[SOLVED] intermittent screen flickering using an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti

[reedb]

Hello,

My desktop has one video card with two monitors connected to it.
Sometimes, after starting a program, for example VLC or Firefox, both screens begin to flicker. It is an intermittent issue.
After the flickering begins, I found, that by maximizing the program, the screen flickering might stop. Other times I had to reboot.

I am trying to figure out if this is hardware or software.

I'm not sure what to do.

I'm hoping someone would be able to point me in the direction to resolve this.

I'm providing some output from this computer below.

$ cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=18.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=bionic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS"

$ uname -a
Linux xps8500 4.15.0-38-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 10 10:59:38 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ env | grep DESK
DESKTOP_SESSION=plasma
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=KDE
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=KDE

[SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial]$ lspci -nnk | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti] [10de:1380] (rev a2)

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev c4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation H77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti] (rev a2)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation Device 0fbc (rev a1)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 07)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)[/FONT][/SIZE]

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

[reedb]

seems to resolve after rebooting.
I think perhaps I updated some software on this box. Then, didn't reboot. Then, maybe updates some more and still didn't reboot. After having the screen flick I rebooted. And, after rebooting, screen flickering stopped.

[GreyGeek]

I can understand your not rebooting. About 15 years ago I kept my SuSE 6.3 server and desktop running for over a year without turning it off or rebooting. After I retired 10 years ago I still left my laptop on 24/7/365 but then I switched to Kubuntu 9.04 and with the repository I'd always reboot after the kernel or video driver was updated, which is what I do today as well. However, now I turn my laptop off every night, and when I'm not using it I put it into suspend. I always keep it plugged in as well.