Very recently, something happened to my video definitions/card and now almost any screen update is “sliced” into horizontal short lines.
This is very visible in videos, but happens with everything.
It’s as if the screen updates in “pixel-chunks” instead of by individual pixels.
Does this only happen on-screen or also in screenshots? (just humour me and take a screenshot and look at the screenshot on another computer / your phone)
Can I have the contents of all the files in /etc/X11/mhwd.d/ too, please?
Have you tried this on one monitor only?
Probably unrelated to your issue but please read this…
Thanks for your response.
I tried capturing the “hiccups”, but they don’t get captured. I even tried recording the screen with OBS, but the video comes out clean. So nothing with any value to share here.
What do you mean by “one monitor”?
My setup consists of a Lenovo T14, connected to a Lenovo docking station, which is connected to the other two monitors.
The “line stutter” happens on all screens, including the built-in laptop screen.
What is the test you’d like me to do?
There’s nothing in /etc/X11/mhwd.d. The folder exists, but it’s empty.
Thanks for the comment about swap. I’ll look into it.
You need to logout and login for it to take effect, or preferably reboot after making the changes.
I can only vouch for 60Hz and 75Hz refresh rates, as I do not have a 144Hz (or higher) monitor in my possession. Not sure how this can translate for multiple monitors, or if you need to define a Screen section.
As @Fabby alluded, you can run a test without the dock or any externally connected monitors, and see if there’s a notable difference by using the laptop monitor exclusively, as a process of elimination (with and without the above option for triple buffering.)
Since you’re using KDE, another place to look that can be used in conjunction with the driver settings is under Settings → Display and Monitor → Compositor
Here’s another piece of information that might be useful:
I tried to changed the “Rendering Backend” from OpenGL 2.0 to 3.0, and the display became very slow to respond.
This is something that’s been happening recently, so I knew how to solve it:
I opened the “Display configuration”, and rearranged my screens, moving the leftmost screen (the laptop screen) to the right of the other two screens, and applied the changed. Display went back to normal. I then moved the laptop screen back to its original place (leftmost) and applied. Display is good.
I’ve seen this issue (Slow display response) happen recently multiple times, after playing games.
Making a significant change to the display, makes the display come back to life.
Not sure what all this means, but I’m assuming it’s all related.
BTW, switching to OpenGL 3.0 didn’t fix the “breakup” bug.
That’s awesome to hear! It doesn’t have to pre-pend with “99-”, but I use “99” to sort of mark the custom files I created manually, rather than those that are included in a distro/package (e.g, “10-”, “20-”, “40-”).
I also employ this little trick to be able to migrate or review my custom system-wide configs.
Perhaps changes in driver development, and a combination of GPU, monitor, kernel, etc? I tend to have the best results with it on Intel graphics.
Therefore, I’ve marked this answer as the solution to your question as it is by far the best answer you’ll get.
However, if you disagree with my choice, please feel free to take any other answer as the solution to your question or even remove the solution altogether: You are in control! (If you disagree with my choice, just send me a personal message and explain why I shouldn’t have done this or or if you agree)
P.S. In the future, please don’t forget to come back to your question after your issue has been solved and click the 3 dots below the answer to mark a solution like this below the answer that helped you most:
so that the next person that has the exact same problem you just had will benefit from your post as well as your question will now be in the “solved” status.
I was reluctant to mark it, as I’m not 100% sure it’s fixed yet.
But I guess your approach it more practical. If I see that it’s not resolved, I’ll come back and unmark the solution.