1004441 - Smeared Fonts and Images with ATI Radeon HD 4800

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Axel Grude [:realRaven]]

Attachment: Smeared contents when scrolling up. Loot like a windows specific BitBlt issue

I believe since the last Tb 29 beta I am getting smeared fonts and also very smeared images in the message preview area when I am scrolling UP my emails. I am under windows and have a ATI Radeon HD 4800 not very new but capable of most 3d games with decent full screen resolution.

It looks similar to the 2d DirectX bugs we have seen in Firefox.

Comment 1

[Axel Grude [:realRaven]]

It appears there is a workaround at:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=812695#c414

OPen [Tools >] Options > Advanced > General. 
Click [Config Editor...]
Right-click and create New Boolean value, paste:
layout.paint_rects_separately
Select True

layout.paint_rects_separately = true 

seems to kick in a workaround for a windows specific issue with certain old Radeon HD models. Time to upgrade the graphics card :) :)

Immediately it looks like it fixes the issue, but I want to play with it for a day or two until I mark as resolved.

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Attachment: TB bad text rendering compose.png

I'm uncertain if I am seeing the same thing. And I don't have clear steps to reproduce. :)  But I've set layout.paint_rects_separately = true in both firefox and thunderbird. 

Attached screen shot shows both what I see in firefox and thunderbird

Comment 3

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

bug 812695 is a mess of comments. I hope they get something in gear in time for TB31

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Still see this?

Comment 5

[Axel Grude [:realRaven]]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #4)
> Still see this?

Not really (very very seldom). But I still have set "paint_rects_separately" in my about:config. Shall we assign resolved?

Comment 6

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

you'd have to reset the pref for us to decide, no?

Comment 7

[Axel Grude [:realRaven]]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #6)
> you'd have to reset the pref for us to decide, no?

Ok you are right, I have reset it and will report back in a week to see if I still have the problem.

Comment 8

[Axel Grude [:realRaven]]

(In reply to Axel Grude [:realRaven] from comment #7)
> (In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #6)
> > you'd have to reset the pref for us to decide, no?
> 
> Ok you are right, I have reset it and will report back in a week to see if I
> still have the problem.

I have reset it and the problem is still there:
http://i.imgur.com/rYIkh7l.png

I will follow up once I have my new graphics card, just to make sure it is driver specific.

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Does disabling HWA using 38 beta also help?

Comment 10

[Axel Grude [:realRaven]]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #9)
> Does disabling HWA using 38 beta also help?

I am afraid I have the new graphics card now (a lovely shiny brand-new Geforce 960) so I won't be able to test this for a while. I might recycle the Radeon into my wife's PC at some stage though (but that will need a better PSU first) and then I can re-test this. I have reset layout.paint_rects_separately to false on my production profile and will test this over the next couple of days to see the smeared fonts haven't returned using the modern graphics card.

Comment 11

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Axel Grude [:realRaven] from comment #10)
> (In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #9)
> > Does disabling HWA using 38 beta also help?
> 
> I am afraid I have the new graphics card now (a lovely shiny brand-new
> Geforce 960) so I won't be able to test this for a while. I might recycle
> the Radeon into my wife's PC at some stage though (but that will need a
> better PSU first) and then I can re-test this. I have reset
> layout.paint_rects_separately to false on my production profile and will
> test this over the next couple of days to see the smeared fonts haven't
> returned using the modern graphics card.

anything new to report on that front?

Comment 12

[Axel Grude [:realRaven]]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, NI for questions) from comment #11)
> (In reply to Axel Grude [:realRaven] from comment #10)
> > (In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #9)
> > > Does disabling HWA using 38 beta also help?
> > 
> > I am afraid I have the new graphics card now (a lovely shiny brand-new
> > Geforce 960) so I won't be able to test this for a while. I might recycle
> > the Radeon into my wife's PC at some stage though (but that will need a
> > better PSU first) and then I can re-test this. I have reset
> > layout.paint_rects_separately to false on my production profile and will
> > test this over the next couple of days to see the smeared fonts haven't
> > returned using the modern graphics card.
> 
> anything new to report on that front?

Same AS Comment #10 - I have decommissioned the AMD card as it was a little broken and am now a more or less happy owner of a GTX 960 which gives pretty decent performance (gaming and otherwise) and  none of the original issues reported above. It will shortly wander into an Intel only setup in order to support my music recording career. Check out my other YT channel (realraven2000) for a sample of what I am doing.

Comment 13

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Axel do you still see this issue?

Comment 14

[Axel Grude]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #13)

Axel do you still see this issue?

No, but I have a different computer with a geforce Graphics card, for a long time now. I suggest to close WONTFIX.