[gma965] x server crashes when watching movies

[Luka Napotnik]

[Description updated by Andreas Moog]
Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-intel

If I play a video file with any video player(totem, mplayer, vlc), the X server crashes. The whole screen colors to green. Even switching to a console via "ctrl-alt-F1" does not change the screen-output. Upon restarting the X-Server via "ctrl-alt-bkspc", the login sound is heard but still the screen does not display correctly again.

I'm using intrepid with the latest updates. My video card is an Intel gma x3100.

Find attached to the Bug:

* xorg.conf
* xorg.0.log
* back-trace acquired via ssh to the machine

[Andreas Moog (ampelbein)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please attach your X server configuration file (/etc/X11/xorg.conf) and X server log file (/var/log/Xorg.0.log) to the bug report as individual uncompressed file attachments using the "Attachment:" box below. Thanks in advance.

[Andreas Moog (ampelbein)]

Thank you for the log and configuration. However, more information is needed to deal with your crash:

Is there a file called /etc/X11/core after the crash? If so, please execute the command

sudo gdb /usr/bin/Xorg /etc/X11/core

and attach the backtrace here. If it's not there please try the following steps:

find the process ID (pid) of Xorg:

pgrep Xorg

Then start gdb and attach to that process:

sudo gdb /usr/bin/Xorg

(gdb starts up and gives you its (gdb) prompt)

(gdb) attach <the process ID you found above>
(gdb) cont

Now do what you need to make the X server crash. Or, if the problem is that the X server is locked up and doesn't react, stop it with ctrl-C. Now get a backtrace:

(gdb) backtrace full

Please attach the backtraces here.

[Luka Napotnik (luka-napotnik)]

There's no core file, so I tried to attach the xorg process with gdb. When I execute the 'attach <pid>' command, the desktop freezes and I can't even get to TYY with ctrl+alt+f1. Then I tried to execute gdb in TTY instead of executing it inside gnome-terminal and attached the xorg pid. Gdb blocks after the command and I can't terminate it with ctrl+c.

[Anders Østerholt (diebels)]

Does it make any difference if you run gdb through a ssh session from another machine?

[Luka Napotnik (luka-napotnik)]

I connect to the system using remote ssh and then run gdb. It works. Now every time I close the movie I am watching using totem, gdb gets a SIGPIPE signal and stops. When I type cont, X normally continues. Here's the full backtrace:
---------------------------------------------
Program received signal SIGPIPE, Broken pipe.
0xb7fe1424 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
(gdb) backtrace full
#0 0xb7fe1424 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
No symbol table info available.
#1 0xb7c924bc in writev () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
No symbol table info available.
#2 0x0813886e in _XSERVTransSocketWritev (ciptr=0xa23c190, buf=0xbf9fb354,
    size=1) at /usr/include/X11/Xtrans/Xtranssock.c:2297
No locals.
#3 0x081378af in _XSERVTransWritev (ciptr=0xa23c190, buf=0xbf9fb354, size=1)
    at /usr/include/X11/Xtrans/Xtrans.c:925
No locals.
#4 0x08132762 in FlushClient (who=0xa071a90, oc=0xbfd8338, extraBuf=0x0,
    extraCount=0) at ../../os/io.c:930
 before = <value optimized out>
 remain = <value optimized out>
 i = -1080052908
 len = <value optimized out>
 oco = (ConnectionOutputPtr) 0xe6d96b0
 connection = 33
 trans_conn = (XtransConnInfo) 0xa23c190
 iov = {{iov_base = 0x9a15968, iov_len = 32}, {iov_base = 0x8090441,
    iov_len = 0}, {iov_base = 0xa38ef88, iov_len = 3214914488}}
 written = 0
 padsize = 0
 notWritten = 32
 todo = 32
 padBuffer = "\000\000"
#5 0x08133122 in FlushAllOutput () at ../../os/io.c:682
 index = <value optimized out>
 base = 1
 mask = 2176
 oc = (OsCommPtr) 0xbfd8338
 client = (ClientPtr) 0xa071a90
 newoutput = <value optimized out>
#6 0x0808c205 in Dispatch () at ../../dix/dispatch.c:473
 result = 0
 client = (ClientPtr) 0xa38ef88
 nready = 0
 start_tick = 269020
#7 0x080719ad in main (argc=10, argv=0xbf9fb504, envp=0x8090441)
    at ../../dix/main.c:441
 i = <value optimized out>
 error = 136138740
 xauthfile = <value optimized out>
 alwaysCheckForInput = {0, 1}
---------------------------------------------

I was unable to get the backtrace when X freezes because that's random. I'll paste when I freeze X.

