Hi I have no problem with Ubuntu 13.04, Full Monty, Linux Mint and several other distros,but when running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, linux snow, mageia 3 and others the main screen flickers every 10 seconds. Apart from this the graphics operate perfectly.

I have dual monitors and the 2nd screen does not flicker at all.

I have tried changing the screen resolution and refresh rate but the flicker continues.

Any ideas what causes this or how to resolve it please. thanks

Does this flickering happen when you just use one monitor? And does it happen at exact intervals? I wonder if maybe the video card doesn't have the power for both monitors. Is there another monitor you can try for the primary, or you could switch them and see if it still happens?

Hi, Thanks for you reply.

Yes it happens when I operate only the main monitor which is actually a 22" LCD TV.


The graphics is Nvidia Quadro NVS290 Dual card so should be well up to the job, running on proprietary drivers.

Yes it flickers once at exact intervals of 10 seconds.

This occurred with various distros before I set up my dual monitor system and when using the onboard Intel G41 chipset, prior to installing the Nvidia card.

My concern is that because of the flickering I wont be able to use Ubuntu 12.04lts when support for 13.04 ends. I also get the flicker with Ubuntu 12.10 but not with 13.04

The 2nd LCD monitor HP 19" does not flicker at all. It doesn't flicker when used on its own or as a dual monitor with any of the problem distros.

Do you think this indicates that the TV monitor just doesn't cope with some distros.
If it cant be resolved I could just wait until support ends for Ubuntu 13.04 and then try a new monitor.

Thanks again for your help.