Screen flashes black when starting totem with dual screen

[Loffe]

Binary package hint: xrandr

I have an external monitor caonnected to my laptop and I use both as a big desktop. It works well, even with compiz :D

However, when I start Totem Media Player my external screen goes totally black for 1-2 seconds. After the blackout it comes on again and works normally. This happens at every startup of totem (but not when I close it)

I get the same issue when i run xrandr from terminal. I suppose this is how totem detects my monitors.

It doesn't matter if I have "Desktop Effects" enabled or disabled.

I have a HP Compaq 6510b with Intel 965 graphics.
xserver-xorg-video-intel version 2:2.2.1-1ubuntu13.7

"xrandr -v" says version is 1.2 after another short blackout

$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2560 x 1024, maximum 3072 x 2048
VGA connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm
   1280x1024 60.0 + 75.0* 59.9
   1152x864 75.0
   1024x768 75.1 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 75.0 72.8 66.7 60.0
   720x400 70.1
LVDS connected 1280x800+1280+224 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 304mm x 190mm
   1280x800 59.9*+ 60.0
   1280x768 60.0
   1024x768 60.0
   800x600 60.3
   640x480 59.9
TV disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

[Valerie Hampe (ashfire908)]

The laptops at my school are all Compaq 6510b, and though they all run Windows XP Pro, they also flash to black, though this happens when I am logged in and close and open the lid (screen comes on for a split second, then flashes to black then comes back). Form this I would guess the issue is hardware related, and not with any software (except maybe drivers).

[Loffe (erik-eloff)]

Andrew, that is not the problem I described. I do _not_ close the lid.

When I run "xrandr" from a terminal the external display goes black. My laptop screen is fully lit all the time.

My guess is that either xrandr itself, or the graphics driver, does something weird...