System freezes randomly with nvidia 8400m and compiz on a dual core system

[QB89Dragon]

I have a vaio FZ11M, and this problem has plagued me through fiesty, gutsy and now to hardy (with many full reinstalls).
Using the nvidia-glx-new package on hardy I have a fully functional system, but if I enable various extra settings in compiz or if I use emerald at all, the system will totally hang within about 30 minutes, usually right after doing something that requires the graphics card to work a little harder (i.e. move up a performance level), such as move a window, or use alt+tab (with the basic window switcher from compiz). I have since then tried downloading the very latest nvidia drivers from their website, and there is no change in reliability.
When it crashes, I have no mouse movement, everything stops, no keyboard lights will activate, and I have to hold the power button in to shut it off. Ctrl+Alt+Sysrq does nothing. And there are no messages in any logs, /var/log/messages, system, kernel or X server just stop dead in their tracks.
The system works fine for months on end with only compiz 'normal' settings enabled, and no emerald. This includes full, stable performance on heavy 3D applications like Portal being used.
This is a totally 'stock' install of ubuntu Amd 64, with all updates installed. And the nature of the crash hasn't changed in over a year and 3 versions of ubuntu. Issue was also present on an i386 install of hardy.
My hardware:
Sony Vaio FZ11M
2 gb ram
Nvidia geforce go 8400M GT
T7100 Core 2 Duo processor
No 3rd party hardware attached to the computer
Sony has released no bios updates to-date, but I haven't ruled out that this may be a firmware issue.
My xorg.conf is unmodified from that generated by nvidia-xconfig, I am running one display only.
Although the crashes are random, it is reproducible by enabling either advanced compiz OR emerald OR both, and has never happened without compiz running, or with compiz 'basic' mode from the gnome appearance tab.
It happens irrespectively of what programs are running at the time.

If you could help I would be very appreciative. I know there have been other bug reports of nvidia crashing on core2duo systems, but their issues do not seem to coincide with the ones I am experiencing, i.e. I cannot move the mouse or unlock the system by any key combos.

The only other issue I have experienced with software is graphical corruption when scrolling in any GTK app or firefox where it misses lines and screws up the picture and text. This happens only when using nvidia-glx-new, and only at random intervals where it stays until the system is restarted or put to sleep then woken up again, or will go away temporarily if I restart the x-server. This has almost completely disappeared with recent updates.

Please make my computer more stable, linux gurus!

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 0c)
     Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:9005]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation G86M [GeForce 8400M GT] [10de:0426] (rev a1)
     Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:9005]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi hughescih,

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? (ISOs are available from cdimage.ubuntu.com)

If it remains an issue, could you also attach a new /var/log/Xorg.0.log?
Thanks in advance.

The output of lspci -vvnn would also be worth having.

[QB89Dragon (hughescih)]

Hi Bryce,
Yes it is still a big problem. I am using Ubuntu Intrepid Amd 64 and the corruption when scrolling is especially bad. Emerald seems to be ok and not causing immediate crashing, however heavy compiz / GL or multimedia use crashes it. Or it crashes when I'm at work using it and have lots of windows open and constantly flipping between them. The issue happens on an external monitor as well as the internal display.

Here's the output of lspci -vvnn and the Xorg.0.log.

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. This issue has bugged me for 15 months now!!

[bugbot (bugbot)]

This bug report was filed against an old version of Ubuntu.
Can you confirm whether this is still an issue in natty?

If you don't mind, it would be very helpful if you could update the bug
report in launchpad to 'Fix Released' if it is no longer an issue for
you, or if it is still occurring under natty, please tag the bug 'natty'
so it's easier for us to track.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

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.