I've been having screen flickering problems for several months now, but didn't have the chance to report it. Now I have the time, but I don't know who should receive the report: Mesa, Xorg, or AMD? I don't know if the problem is on the Firmware, the free drivers, or Xorg.

GPU: Sapphire Radeon Dual-X R9 270X OC Edition
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 796MB 17" Flat Screen

The problem occurs on these resolutions:

1600x1200 65 Hz- Doesn't Occur
1280x1024 75 Hz - Frequent
1152x865 75 Hz - Sometimes
1024x768 - Doesn't happen
800x600 - Doesn't happen
640x480 - Doesn't happen

Using Catalyst instead of Radeon solves the problem, but I decided not to use Catalyst anymore. No closed-source modules on my Kernel.

I can't use other resolutions than 1280x1024, the one that flickers. 1600x1200 has a refresh rate of 65 Hz and this causes my eyes to hurt and it gives me headackes. 1152x864 and lower res are too "big" and I can't work (with Blender) or game on them.

Hi,
You usually report this to the techies of your distro. They'll ask some info in the form of outputs or logs. From there they determine where the problem lies...and who should resolve this...
If it is a resolution problem...I had that too, appeared to be the adapter VGA/DVI that was not fully wired through
Maybe..that can be a solution?
Good luck...
Melissa

I would check out the modelines proprietary driver is using - you can see them in Xorg log. Then use same modeline with radeon driver.

Hi Melissa,

I don't think it's a wire problem, because all resolutions would be affected if the monitor wasn't wired through.

I'm using Arch, BTW.

Ah, I can't. Catalyst doesn't work with GRSecurity, not to mention I'm too paranoid to use proprietary code running on the Kernel. So do you think I should report my problem to AMD?

You said the problem shows with Radeon driver. Do you load firmware with it or you use it without?

You refuse to run their driver so what do you expect AMD to do for you?

There may be an issue with that aging CRT monitor. Just guessing here, radeon driver may be using a little more aggressive modeline, derived from EDID, and the veteran CRT monitor may choke on it.

A...VETERAN CRT????? Ever came accross the idea the CRT is about to kiss you? Head on? Consider ditching the thing. It took me a zillion years too before i did (17" HP) but the benefits of having a flat screen outwheigh the sentimentality
Melissa

Not so fast. With CRT one can get real true colors, LCD monitors are not up to it. May be important if any artwork is done on this computer.

Yes, I load the firmware. Without the firmware my card is almost useless :P

I run "xf86-video-ati" and "mesa", IIRC AMD contributes to those. I also use their proprietary firmware. If I'd report to AMD it would probably be concerning their firmware.

Older versions of those 3, "xf86-video-ati" "mesa" and the firmware, work fine, like on Debian Wheezy or Jessie (I can't remember).

I see no evidence that this could be the monitor, but I wouldn't mind if it was it. The problem is that I have no money to buy a new one.

Exactly.