Common F11 bugs

This page documents common bugs in Fedora 11 and, if available, fixes or workarounds for these problems. If you find your problem in this page, do not file a bug for it. Where appropriate, a reference to the current bug(s) in Bugzilla is included.

Release Summary, Announcement and Notes

Read the Fedora 11 Preview release notes for specific information about changes in Fedora 11 Preview, known issues, and other general information.

My Bug Is Not Listed

Not every bug is listed in this page. You can use bugzilla queries in the bottom of this page for that. We have collected this based on commonly discussed issues in our mailing lists and forums. If you believe any particular bug report is missed out here and if you have wiki access, add it this page or contact the Fedora QA team with the Bugzilla report number explaining why you believe that particular report qualifies as a common issue. You can contact Fedora QA through any of the methods listed here.

Common Issues

Update notification doesn't disappear

link to this item - Bugzilla: #492005

After updating using PackageKit, the updates notice may reappear even when there are no package updates left to receive. The maintainer is aware of the issue and we expect to resolve it soon. In the meantime, changing the following option in the configuration file (/etc/PackageKit/PackageKit.conf) may work for some people, although results vary:

UseUpdateCache=false

updating from F10 in X fails and X falls over

link to this item - Bugzilla #494046

Systems updating from F10 using yum and in some cases PackageKit can fall over (Bugzilla #494046). The best way to work around this problem is to first update fontconfig to the version in F11. Then restart your X server and finish the rest of the update.

Screen stays black when returning from idle mode on Thinkpad X41T

link to this item - Bugzilla: #489907

On the Lenovo / IBM Thinkpad X41T model laptop, with default settings, the screen will fail to turn back on once it has gone into power-saving idle mode (either on a timeout, or on closing and re-opening the lid). Disabling kernel modesetting via the nomodeset kernel parameter works around this problem, but may cause other problems to occur instead. Another workaround is to create a file with the following contents:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output LVDS1 --off
xrandr --output LVDS1 --auto

Make it executable, and set a shortcut key combination to launch it. Running the script via the shortcut should restore the display. Fedora developers are currently working on a fix for this problem.

Graphical desktop failing to start or crashing with AGP NVIDIA graphics cards

link to this item - Bugzilla: #490358, Bugzilla: #487456, Bugzilla: #498579, Bugzilla: #499730

Problems have been reported with several NVIDIA AGP graphics cards, with the new nouveau graphics driver used in Fedora 11. AGP is a tricky case that the driver does not yet handle well for several cards. If you experience failure to start the graphical desktop (X server), or hanging or crashing of the graphical desktop, and you have an NVIDIA-based AGP graphics card, you may want to try the following workaround. Add the kernel parameter nouveau.noagp=1. For many reporters, this resolves the problem.

Some NVIDIA onboard graphics chipsets use AGP, as well as expansion cards that fit in an AGP slot. To check whether your onboard chipset is an AGP one, run this command:

grep -i agp /var/log/Xorg.0.log

if it returns anything, your chip is an AGP one. If not, it isn't.

If you experience a problem of this kind, and your graphics card is not the same model as in any of the existing reports listed above, please file a new bug report on the xorg-x11-drv-nouveau component, explaining your symptoms, and providing all the usual information required for X.org bug reports.

Grey lines appear in Firefox location bar and terminal windows with Intel i845 graphics adapters

link to this item - Bugzilla: #502096

In a default configuration, on systems with Intel i845 graphics adapters, you may notice graphical corruption of the Firefox location bar, GNOME terminal windows, and possibly other applications. The corruption manifests as one pixel tall, dotted light grey lines of varying widths in random locations, appearing and disappearing. Disabling kernel modesetting, using the nomodeset parameter, works around this issue.

Enabling desktop effects causes system hang with Intel i845 graphics adapters

link to this item - Bugzilla: #490005

On systems with Intel 845 graphics chipsets, attempting to enable accelerated desktop effects (Compiz) via the System / Preferences / Desktop Effects menu entry causes the system to hang (in fact, X is stuck, but if you have the appropriate network setup, you should be able to ssh into the affected machine to shut it down in an orderly fashion). There is no know workaround for this issue, therefore we advise not trying to enable desktop effects on this graphics chipset for now.

Corrupted display in some OpenGL applications on Intel i855 graphics adapters

link to this item - Bugzilla: #490366

In a default configuration, on systems with Intel i855 graphics adapters, some OpenGL-accelerated applications do not display properly. At least the glxgears test application and Google Earth are reported to be problematic, with Google Earth rendering only a small, empty black rectangle (and hence obviously being useless). Some users report that other applications, including teapot, Compiz (desktop effects), and extremetuxracer, work correctly. Disabling kernel modesetting with the nomodeset kernel parameter may work around this issue in some cases.

Frequent hangs on Intel i865 graphics adapters

link to this item - Bugzilla: #502077

In a default configuration, on systems with Intel i865 graphics adapters, frequent hanging of the system may be observed. Disabling kernel modesetting with the nomodeset kernel parameter should work around this issue. We are aiming to fix this issue for final release of Fedora 11.

Graphical installation / desktop fails to start on Asus Eee Top

link to this item - Bugzilla: #491627

It has been reported that with a default configuration, Fedora 11 fails to initialize the graphical desktop (X server) properly on the Asus Eee Top system. You can work around this issue by downloading this file and installing it as /etc/X11/xorg.conf. With this file in place, the X server should start correctly at the native resolution of the system.

Graphical installation / desktop fails to start on Mac systems with Intel 945 graphics adapter 8086:27A2

link to this item - Bugzilla: #494390

Several users of various Apple Mac systems, including some generations of the Mac Mini and Macbook, which all use an Intel 945 graphics adapter with the PCI ID 8086:27A2, have reported that the graphical installation / desktop (X server) fail to start correctly. Some users report that disabling kernel modesetting, with the kernel parameter nomodeset, works around this issue.

Installation fails with DeviceError: cannot commit to disk sda after 5 attempts

link to this item - Bugzilla: #491754

Several users have reported a failure during installation of Fedora 11. While partitioning your disk(s), the anaconda installer will fail and present an error message indicating DeviceError: cannot commit to disk sda after 5 attempts. Subsequent attempts to install the system using the same steps appear to be successful. Root cause for this failure is still under investigation.

PulseAudio-based volume control cannot adjust volume satisfactorily

link to this item - Bugzilla: #497966 (tracker)

Fedora 11 introduces a simplified, PulseAudio-based GNOME volume control applet and application: see the release notes for more details on this. This, and other PA-based volume controls like pavucontrol, rely on PulseAudio to set the volume level. In some cases where the underlying ALSA volumes do not default to sensible values, PulseAudio-based volume control applications cannot properly adjust the volume: for instance, you hear no sound even with the control set to max, or setting the control to its lowest level still results in audible sound. In these cases, you can use the legacy volume control application installed by default in Fedora 11 to control the underlying ALSA volumes directly. It can be found in the menus under System / Preferences, with the name Advanced Volume Control. If you find yourself in this situation, please file a bug according to these instructions, and set it to block the bug AlsaVolume.

References

• Common kernel problems