[Andreas Moog (ampelbein)]

I reported this upstream under https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17190 and I would like you to subscribe to the bug there, because there might be some questions the developers may have.

Thanks in advance.

[Gunni (fgunni)]

Maybe someone can attach my logs from https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/260933 to the x.org bugtracker if that helps.I am tired of opening accounts for a bugreport (Dont know how much i have of them ...)

[Gunni (fgunni)]

I dont have that bug anymore. I had two crashes since the latest update (about 5 days ago) of the package, but not with all that pipeline underrun errors. So maybe these two crashes are from different place.

[Gunni (fgunni)]

Oh, forgot to mention that also bug does not occur because driver does not default to overlay anymore, so maybe it will be back if switching to overlay video again.

[Mehul J. Rajput (mehulrajput)]

I am having the same problem watching movies in flash in opera or firefox, the xserver crashes. I am using Intel GMA950 with no desktop effects, kde 4.1 version.

Let me know if I can provide more information.

[Gunni (fgunni)]

Mehul: I dont think that your problem is the same than in this report, sounds to me more like a problem with flash.
Or isnt your crash similar to this one, that not just x crashes, but you get an unresponisve black/green/blue screen, and only hard reset is fixing this?

[Mehul J. Rajput (mehulrajput)]

I too get a unresponsive black screen and only hard reset works, thought i am able to switch terminals. I also tried killing X and kdm and starting them again but they do not work.

I followed this bug from some other which is marked as duplicate of this and exhibit same characteristic.

[Jesse Ruffin (joruffin)]

My wife's laptop experiences these same issues since upgrade to Intrepid. Laptop is a ThinkPad R51 (855GM). Screen goes black while playing video, somewhere between the first 5-20 seconds. Consoles black as well, machine responds to commands local and remote, but display never comes back until after reboot.

[Jesse Ruffin (joruffin)]

I should add, that this is against Kubuntu 8.10, upgraded from 8.04 and may be the same as Bug #293113.

[Torbjörn Moa (moa-physto)]

I had exactly the same problem, on an 855GM box running Kubuntu 8.10, until I disabled the "Detecting RANDR (monitor) changes" service.

[Robert Schöftner (rmu)]

I can confirm that disabling said service also makes a difference on my Dell X.300 with a 855GM box. Videos playing with XV don't crash the X-server any more.

[nogac (nogacsoid)]

Disabling "Detecting RANDR (monitor) changes" service did not work for me, still got crashes playing movies with xv (mplayer -vo xv port:85)

[Jesse Ruffin (joruffin)]

Disabling the RANDR monitoring service as mentioned did fix the bug on the ThinkPad R51, also using an Intel 855GM

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notice.]

We'd like to forward your bug upstream, however upstream requires
that you first test it against their newer driver code.

To save you the effort of building the driver from source, we've built
packages for the driver and its new dependencies.

So you have a couple options:

 1. Download and test .debs for intrepid, from:
     https://edge.launchpad.net/~intel-gfx-testing/+archive

 -or-

 2. Download and test the Jaunty alpha-2 (or newer) Live CD,
     (which includes a beta of the new xserver 1.6 as well).
     See http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04/ for ISOs

Thanks ahead of time! You can simply reply to this email to report your
findings.

P.S., if you wish to forward your bug upstream yourself, please follow
these directions to do so:
  http://intellinuxgraphics.org/how_to_report_bug.html

[Sam Verstraete (samverstraete)]

I can confirm too, disabling RANDR solves the problem for me. I have a Dell Inspiron 510m with Intel i855GM

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Those of you with i855 cards, since your hardware differs from the original reporter, it's likely you're seeing some unrelated problem.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Luka, can you please re-test against Jaunty and let us know if the crash still occurs?

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.