[Dell Inspiron N5110] Xorg unexpectedly crashed

[Viktor Pal]

Xorg unexpectedly crashed bringing down down metacity and gnome-flashback too.
This is the relevant section from the system logs:
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: Window manager warning: Log level 6: The program 'metacity' received an X Window System error.
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: This probably reflects a bug in the program.
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: The error was 'BadRegion (invalid Region parameter)'.
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: (Details: serial 508727326 error_code 140 request_code 138 (XFIXES) minor_code 12)
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: To debug your program, run it with the GDK_SYNCHRONIZE environment
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: variable to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)
May 17 15:09:05 ultra-d kernel: [276368.790571] traps: metacity[1688] trap int3 ip:7fb31d5d9d00 sp:7ffc0f98c740 error:0
May 17 15:09:19 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: gnome-session[1514]: WARNING: Child process 1688 was already dead.
May 17 15:09:19 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: WARNING: Child process 1688 was already dead.
May 17 15:09:19 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: gnome-session[1514]: WARNING: Application 'metacity.desktop' killed by signal 5
May 17 15:09:19 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: WARNING: Application 'metacity.desktop' killed by signal 5
May 17 15:09:19 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: gnome-session[1514]: WARNING: App 'metacity.desktop' respawning too quickly
May 17 15:09:19 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: WARNING: App 'metacity.desktop' respawning too quickly
May 17 15:09:19 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: Unrecoverable failure in required component metacity.desktop
May 17 15:09:19 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: gnome-session[1514]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry....
May 17 15:09:19 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry....
May 17 15:09:20 ultra-d gnome-session[1514]: ICE default IO error handler doing an exit(), pid = 17669, errno = 11

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+7ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-16.16-generic 3.19.3
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-16-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: GNOME-Flashback:Unity
Date: Sun May 17 15:56:28 2015
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: vivid
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 virtualbox, 4.3.26, 3.19.0-15-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox, 4.3.26, 3.19.0-16-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0116] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:04ca]
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Seymour [Radeon HD 6400M/7400M Series] [1002:6760] (rev ff) (prog-if ff)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron N5110
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-16-generic root=/dev/mapper/system_vg-root_lv ro cryptdevice=/dev/sda2:system_crypt quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UdevLog: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/var/log/udev'
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/03/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A11
dmi.board.name: 0FTJWD
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A11
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: Not Specified
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA11:bd08/03/2012:svnDellInc.:pnInspironN5110:pvrNotSpecified:rvnDellInc.:rn0FTJWD:rvrA11:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrNotSpecified:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron N5110
dmi.product.version: Not Specified
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.60-2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.5.2-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.5.2-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.5.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917-1~exp1ubuntu2.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.11-1ubuntu2build1
xserver.bootTime: Sun May 17 17:37:36 2015
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors: RADEON(G0): [XvMC] Failed to initialize extension.
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 732
 vendor LGD
xserver.version: 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu3

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Viktor Pal, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. Just to clarify, you are using GNOME Flashback (Metacity)? If so, if you switch to GNOME Flashback (Compiz) is this still reproducible?

Also, is there a specific keyboard click-for-click reproduction instructions you could provide regarding this issue?

[Viktor Pal (deere)]

Christopher, sorry for the very late answer.
Yes I'm using GNOME Flashback with Metacity.
I have been using this combination of desktop and WM since Ubuntu 15.04 came out (April).
So it would be hard to say if using Compiz makes any change.
I was watching a movie in VLC then I switched VLC from full screen to windowed mode and clicked around in Firefox I think.
And that is when the crash happened.
I have filed this bug because I thought you can get some hint from the logs regarding some bug that is present.
If the logs are not enough I would say wait if that happens again and see how we can go forward as I would not be happy to use Compiz (I just don't like it) unnecessarily and it also seems that it wouldn't make any sense as the bug is very hard to reproduce.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Viktor Pal, would there be a crash file in /var/crash ?

[Viktor Pal (deere)]

Unfortunately the directory is empty.
I see that it does not turn out from my comment that this crash has only happened to me once.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Stephane Lapie (stephane-lapie)]

I also have confirmed the bug, it just happened right now, and here is the crash dump for metacity.

It feels like gnome-session is trying to restart metacity too fast, when waiting a few seconds before respawning it would avoid this problem...

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Stephane Lapie, please file a new report against that crash file via a terminal:
ubuntu-bug _usr_bin_metacity.1000.crash

For more on this, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs .

[Roger Bonati (roger-bonati)]

Here is my metacity crush log, i experience this bug since upgrading from 14.04 to 15.10!

[Roger Bonati (roger-bonati)]

also other crash-files are to be found:

[Roger Bonati (roger-bonati)]

 _usr_bin_pidgin.1000.crash

[Roger Bonati (roger-bonati)]

_usr_bin_vlc.1000.crash

[Roger Bonati (roger-bonati)]

usr_lib_chromium-browser_chromium-browser.1000.crash

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Roger Bonati, please do not manually attach crash files to a report. Instead, please file new ones as outlined in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs .

