I’ve been struggling with and troubleshooting this issue for more than a week now, with no success whatsoever.
Apologies for the lengthy post, but I do want to offer as much information as possible. Let me start with a bit of a background.
While I’m no expert, actually quite the opposite - I’m a bit of a noob - I am pretty good at searching the web and pasting the right commands into the terminal, so I’ve managed to run Linx for the past few years, having had zero training in the matter. My specific needs as a photographer, gamer and video editor, coupled with the fact that I’ve been using Optimus laptops since 2018, which can be finnicky to set up, have always made me rather aware of and specific about what and how I install on my machine. That is to say I’ve been running a vanilla Arch installation with zero issues since the fall of 2022.
All of the sudden, about a week and a half ago, after Arch updated to Gnome 44, I started having screen tearing and stuttering in Albion Online, a native Linux, OpenGL game. I run the game via Steam and I use prime-run as a launch option. I also tried Crusader Kings III, yet another Linux native game, this time running on Vulkan and, yep… the issue remains.
I thought that was really odd, since I hadn’t had any tearing issues on my Optimus laptops running Linux since 2020.
While proving unnecessary prior to this issue, I tried adding nvidia_drm.modeset=1 as a kernel parameter in grub, but that didn’t help. I then tried installing xf86-video-intel as a hail mary, because I read somewhere that it had helped someone else facing a similar issue. Sure enough, that did nothing, so I uninstalled it.
Then I thought I’d add the modules nvidia, nvidia_modeset, nvidia_uvm and nvidia_drm to the initramfs to make them load early, but nothing helped.
That’s about all I could find and all I could think of trying.
Now I thought I’d try to at least find out what causes this and I think I narrowed it down to the culprit being either or both Gnome 44/Kernel 6.3.1. But my money’s on Gnome 44.
Let me explain how I came to this conclusion. I installed the latest Manjaro Gnome image which ships with Gnome 43, kernel 6.1, and nvidia-530. I tested Albion and it ran just fine. I then updated the kernel to 6.3.0 and yet again, the game ran just fine. I then updated to the testing branch which installed Gnome 44 and kernel 6.3.1 and sure enought it’s now that the issues started manifesting.
FWIW, I should also mention that I gave Nobaro Project a try which uses Gnome 43 and kernel 6.2 and sure enough, the issue is not present.
Here’s my system:
System:
Kernel: 6.3.2-arch1-1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.1.1
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-linux
root=UUID=8faf7ad9-ac09-4191-ac2b-7b8ae2a65e50 rw rootfstype=ext4
nvidia_drm.modeset=1 loglevel=3
Desktop: GNOME v: 44.1 tk: GTK v: 3.24.37 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM v: 44.1
Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 82JM v: Legion 5 17ITH6H
serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 v: Legion 5 17ITH6H
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: NO DPK serial: <superuser required>
UEFI: LENOVO v: H1CN52WW date: 11/15/2022
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 80.1 Wh (96.0%) condition: 83.4/80.0 Wh (104.3%)
volts: 17.1 min: 15.4 model: Celxpert L20C4PC2 type: Li-poly
serial: <filter> status: full cycles: 8
CPU:
Info: model: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Tiger Lake gen: core 11 level: v4 note: check built: 2020
process: Intel 10nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8D (141) stepping: 1
microcode: 0x44
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 640 KiB desc: d-8x48 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 10 MiB desc: 8x1.2 MiB
L3: 24 MiB desc: 1x24 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 2111 high: 2300 min/max: 800/4600 scaling:
driver: intel_pstate governor: performance cores: 1: 2300 2: 2300 3: 1972
4: 1459 5: 2300 6: 2300 7: 1180 8: 2300 9: 2300 10: 2300 11: 2300 12: 1569
13: 2300 14: 2300 15: 2300 16: 2300 bogomips: 73744
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 / Automatic 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 TigerLake-H GT1 [UHD Graphics] vendor: Lenovo driver: i915
v: kernel arch: Gen-12.1 process: Intel 10nm built: 2020-21 ports:
active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DP-4, DP-5, HDMI-A-1
bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a60 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA GA106M [GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile / Max-Q] vendor: Lenovo
driver: nvidia v: 530.41.03 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 530.xx+
status: current (as of 2023-05) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx
process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
lanes: 16 ports: active: none empty: DP-6, DP-7, HDMI-A-2, eDP-2
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2560 class-ID: 0300
Device-3: Syntek Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-6:3 chip-ID: 174f:2459
class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.1
compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia
alternate: fbdev,intel,nouveau,nv,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :1
screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-size: <missing: xdpyinfo>
Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x449d built: 2018 res: 1920x1080
hz: 144 dpi: 128 gamma: 1.2 size: 382x215mm (15.04x8.46")
diag: 438mm (17.3") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
API: OpenGL Message: Unable to show GL data. Required tool glxinfo
missing.
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake-H HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel alternate: snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
chip-ID: 8086:43c8 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: NVIDIA GA106 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1
chip-ID: 10de:228e class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.3.2-arch1-1 status: kernel-api tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.70 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:43f0 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Lenovo driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
port: 3000 bus-ID: 58:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp88s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-14:6 chip-ID: 8087:0026
class-ID: e001
Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: down bt-service: disabled
rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: see --recommends
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 2.98 TiB used: 1.51 TiB (50.7%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung
model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 250GB size: 232.89 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 2B2QEXM7 temp: 41.9 C scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:3 vendor: SK Hynix model: HFS001TDE9X084N
size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 41010C22 temp: 41.9 C
scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD10SPZX-60Z10T0 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B type: USB rev: 3.0 spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1
tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 9128 scheme: MBR
ID-4: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Seagate model: ST1000DM010-2EP102
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: USB
rev: 3.0 spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 tech: HDD rpm: 7200
serial: <filter> fw-rev: 9128 scheme: MBR
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 232.38 GiB size: 227.68 GiB (97.97%)
used: 19.92 GiB (8.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-2: /boot raw-size: 511 MiB size: 510 MiB (99.80%) used: 95 MiB (18.6%)
fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 341 Uptime: 6m wakeups: 1 Memory: available: 31.14 GiB
used: 5.44 GiB (17.5%) Init: systemd v: 253 default: graphical
tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 13.1.1 Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 930
libs: 300 tools: gnome-software,pamac,yay pm: flatpak pkgs: 0 Shell: Bash
v: 5.1.16 running-in: kgx inxi: 3.3.27
I would be very grateful for any tips, because I’m at a complete loss.
Thanks in advance