Intel using 10.10 Unity user? Be cautious with updating today

By , Published September 15, 2010

We’re hearing reports that there’s a bit of a bug in an update to Ubuntu 10.10 today that is leaving users on Intel  in particular who are making use of Clutter-based apps and interfaces – e.g. Unity – with nothing but a white screen for entertainment.

A normal GNOME session still works and this, if you can get the GDM, will allow you to use your desktop as usual (sans the Unity interface, of course).

Neil J Patel offers up the following advice to users who already updated and are stuck with a messed up system:

1. Add "export CLUTTER_VBLANK=none" to /etc/environment (without the quotes)
2. Restart

We’ll let you know as soon as the coast is clear but for now if you're worried/of a nervous disposition try not to update.

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  • Jack Dalton

    Seems to be Intel only. Up-to-date Unity running fine here.

  • http://twitter.com/EstigmaUrbano Estigma Urbano

    Oops! Too much late, now i have to restart =/

  • Ilesal

    I performed update & upgrade on my test eeepc 701 and got the white screen. Only now do I find that this is a bug. Can someone please explain how to access my system so I do not need to do a fresh install. TY

    • Anonymous

      Just use a livecd/usb to start up and browse to your own hard drive, welcome in your system :)

    • Danne

      Start the Ubuntu and type ctrl+alt+f1 and go to text mode. Log on, and type:
      sudo echo “export CLUTTER_VBLANK=none” >> /etc/environment
      After, type sudo reboot

      • Ilesal

        Thank you for helping, I have tried what you said but after-
        sudo echo “export CLUTTER_VBLANK=none” >> /etc/environment

        I get

        -bash: /etc/environment Permission denied

        • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/C6S22ANL35LHAH27EX43XFQKTQ Klau3

          1. Typ: sudo echo “export CLUTTER_VBLANK=none” >> /etc/environment
          2. Enter your Password and hit Enter.
          3. Typ: sudo reboot

          • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

            That won’t work, sudo only grants permission for the echo command, not “>> /etc/environment”

            sudo echo “export CLUTTER_VBLANK=none” | sudo tee -a /etc/environment

            I usually test commands before replying with a condescending remark about how to type a password when prompted for it.

          • Danne

            Great, my bad, hehe

    • http://twitter.com/vishnumrao Vishnu Rao

      Have the same problem. Any solutions yet?

  • http://twitter.com/njpatel Neil J Patel

    Not in Unity, in the mesa update :)

    If you’ve updated and are stuck with a messed up system, do this:

    1. Add “export CLUTTER_VBLANK=none” to /etc/environment (without the quotes)
    2. Restart

    That should fix it for now, until we’ve figured out what’s causing the issue with Clutter apps with latest mesa.

    • exe

      If it has something to do with Vblank, then i think it is a problem with graphic card as many graphic card do not have vblank feature at all…

  • Winniemiel05

    It’s the same thing with ATI…. still a long time now, it’s not due to today umpdate!

  • Coppertop

    There is (or at least was) a similar bug in Clutter for Nvidia’s legacy driver. When one tries to fire new versions of Mutter (and thus Unity or Shell), the whole desktop nearly stops — it gets so slow it takes a couple of minutes for a window to get selected. Better than white screen, but still a train wreck.

  • http://twitter.com/novatillasku novatillasku

    The same mistake has happened to me on Ubuntu 10.04 with Intel.Last week after updating.

  • Brandon

    Same for ATI, ever sense unity was in development.

  • Anonymous

    FYI: I just found out that this solution will also work for Intel GFX card users who had problems with the clutterview option in nautilus elementary. :)

  • http://anxiousnut.wordprss.com Anxious Nut

    LOL, I upgraded my netbook installation from Lucid to maverick yesterday, I missed it XD

    I guess im that lucky!

  • Anonymous

    I needn’t worry.. Tried unity on my netbook, but it was sooo darn slow I just replaced it with a normal desktop. Good thing too, I always update asap, so I’d be stuck with a white screen just about now :)

  • Anonymous

    I needn’t worry.. Tried unity on my netbook, but it was sooo darn slow I just replaced it with a normal desktop. Good thing too, I always update asap, so I’d be stuck with a white screen just about now :)

  • Anonymous

    I needn’t worry.. Tried unity on my netbook, but it was sooo darn slow I just replaced it with a normal desktop. Good thing too, I always update asap, so I’d be stuck with a white screen just about now :)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CZXM54MQ44AOAPGGJNNOKK47DY José eduardo Porcher

    Thanks a lot for the workaround! It worked! Well, kind of. When I rebooted I got Unity *and* the old Netbook Edition desktop at the same time. It doesn’t bother me as much as not being able to use the netbook interface, but I thought I’d report this and see if it happened to anyone else. (Acer Aspire One user here) Great post, by the way.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CZXM54MQ44AOAPGGJNNOKK47DY José eduardo Porcher

      Regrettably, a LOT of stuff is crashing from the indicator-applet to mutter. Back to the Desktop edition until further developments. Btw, I agree with the commenter that said that Unity is so darn slow.

  • http://twitter.com/joajimenez Joan Jimenez

    What happen if we use this workaround and a new official fix is released? Will it not break the things again?

    • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

      This workaround removes functionality needed to run Unity, when a fix is released that functionality will remain disabled until you enable it by deleting the line from /etc/environment

      • joajimenez

        Thanks Mike,

        In the today (Sept/16/10) it was fixed. But still felling mutter uberslow.

        • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

          I gave netbook remix a go today, it was just about usable, until i ran a flash video and the entire thing came to a literal halt.
          (using sudo tasksel install ubuntu-netbook)
          Hard to see how they are going to get that thing optimized enough in time for release to be used on a netbook if it brings my desktop to a halt.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TB5HOTH6ANNKLZGCQFN7OB6NQU Deaf Mute

    And this is why there is beta testing.

  • Anonymous

    Has anyone noticed a bug with the intel driver that selects the wrong resolution for your monitor? It used to detect mine automatically but I rebooted and it thought I had a 1280×1024 monitor. I had to change it with System > Prefs > Monitors

  • Saprissa

    I wonder if this is why gnome-shell broke for me today? Hmmm….

  • http://www.google.com/profiles/ISantop Ian

    Any word on how this affects GNOME Shell?

  • http://twitter.com/elrond_smith Шаповалов Анатолий

    Why not to use nano? “sudo nano /etc/environment”
    And then add “export CLUTTER_VBLANK=none”.

  • http://twitter.com/elrond_smith Шаповалов Анатолий

    Why not to use nano? “sudo nano /etc/environment”
    And then add “export CLUTTER_VBLANK=none”.

  • http://twitter.com/vishnumrao Vishnu Rao

    I had already updated before I read this post!! Now I am stuck with a blank white screen. Any solutions on how to fix this?

    Using ubuntu 10.10 on HP 1134

  • Anonymous

    Not to dig up a month old post, but this seems like the only way to run Unity on my FGLRX drivers. Exactly what features in Unity could be disabled by doing this?

 
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