[Stephane Lapie (stephane-lapie)]

Maybe a duplicate of https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/metacity/+bug/1507764 (or at least related ?)

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Viktor Pal, could you please capture the crash following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DebuggingSystemCrash ?

[Viktor Pal (deere)]

Christopher M. Penalver, it does not turn out for me form the linked documentation what I could do here to capture the crash.
Please give me some more details.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Viktor Pal, since you reported this issue, has the crash happened again?

[Stephane Lapie (stephane-lapie)]

I just had again the same crash. :
Dec 30 23:49:59 archer gnome-session[28277]: Window manager warning: Log level 6: The program 'metacity' received an X Window System error.
Dec 30 23:49:59 archer gnome-session[28277]: This probably reflects a bug in the program.
Dec 30 23:49:59 archer gnome-session[28277]: The error was 'BadRegion (invalid Region parameter)'.
Dec 30 23:49:59 archer gnome-session[28277]: (Details: serial 1686054464 error_code 140 request_code 138 (XFIXES) minor_code 12)
Dec 30 23:49:59 archer gnome-session[28277]: (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
Dec 30 23:49:59 archer gnome-session[28277]: that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
Dec 30 23:49:59 archer gnome-session[28277]: To debug your program, run it with the GDK_SYNCHRONIZE environment
Dec 30 23:49:59 archer gnome-session[28277]: variable to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
Dec 30 23:49:59 archer gnome-session[28277]: backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)

which led once apport was done writing the crash report :
Dec 30 23:54:51 archer gnome-session[28277]: gnome-session[28277]: WARNING: Application 'metacity.desktop' killed by signal 5
Dec 30 23:54:51 archer gnome-session[28277]: WARNING: Application 'metacity.desktop' killed by signal 5
Dec 30 23:54:51 archer gnome-session[28277]: gnome-session[28277]: WARNING: App 'metacity.desktop' respawning too quickly
Dec 30 23:54:51 archer gnome-session[28277]: WARNING: App 'metacity.desktop' respawning too quickly
Dec 30 23:54:51 archer gnome-session[28277]: Unrecoverable failure in required component metacity.desktop
Dec 30 23:54:51 archer gnome-session[28277]: gnome-session[28277]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry....
Dec 30 23:54:51 archer gnome-session[28277]: CRITICAL: We failed, but the fail whale is dead. Sorry....

From what I tried, it seems like trying to run "metacity --replace" before apport finishes killing the old instance does not work : once it freezes and apport is writing its stuff, the whole session will go down.

Seriously, this regression is infuriating and makes Ubuntu barely usable for me.
I nearly stopped using Alt+Tab out of fear of losing work when switching between gedit and evince.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Stephane Lapie, it will help immensely if you filed a new report via a terminal:
ubuntu-bug xorg

Please ensure you have the package xdiagnose installed, and that you click the Yes button for attaching additional debugging information.

Also, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

For more on why this is helpful, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Viktor Pal (deere)]

Christopher M. Penalver, as I switched to gnome-shell meanwhile and I had several Xorg crashes since then (see my bug reports) I'm not sure if this happened to me again since then. Sorry for that.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Viktor Pal, I'm using both gnome-session-flashback + Metacity in Vivid and Wily, and I've not been able to reproduce this.

Despite this, to advise, the scope of this report is precisely:
" The program 'metacity' received an X Window System error."

Hence, reviewing another report you previously filed isn't going to be terribly helpful here.

Also, if you are going to use gnome-shell going forward, or want to report an xorg related crash while using it, it will be helpful to file it in a new report, versus mention it here.

[green5 (r-green)]

I have the same bug since Ubuntu 15.10:
Jan 6 15:06:18 u7 gnome-session[25169]: The error was 'BadRegion (invalid Region parameter)'.
Jan 6 15:06:18 u7 gnome-session[25169]: (Details: serial 191173458 error_code 140 request_code 138 (XFIXES) minor_code 12)
What info do you need?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

green5, it will help immensely if you filed a new report with Ubuntu via a terminal:
ubuntu-bug xorg

Please ensure you have the package xdiagnose installed, and that you click the Yes button for attaching additional debugging information.

Also, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

For more on why this is helpful, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Viktor Pal (deere)]

Christopher M. Penalver, what I wanted to point out in my last comment is that since I reported this bug I changed to gnome-shell and even updated to 15.10 so I will not be able to help further debugging this issue and of course as this is about metacity and I don't use it any more I have not seen this bug since then.
Of course all new/other xorg related errors have been reported by me in separate new bug tickets as expected.

Would you like me to change the subject of the bug to: "The program 'metacity' received an X Window System error."

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xorg (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]