[i845G] Running Firefox crashes X

[Francis LeJeune]

I have recently installed Lucid Lynx on my PC and it mostly runs fine except for one thing: when I try to start Firefox it runs fine fir a bit then it seems to crash X. The display stops, and blinks and keeps on blinking and at this point the only thing that I can do is to press the power button and restart. Opera and other browsers do not seem to do this.
---
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
DkmsStatus: blcr, 0.8.2, 2.6.32-24-generic, i686: installed
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
MachineType: Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 2400
Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.1-3ubuntu5
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=bbe63536-526b-440f-bc7e-33f0850eefaf ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-24.42-generic 2.6.32.15+drm33.5
Tags: lucid lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-24-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 12/02/2003
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.bios.version: A05
dmi.board.name: 0F5949
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Computer Corp.
dmi.board.version: A01
dmi.chassis.type: 15
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellComputerCorporation:bvrA05:bd12/02/2003:svnDellComputerCorporation:pnDimension2400:pvr:rvnDellComputerCorp.:rn0F5949:rvrA01:cvnDellComputerCorporation:ct15:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Dimension 2400
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-24-generic

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

This isn't a firefox bug

[kurt belgrave (trinikrono)]

Hi, Thank you for taking the time to make Ubuntu better.
I need to ask for the output of "lspci | grep VGA".
Cheers

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

The command:
$ lspci | grep VGA

gives the output:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 01)

Hope this helps.

[kurt belgrave (trinikrono)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue that you reported is one that should be reproducible with the live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Maverick Meerkat. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can work on getting it fixed in the next release of Ubuntu. You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/. Thanks again and we appreciate your help.
Note i found a wiki page that can help you greatly to get it working in lucid.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes
But the the main thing is if you can test it in maverick and see if how it behaves.

[Stan Larson (stan-freedomics)]

Per comment #4, I just downloaded 10.10 Alpha 2 and ran in live mode on a Dell 2350 with the Intel 82845G/GL integrated adapter. I was able to lock up X by going to Preferences -> Screensaver, and selecting the AntSpotlight screen saver. After just a second or two, my system hung. The pointer still moves, but X doesn't respond to any input.

I have been trying to re-purpose several old Dell 2350 and 2400 PCs. The 2400s actually have I have been having the problem with X locking up randomly. I eventually found that I could crash the system by the above AntSpotlight screen saver. I installed an nVidia PCI graphics adapter on one of the 2400s, and this resolved the problem.

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

I tried the advice of post #4 bit so far, the results are largely the same . . . I have noticed the crashes occur with Chrome as well, and it is not uniquely caused by Firefox, but it occurs more often when I use Firefox. Also if I leave the computer alone for a time, it invariably freezes and I have to power down via the power button and restart. Other than that no real change. Do you need me to submit any log files or hardware information?

[kurt belgrave (trinikrono)]

Francis
Did you test the behaviour in the development release (Maverick) to see if it is a issue?
Cheers

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

OK, some extra developments. I did not upgrade to Maverick, but I did try installing the xubuntu-desktop, and that seemed to fix the problem . . . it hasn't occurred a single time since I did that. I am not sure why this would make a difference, but I figured I would let you guys know. Thanks anyway.

[kurt belgrave (trinikrono)]

Well i guess that is good news, alot of people that are using your chipset are getting serious problems in lucid.
You can look at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes.
If you can confirm xubuntu users are not affected by this then , i can suggest other users to try this.
Cheers

[kurt belgrave (trinikrono)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:

apport-collect 601441

This will help us to find and resolve the problem. Bear in mind that you may need to install the python-launchpadlib package from the universe repository. Additionally, when prompted to give apport-collect permissions for Launchpad you will need to give it at least the ability to "Change Non-Private" data as it will be adding information to your bug report. Thanks in advance!

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport, either via the appropriate application's "Help -> Report a Problem" menu or using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

Ok, done.

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Francis LeJeune (lejeunefrancis1942)]

apport information

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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