Magnifier in Ubuntu GNOME Trusty crashes completely

[Ubuntu-Fan]

When starting the magnifier/zoom in Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 Trusty from the universal access tools it works for a short time. The zoom factor is by default set to 2.0. After a few seconds the magnifier freezes the whole display output/crashes the X session more or less.

The crash especially appears when the Options button get clicked.

I actually have no more detailed information, I will try to figure out more information via the logs.

I am running Ubuntu on a Nettop with an ATI Radeon HD7410M. GNOME Shell/GNOME3 works completely normal. The magnifier also works well when running on 13.10 Saucy. So I think it must be a problem in Trusty.

To reproduce this problem:

Start the zoom functionallity from Settings -> Universal Access to get it really crashing just click the options button in the zoom section.

I will add further information from logs or so when I have some. I hope my description is understandable, when there are open questions please ask.

Best Regards

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Daniel Scherdel (danschel)]

Hi, I am also affected of this bug. (Inb4 yes I reed the howto submit a bug.)

AMD/ATI [Radeon HD 7660D] - User
I used the gnome-shell magnifier in 13.10 frequently. But after the update to trusty I tried to use it and it crashed my X beyond any usability. After the restart the magnifier was still enabled, with the as described above behaviour: one click on anything = crash.

I was able to submit another bug with the bug-reporter App including the required debug infos (but I can't find it here. I will keep searching for my report.) The bug-reporter App then was not useable because of the activated magnifier.

-> Please mark this as duplicate.

My cheap fix (for anyone with the same problem):
Delete or backup your .gconfd (and/or?) .config/dconf/user

Ctrl+Alt+F2 then login

mkdir -p ~/.backup-gnome-config/ && for f in .gnome .gnome2 .gconf .gconfd .metacity .config/dconf/user; do mv $f ~/.backup-gnome-config/; done

Restart: sudo shutdown -r now

At first I tried switching to gnome-classic and removing fglrx. But this didn't help.

My conclusion for ATI(?) users: stay away from the magnifier. Move nearer to the screen till this is fixed.

[Damon (0-doomicle)]

Another Radeon HD 7660D user here.

The magnifier is the main reason I use gnome3! :o(
10 foot gnomeing experience ruined as of Ubuntu 14.04...

[Ghwomb (ghwomb)]

I had the same problem, but I run the integrated Haswell Mobile graphics. So it is not a problem for Radeon only.

I don't have the courage to try it myself. But I you have the problem try the zoom shortcut: Alt+Super+8

I fixed the problem by removing random configuration directories in my home folder and rebooting. After that I reinstalled the graphics driver with aptitude reinstall xserver-xorg-video-intel.

[Ubuntu-Fan (inbox-8)]

Hello,

I already did some tests with different ATI cards, nVidia cards and integrated graphics chips a few days ago. The problem appears on every card and so it looks like it's unrelated to the drivers.

Think it's a problem in magnifier code it self. The magnifier works on all tested cards in Saucy but not in Trusty. By deleting the configfiles of GNOME3/GNOME-Shell you can fix the problem that the magnifier starts again automatically. For me the driver reinstallation don't fixed the problem but I just tested this on an ATI card not on nVidia and integrated Intel.

Best Regards

[Jens Bremmekamp (nem75)]

You can easily (but very unobviously) recover from this horrible bug:

- Login to Gnome -> "oh no" screen appears
- Press Ctrl + Alt + F3
- Login to the terminal with the same user as before
- run
DISPLAY=:0 gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.a11y.applications screen-magnifier-enabled false
- run
sudo service lightdm restart
- Login to Gnome again and rejoice

Deleting the gnome config files, even creating a new user and trying to log in with that one did exactly squat for me.