compositing = nVidia tearing, very annoyed

[dave.kts]

I've tried several fixes for this, tried this, tried that but it seems to be unfixable on my system.
If compositing is turned on, I get tearing with videos, games, and fullscreen apps like google earth.. doesnt matter which environment, unity, gnome, fallback, xfce, xubuntu.. can't even begin to play games in Gnomeshell or whatever its called, bugs out on me. Only thing that works is to log into XBMC if I want to watch a movie without tearing. problem is that XBMC likes to lock up on me once in awhile.
I also tried Mutter as a window manager, and it solved the tearing issue, but was terribly unstable and useless for me.

should I try different drivers for nVidia? 173.14.30 in use now, I think i tried others in the past with same results. I dont want to break the video.
Im also gonna ditch my 11.10 install and try 12.04 sometime, so if starting from scratch will have better results, let me know

pulling all my hair out here someone save me!

1.10 64 bit Ubuntu
intel dp43gag board, no video onboard
Q8300 core2 quad
nVidia PNY quaddro fx 550
yada, yada

[dave.kts]

bump?

I really just want the desktop expo, maybe window translucence.
Seems compositing doesnt work at all, except for the window shadows from gnome.

[cuyo01]

I was using 11.10, i that in my machine phenom II 555 and video 240GT cant solve the tearing problem no matter what until tried something apparently unrelated; I disabled cool 'n quiet in bios and then no more tearing.

I have installed other DE's and upgraded to 12.04, in kubuntu videos show tearing in smplayer, to remove that changed the video output in options to "xv 0-NV17 Video Texture" and then no more tearing

[Roasted]

Are you guys using dual monitors? I was told that with my dual monitor setup (twinview) on Nvidia, my tearing is coming from the fact that my two monitors don't have 100% equal refresh rates. AKA, if I had two identical monitors, I'd have no tearing, but me having a Dell 24" and an eMachines 19", there's undoubtedly going to be a tiny enough difference to cause the issue.

I can't say this for an absolute fact or not, but that's what I was told. I figured I'd be upgrading soon enough to a pair of identical (but larger) monitors so I kind of stopped researching it there.

[dave.kts]

Nope, no dual monitors. samsung T220HD 1600 by 1050, 59.95hz detected by nvidia x server.
Tried different video output modes in VLC player, no change. Tried all kinds of vsynch suggestions. It's something to do with the window manager. Mutter replace fixed it, but desktop would crash and windows would hang. XBMC has no tearing, but will randomly lock up

[ontaiwolf]

Same problem here. There are some settings which can help a little but some tearing is still there.

Drivers
Downgrade your drivers to 290.10: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise...90.10-0ubuntu2
Tearing comes only with 295.xx

Compiz-Settings-Manager
OpenGL: Activate VSync
Composite: Deactivate "Detect refresh rate", set refresh rate to 60, 120 or 180 manually. 180 works best for me.
(Optional) Workarounds: Activate "Force synchronisation between X and GLX"

xorg.conf
Add under Device: Option "TripleBuffer" "1"

You also can play a little with Nvidia settings...

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

For Xubuntu, add this script to a launcher (assuming you are not trying to use compiz)

#!/bin/sh
#componoff.sh
#xubuntu 11.10,12.04
#turns compositor on and off

comp=$(xfconf-query --channel=xfwm4 --property=/general/use_compositing)

if [ $comp = “true” ]; then
xfconf-query --channel=xfwm4 --property=/general/use_compositing --set=false
else
xfconf-query --channel=xfwm4 --property=/general/use_compositing --set=true
fi

[drawkcab]

Also make sure your video driver settings are set to vsync as well and that the referesh rate is the same as your monitor. It also helps to set your settings to center rather than stretch.

[firekage]

Same problem here. There are some settings which can help a little but some tearing is still there.

Drivers
Downgrade your drivers to 290.10: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise...90.10-0ubuntu2
Tearing comes only with 295.xx

Compiz-Settings-Manager
OpenGL: Activate VSync
Composite: Deactivate "Detect refresh rate", set refresh rate to 60, 120 or 180 manually. 180 works best for me.
(Optional) Workarounds: Activate "Force synchronisation between X and GLX"

xorg.conf
Add under Device: Option "TripleBuffer" "1"

You also can play a little with Nvidia settings...

Could you tell me how to install this drivers from link above? I don't understand it. How to install this PPA, there is only amd64 downloadable items.

[ontaiwolf]

To difficult to change the url? This is not a ppa, it's just an archive with older packages.

i386: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise...90.10-0ubuntu2
amd64: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise...90.10-0ubuntu2

Under "Downloadable files" you can find the direct links, uninstall nvidia-current from repository first, then download the package from the archive and install it. You probably have to freeze the package in Synaptics, so that it cannot be updated.