Totem with compiz hangs the PC with black screen

[Artik]

Binary package hint: totem

When opening a video file with Totem while Compiz (the default ubuntu one) is enabled turns the whole screen black and the PC seems to freeze (need to reset then). This happens with 80% of video files I tried, it is less likely to happen when opening small FLVs and more likely when opening MKVs. With DivX 5 files it happens randomly.
Ubuntu Studio 8.04
Totem 2.22.1
GStreamer 0.10.18
Compiz 0.7.4

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Jul 3 18:25:50 2008
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.04
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/totem-gstreamer
Package: totem-gstreamer 2.22.1-0ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: totem
Uname: Linux 2.6.24-19-rt i686

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks for your report, does the same happens if you disable compiz? Which video card do you have and which driver are you using? thanks.

[Artik (aritomo)]

Since I haven't installed any configurator for Compiz, to enable/disable it I use the standart desktop properties dialog, where there are 3 options - no effects, medium and high. The bug happens on both medium and high settings, but doesn't happen with no effects enabled. I also tried changing the video output in GStreamer to "(without Xv)" and that way it works in all the 3 modes, but the picture is rather pixelated then. The videocard is integrated Intel 855GME, and as for the driver, I'm not sure, but it's the one that went default with Ubuntu 8.04. If it's needed, I'll add the driver info as soon as I learn where to find it.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

re assinging to compiz then.

[Artik (aritomo)]

Posted it to Totem initially 'cause CompizVSvideo player issues like black/blue/transparent video are common, but I never heard it to crash the system

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

totem is just an user application, whatever it does the system should not crash, that's either an xorg or a compiz issue

[ScHRiLL (gorjan)]

I can confirm this. The symptoms are as follows. When trying to play any video with totem the display freezes, keyboard and mouse are unresponsive, but the computer seems to work cause I get sound events from programs like skype, pidgin there is activity on my network. I can write to my self and get notified on skype. It seems that only the display freezes. This only happens when compiz is turned on, which indicates it's definitely an compiz issue conected with video playback . The only solution to get in control is to reboot the pc by force. But weird if you disable compiz play video with totem close video then enable compiz video playback then works until the next reboot.

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

Thanks for your bug report. The symptoms provided indicate this is a problem with your video drivers and is being reassigned to the xorg package. For more information on problems with visual effects and video drivers see http://wiki.ubuntu.com/VisualEffects.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi aritomo,

Thanks for including the attached files. Could you also include your /var/log/Xorg.0.log (or Xorg.0.log.old) from after reproducing the issue?

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notification.]

A new major version of the -intel driver is now available in Karmic.

This version includes a major reworking of the acceleration
architecture, which resolves a huge number of issues. We do not know
whether it resolves the issue you reported.

Would you mind testing Karmic Alpha-2 and seeing if it is still a
problem? CD ISO images are available here:

  http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/

If the issue can still be reproduced on karmic, please report here with
your findings, and attach a fresh Xorg.0.log from your test, and we will
be able to forward the bug upstream.

Otherwise, if the bug no longer exists in Karmic, let us know that as
well.

In the off chance you encounter different bugs while attempting to test
Karmic, please report those as new bug reports.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.

It seems likely to me this bug is gone; the -intel driver has improved immensely in Karmic and a lot of bugs are being reported as no longer present. So hopefully that's the case here too.