Video decoding was stuck with radeon errors in dmesg while playing back a movie with VLC

[VF]

Ubuntu 16.04.1, 64bit, desktop. All packages up to date.

Played back a movie with VLC.

At a random point VLC was stuck decoding the video and repeated a short sequence of frames indefinitely. There were no decoding artifacts. Subtitle continued to play back, but the audio completely stopped. Mouse was moving, desktop was functional.

Might worth mentioning: The problem is more frequent while copying files over the network to an external disk drive connected via USB 2.0. Problem frequency seems to increase with additional CPU, USB 2.0 or network side-load. I don't know which one, it might not be related at all.

(Yesterday I had a similar problem with radeon errors logged into syslog, like this former bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1574130
In that case the desktop and the video ended up completely frozen, but I could log in to the machine.)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: linux-image-4.4.0-57-generic 4.4.0-57.78
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-57.78-generic 4.4.35
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-57-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D3p: csalad 1643 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: csalad 1643 F.... pulseaudio
Date: Wed Jan 4 22:55:18 2017
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=967e54d7-9887-4bec-9cf5-ef2c2208ed16
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-12-04 (31 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160719)
IwConfig:
 enp2s0 no wireless extensions.

 lo no wireless extensions.
MachineType: HP ProLiant MicroServer
ProcFB: 0 radeondrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.4.0-57-generic root=UUID=48f28c43-5a3b-403c-b41d-97f98f5838ab ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.4.0-57-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.4.0-57-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.157.6
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/17/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: HP
dmi.bios.version: O41
dmi.chassis.type: 7
dmi.chassis.vendor: HP
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHP:bvrO41:bd01/17/2011:svnHP:pnProLiantMicroServer:pvr:cvnHP:ct7:cvr:
dmi.product.name: ProLiant MicroServer
dmi.sys.vendor: HP

[VF (fviktor)]

Attached full dmesg output.

[VF (fviktor)]

Video playback was from a separate HDD attached on a SATA 2 port. It is not a fast machine (HP Microserver with dual core Atom CPU), but there are no problems playing back this same video in Ubuntu's default video player. It breaks only in VLC somehow. It seems to be related to how VLC is using the GPU to decode the video, it might trigger a bug in the kernel code.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

VF, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better.

Could you please provide the full computer model as noted on the sticker of the computer itself (not from the Bug Description, or the result of a terminal command)?

[VF (fviktor)]

It is an old home server from around 2010:

HP Proliant MicroServer ML110 G6

No official information can be found on this config, but I found a blog posts showcasing this same box:

http://techhead.co/new-hp-proliant-microserver-a-decent-vsphere-lab-server-candidate/

http://www.vbrain.info/2012/08/07/hp-microserver-n40l-home-lab-server-ml110-g67-comparision/

The RadeOn GPU is not part of the original configuration. I installed that to be able to play back video with it, integrated graphics would be too slow for full HD decoding.

This machine has been running Windows 7 for 2 years in this same configuration with no problems, so I'm pretty sure the hardware is good. (Only addition is the external USB HDD, but I can disconnect it and re-test if that's suspicious. The video is not played back from that device anyway.)

[penalvch (penalvch)]

VF, it wouldn't hurt to confirm all firmware is latest via http://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=3984627&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4064 .

Also, to see if this is resolved in Ubuntu, could you please test http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ and advise to the results?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Philippe Coval (rzr)]

Any hints about GPU lockup ?

Relate-to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1574130/