gnome-shell crashed with signal 5 in cogl_texture_allocate()

[João Paredes]

This has been happening frequently since Ubuntu Gnome 13.04, in all versions, even with custom kernels. Gnome Shell keeps crashing due to COGL. The first two times it does since a reboot, it automatically restarts without rebooting the machine, but at the third time it just stays dead with the current running exposed without any window borders and keyboard unresponsive. I can still change to the other consoles (1-6) and use the system through there.

I've tried several different versions of Ubuntu Gnome and several different kernels, both custom and stock. Currently I'm running the UG14.10 stock kernel.

It's been happening also in every Gnome version since Gnome 3.10 inclusive. It does not happen on my laptop (a Toshiba Z930 with an Intel integrated graphics card, a 4000, I think), but it happens on my big desktop which as an AMD graphics card. It could be related

My relevant desktop configuration is as follows

Intel Skulltrail board
Intel Core i7 950
12GB RAM
AMD Radeon R7-260X

The error is apparently generated by COGL. I have two screens, a Dell 27" with 2560x1440 and an Acer 1920x1200.

I have read somewhere that COGL isn't keen on desktop sizes that are not powers of two, but cannot confirm this nor can I find the original source where I read it.

I only know that this happens frequently, almost every other day and from the moment it happens the first time, it starts happening almost every 5 minutes until I reboot my machine.

I am using the latest version of the AMD Omega drivers, but I was getting the same problem from the drivers shipped with Ubuntu. The open source drivers are not a solution, as they not only are still not on pair with the AMD Drivers feature wise, but they also have their own bugs like, for instance, the mouse cursor becoming corrupted in every session, usually within the first half hour of use, and only a reboot fixing that.

I tried several X.org configurations, but I'm back to the stock configuration as nothing seems to have fixed the problem.

Please have in mind that I have made clean installs between every Ubuntu Gnome version I tried, not only to be sure that there was no "bagage" transiting from one version to the other but, also, because the upgrade system completely broke the installation, making it completely unusable.

I'm sorry to say it, but I hadn't seen something causing this much trouble since WinMe. Having to reinstall a Linux distribution to get it to work and rebooting it every half hour is not what I would call stability. Especially with the parts I have on my computer.

I marked it as a security vulnerability also, as gnome-shell also crashes when the system is locked, taking the screensaver with it, leaving the desktop completely exposed, as well as the apps and respective content. If have guake running, it can be called from F12 as if everything was fine and unlocked and commands can be entered. It's the only exception to keyboard responsiveness.

If anything else is needed to help solve and diagnose this problem, please don't hesitate to ask.

Best regards

ProblemType: Crash
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10
Package: gnome-shell 3.14.3-0ubuntu1~utopic1 [origin: LP-PPA-gnome3-team-gnome3-staging]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-29.39-generic 3.16.7-ckt2
Uname: Linux 3.16.0-29-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu8.1
Architecture: amd64
CrashCounter: 1
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Mon Feb 2 00:07:48 2015
DisplayManager: gdm
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-shell
GsettingsChanges:
 b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'gtk-im-module' b"'gtk-im-context-simple'"
 b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'clock-show-date' b'true'
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-10-27 (97 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-GNOME 14.10 "Utopic Unicorn" - Release amd64 (20141022.1)
ProcCmdline: /usr/bin/gnome-shell
Signal: 5
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
StacktraceTop:
 ?? () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcogl.so.20
 ?? () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcogl.so.20
 cogl_texture_allocate () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcogl.so.20
 cogl_texture_2d_new_from_data () from /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcogl.so.20
 meta_shadow_factory_get_shadow () from /usr/lib/libmutter.so.0
Title: gnome-shell crashed with signal 5 in cogl_texture_allocate()
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo

[Ubuntu GNOME (ug-bot)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this crash and helping to make this software better. This particular crash has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug #1390210, so is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Please continue to report any other bugs you may find.

[João Paredes (joaommp)]

I have no access to the #1390210 bug reported by ug-bot, so I cannot confirm that it is the same bug or check for a fix. Not having find any documentation on the web for this bug, I'm inclined top believe it is not the same bug.

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

João, the other bug was marked private, you should be able to see it now

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

Also can you test if it happens with the radeon drivers?

[João Paredes (joaommp)]

I cannot, as if I try with the radeon drivers, I also do not have any usability, as explained.

With the radeon drivers, the mouse cursor gets corrupted, half those times it becomes invisible, making it impossible for me to be able to navigate my way around the desktop. This last problem happened also with a FirePro 3700, and I did not manage to fix it despite long painful hours of attempts using the information available on the web. And, unfortunately, this is also the only machine I have available to work on and, due to the amount of work, I am in no position to risk losing a few - or even more, if I, again, run into EFI problems - hours having to reinstall the machine if something breaks due to the drivers - which, lately, seems to be the fastest option to revive a Linux machine.

I have checked the previous related bugs (bug #1390210, #1402246, #1416943) and It seems to me that at least bug #1416943 is slightly different, as the time elapsed since login is irrelevant. Right now I'm typing this from a freshly boot system (little over 5 minutes ago) and I have already seen gnome-shell restarting twice since booting. It is completely random. Sometimes it seems that it is triggered by a button click, or a mouse movement, a notification... other times it just happens with the input and display completely still.

Also, this still happens if there is no flash plugin loaded, even if there is no Firefox process loaded (that being the only browser I use).

Also, whenever this happens, these get into syslog:

Feb 2 21:43:22 Johnny-00 kernel: [ 320.006167] traps: gnome-shell[2793] trap int3 ip:7faa98c24d30 sp:7fff29ef1f40 error:0
Feb 2 21:43:22 Johnny-00 gnome-session[2634]: WARNING: Application 'gnome-shell.desktop' killed by signal 5

What other kind of information would you consider helpful?

[João Paredes (joaommp)]

This is another message I get when the system blows up in my face because of this same problem:

Cogl-ERROR **: Failed to create texture 2d due to size/format constraints

I hope any of this gives a clue as to what the problem is.

[Andre Luis Mendes (andreluis-mendes)]

Gnome-Shell crashes every time that I try to use a remote connection using x11vnc with -ncache 10 option enable + xrdp as a transport and rdesktop as a viewer. If I use the x11vnc without -ncache 10 option the scenario works seamless.