Playback of video in Flash Player becomes very accelerated at random times until reboot

[Teo]

At random times, ALL video playback in any flash-based video player (e.g. videos on YouTube and Vimeo) start playing at abnormal speed, several times faster than normal. I have already reported this bug to Adobe (and incredibly enough nobody from adobe has said a f***ing word), but two things make me suspect this is something much deeper and external to Flash Player:
1. This only happens on Linux
2. more importantly, when this start happening, restarting the flash player (usually the browser) doesn't fix the issue. Nothing except reboot fixes the issue.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-30-generic 3.2.0-30.48
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-30.48-generic 3.2.27
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-30-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu13
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: teo 2369 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfebf8000 irq 48'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC660-VD'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0660,10430000,00100001 HDA:10573055,10431316,00100700'
   Controls : 28
   Simple ctrls : 16
Date: Sat Sep 15 11:20:59 2012
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=b1b3e5fe-38e2-44c9-9e48-4564cd9f4d66
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. M51Sn
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 VESA VGA
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-30-generic root=UUID=173acbf5-26a0-49e3-8d2b-f1c142582cbf ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-30-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-30-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79.1
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: zram
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-05-17 (120 days ago)
UserAsoundrc:
 pcm.!default { type pulse }
 ctl.!default { type pulse }
 pcm.pulse { type pulse }
 ctl.pulse { type pulse }
dmi.bios.date: 12/24/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 303
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: M51Sn
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr303:bd12/24/2007:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnM51Sn:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnM51Sn:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: M51Sn
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.6 kernel[0] (Not a kernel in the daily directory) and install both the linux-image and linux-image-extra .deb packages.

Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. Please only remove that one tag and leave the other tags. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text.

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.6-rc6-quantal/

[Teo (teo1978)]

Does anybody know if there is some process that I may kill, or anything worth trying, that may work as a workaround and avoid having to reboot?
I have already tried logging out and in and that doesn't work...

[Teo (teo1978)]

Sometimes I observe the following:
- I play a video on youtube, or vimeo, or any flash-based online video player. It's accelerated at a crazy speed
- after several seconds of playbak, it calms down and goes at normal speed
- after that, for some minutes, any video that I play, plays at normal speed, but out of sync with audio (about a couple of seconds out of sync)
- if I wait a few minutes without playing any video, and then I play some video again, almost certainly it's crazily accelerated again, perhaps just for a few seconds (then goes back to normal), or for a few minutes (if you patiently let it go, it then goes back to normal), or, eventually, forever.

I wonder whether this is just one more bug in the completely broken NVIDIA drivers.

[Teo (teo1978)]

Still an issue.

How can this possibly be marked as "importance: medium"?????

[Teo (teo1978)]

High:

* Prevents the application or any dependencies from functioning correctly at all
* Renders essential features or functionality of the application or dependencies broken or ineffective

[Teo (teo1978)]

How do I _add_ an affected package??

[Teo (teo1978)]

Oh, the issue now is 100% systematic and persistent, so it's probably not this bug. I've opened a new one
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1190595

[Teo (teo1978)]

I mean persistent across reboot and the acceleration factor is small and always the same (and it even pitch-shifts audio, instead of chopping it, so it looks like a very different issue)