0xA4
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 160 KiB desc: d-2x48 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 2.5 MiB desc: 2x1.2 MiB
L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 2751 high: 3000 min/max: 400/4100 base/boost: 3000/4100
scaling: driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave volts: 0.8 V
ext-clock: 100 MHz cores: 1: 3000 2: 2006 3: 3000 4: 3000 bogomips: 23961
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities:
Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
Type: l1tf status: Not affected
Type: mds status: Not affected
Type: meltdown status: Not affected
Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
Type: retbleed status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
prctl
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB
filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake-LP GT2 [UHD Graphics G4] vendor: Acer
Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-12.1
process: Intel 10nm built: 2020-21 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: HDMI-A-1
bus-ID: 0000:00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a78 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Quanta HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-8:3
chip-ID: 0408:a061 class-ID: 0e02
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.4 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.3
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
alternate: fbdev,intel,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22")
s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: ChiMei InnoLux 0x15f5 built: 2017 res: 1920x1080
hz: 60 dpi: 142 gamma: 1.2 size: 344x193mm (13.54x7.6") diag: 394mm (15.5")
ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (TGL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.1.7
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated
ALI driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl
alternate: snd_hda_intel,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3
chip-ID: 8086:a0c8 class-ID: 0401
Sound API: ALSA v: k5.19.13-zen1-1-zen running: yes
Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.59 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
bus-ID: 0000:00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:a0f0 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000
bus-ID: 0000:01:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: anbox0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) type: USB
driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-10:4 chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001
Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: down
bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
address: <filter>
RAID:
Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller driver: vmd
v: 0.6 port: N/A bus-ID: 0000:00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a0b rev:
class-ID: 0104
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 178.85 GiB (19.2%)
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: MQ04ABF100
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B sata: 3.3
speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 2J temp: 31 C
scheme: GPT
SMART: yes state: enabled health: PASSED on: 82d 6h cycles: 528 Old-Age:
g-sense error rate: 1682
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 268.94 GiB size: 268.94 GiB (100.00%) used: 45.11 GiB
(16.8%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sda7 maj-min: 8:7
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 100 MiB size: 96 MiB (96.00%) used: 42.5 MiB
(44.3%) fs: vfat block-size: 512 B dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 268.94 GiB size: 268.94 GiB (100.00%) used: 45.11
GiB (16.8%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sda7 maj-min: 8:7
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 268.94 GiB size: 268.94 GiB (100.00%) used: 45.11
GiB (16.8%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sda7 maj-min: 8:7
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 268.94 GiB size: 268.94 GiB (100.00%) used: 45.11
GiB (16.8%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sda7 maj-min: 8:7
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 11.47 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 239 Uptime: 46m wakeups: 4476 Memory: 11.47 GiB used: 4.57 GiB
(39.8%) Init: systemd v: 251 default: graphical tool: systemctl
Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1376 libs: 364
tools: octopi,paru Shell: garuda-inxi (sudo) default: Bash v: 5.1.16
running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.22
Garuda (2.6.8-1):
System install date:     2022-10-07
Last full system update: 2022-10-12
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       NetworkManager
Windows dual boot:       Yes
Snapshots:               Snapper
Failed units:            systemd-networkd-wait-online.service

Also note that the flickering issue still persist if I use Windows in this machine. As soon as I login to Windows the screen starts flickering.

Any help will be appreciated.

Your BIOS version looks relatively recent, but still I would take a peek and see if there have been any updates released. If a newer BIOS version offers bug fixes I would take it.

I would recommend testing out some other kernels. Most likely when you were running these other distros, you were using a different kernel. Try the “vanilla” kernel; first bring your system fully up to date:

garuda-update

Then install the kernel and headers:

sudo pacman -S linux linux-headers

You can boot to your new kernel by selecting advanced boot options in the Grub menu.

Other good kernels to test would be the LTS kernel (older kernel version) or the mainline kernel (newer kernel version).

4 Likes

Here is an uneducated guess: Maybe your display is flickering if your system is hot or overheating. Go to Garuda Assistant, disable all performance options, apply and wait to see if the display flickers.

1 Like

I tested with different kernels, after the first encounter in garuda linux, I have not encountered the issue for the second time.
But I decided to change the distro to OpenSUSE and there the issue still exists. While I am working randomly the screen flickers. In my two days of using OpenSUSE atleast 5 times the screen flickered. Now I am back to Garuda and will see if the problem arises again.

Dear All

I have noticed something about the error. The error only occur when there is heavy load on the RAM.
@BluishHumility @dr460nf1r3 - Could this be because of a faulty RAM in my system ??

Yes.

Test your ram with MemTest86 or similar and see if any issues are detected.

1 Like

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