Host screen flickers when guest resolution changes -> fixed in 2.1.2.

[myxiplx]

Reported by myself and one other in the forums: ​http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=8926&highlight=resolution+change+flicker

In Ubuntu 8.04, whenever the resolution of a guest is changed, the host screen goes blank for a second. It's acting as if VirtualBox is changing the host resolution as well.

When a virtual machine is running it's not too bad as you don't change the resolution too often, but when booting XP it's a pain. Initially both screens go blank as the VirtualBox guest starts. From that point on it's just one screen (whichever one the guest is displayed on), but it happens:

• as VirtualBox hands over to the boot loader
• as the windows guest switches to graphical mode
• as the windows guest resizes the screen after loading drivers

This is occurring on my work computer (dual screens on an ATI Radeon HD 2600XT), and at home (dual screens on an ATI Radeon x1950 Pro). Sowelie who also reported this is running an ATI Radeon x1500.

I'm running Ubuntu's ATI binary drivers, as distributed with 8.04.

[myxiplx]

As of 2.1.2, running on Ubuntu 8.10 with the Open Source ATI graphics drivers this no longer occurs.

I'm afraid I don't know whether it was the update to 2.1.2, or the removal of the proprietary ATI drivers that fixed it, but the bug can at least be closed now.

[Michael Thayer]

This is probably due to fixes that were made between 2.1.0 and 2.1.2.

[Graham Sparks]

I'm running Ubuntu 8.04, the suggested ATI Proprietary drivers with an ATI HD3650, VirtualBox 2.1.2 and still have this problem when the guest screen resolution switches. Is there a setting I can alter to stop this?

When running the Windows version of VirtualBox 2.1.2 under Windows Vista SP1 with the same graphics card and same guest OS (although it happens regardless of the type of guest OS) I don't have a problem at all.

[myxiplx]

Just a quick update on this. I'm still getting this problem at work, but I've now seen the same symptoms from another application that uses the QT framework, so I think this is a QT / hardware driver issue rather than anything related to the VirtualBox code directly.

Also, at home, since switching to the open source ATI drivers, I've had no issues at all, so I further believe it's related to the hardware used and probably the graphics drivers.

I'm now running exactly the same software at home and work (Ubuntu 8.10, VirtualBox 2.1.2, open source drivers). The only difference is the graphics cards:

Home: ATI Radeon 1950 Pro - flicker free
Work: ATI Radeon 2600XT - still flickers

I suspect this is a bug that will be cleared up with updates to either QT or the graphics card drivers in the future. Especially since it looks very similar to these:
​https://bugs.launchpad.net/gtk/+bug/245383
​https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/246836

[Graham Sparks]

Many thanks for the latest release (2.1.4). I can report no host screen flicker when the guest resolution changes as of this version (GNU/Linux with ATI Radeon 256MB 3650HD, ATI Proprietary Driver).

[Tobbe Lundberg]

I'm having this problem too.

VirtualBox 2.1.4 Host: Ubuntu 8.10 Guest: Windows XP ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro with proprietary drivers

[Tobbe Lundberg]

I switched to another monitor. The last one was connected with a DVI cable, this monitor I'm running now is connected with an old VGA cable. The problem was much worse with the digital connection. With this analog connection it's still there, but the blanking only lasts for a split second.

[MrX1980]

Please try it with v3.0.0 again.

[Frank Mehnert]

No response, closing.