More testing with good results- When X "freezes" there is NO keyboard control, therefore I cannot switch to a VT and I cannot kill X. The only way I can recover without powering off the system is to use an SSH session from another system and 'sudo reboot now' Now the good news- Using mplayer with the suggested video output drivers worked! I will post the commands used and the screenshots for each one. It's good that mplayer worked but I'm hoping all this can help me get to a point where I can use Totem on this system. (mplayer still fails when launched from the gnome menu, I guess it's using the default video output) Using mplayer with the -vo xv option gave the same X "freeze" and was able to redirect some of the output to a file before the hang. Here is the first successful command: mplayer -vo x11 /usr/share/example-content/Experience\ ubuntu.ogg MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.2.3 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz (Family: 6, Model: 23, Stepping: 6) CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 Compiled with runtime CPU detection. mplayer: could not connect to socket mplayer: No such file or directory Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control. Playing /usr/share/example-content/Experience ubuntu.ogg. [Ogg] stream 0: video (Theora v3.2.0), -vid 0 [Ogg] stream 1: audio (Vorbis), -aid 0 Ogg file format detected. VIDEO: [theo] 360x288 24bpp 25.000 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s) xscreensaver_disable: Could not find XScreenSaver window. GNOME screensaver disabled ========================================================================== Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family [theora @ 0x89398d0]Missing extradata! Could not open codec. VDecoder init failed :( Opening video decoder: [theora] Theora/VP3 VDec: vo config request - 360 x 288 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12) VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0) Movie-Aspect is 1.25:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect. VO: [x11] 360x288 => 360x288 Planar YV12 [swscaler @ 0x89348f0]SwScaler: using unscaled yuv420p -> rgb32 special converter Selected video codec: [theora] vfm: theora (Theora (free, reworked VP3)) ========================================================================== ========================================================================== Forced audio codec: mad Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders AUDIO: 22050 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 45.3 kbit/6.42% (ratio: 5666->88200) Selected audio codec: [ffvorbis] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg Vorbis decoder) ========================================================================== AO: [pulse] 22050Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample) Starting playback... A: 96.6 V: 96.8 A-V: -0.256 ct: -0.065 2422/2422 5% 3% 0.5% 0 0 GNOME screensaver enabled Exiting... (End of file) Here is the second successful command: mplayer -vo gl /usr/share/example-content/Experience\ ubuntu.ogg MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.2.3 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz (Family: 6, Model: 23, Stepping: 6) CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 Compiled with runtime CPU detection. mplayer: could not connect to socket mplayer: No such file or directory Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control. Playing /usr/share/example-content/Experience ubuntu.ogg. [Ogg] stream 0: video (Theora v3.2.0), -vid 0 [Ogg] stream 1: audio (Vorbis), -aid 0 Ogg file format detected. VIDEO: [theo] 360x288 24bpp 25.000 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s) [gl] using extended formats. Use -vo gl:nomanyfmts if playback fails. xscreensaver_disable: Could not find XScreenSaver window. GNOME screensaver disabled ========================================================================== Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family [theora @ 0x89398d0]Missing extradata! Could not open codec. VDecoder init failed :( Opening video decoder: [theora] Theora/VP3 VDec: vo config request - 360 x 288 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12) Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale... Opening video filter: [scale] VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0) Movie-Aspect is 1.25:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect. [swscaler @ 0x89348f0]SwScaler: using unscaled yuv420p -> rgb32 special converter VO: [gl] 360x288 => 360x288 BGRA Selected video codec: [theora] vfm: theora (Theora (free, reworked VP3)) ========================================================================== ========================================================================== Forced audio codec: mad Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders AUDIO: 22050 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 45.3 kbit/6.42% (ratio: 5666->88200) Selected audio codec: [ffvorbis] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg Vorbis decoder) ========================================================================== AO: [pulse] 22050Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample) Starting playback... A: 96.6 V: 96.8 A-V: -0.238 ct: -0.063 2422/2422 5% 8% 0.6% 0 0 GNOME screensaver enabled Exiting... (End of file) Here is the captured redirected output of the failed command: mplayer -vo xv /usr/share/example-content/Experience\ ubuntu.ogg Player 1.0rc2-4.2.3 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz (Family: 6, Model: 23, Stepping: 6) CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 Compiled with runtime CPU detection. Playing /usr/share/example-content/Experience ubuntu.ogg. [Ogg] stream 0: video (Theora v3.2.0), -vid 0 [Ogg] stream 1: audio (Vorbis), -aid 0 Ogg file format detected. VIDEO: [theo] 360x288 24bpp 25.000 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s) xscreensaver_disable: Could not find XScreenSaver window. GNOME screensaver disabled ========================================================================== Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family VDecoder init failed :( Opening video decoder: [theora] Theora/VP3 VDec: vo config request - 360 x 288 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12) VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0) Movie-Aspect is 1.25:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect. VO: [xv] 360x288 => 360x288 Planar YV12 Selected video codec: [theora] vfm: theora (Theora (free, reworked VP3)) ========================================================================== ========================================================================== Forced audio codec: mad Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders AUDIO: 22050 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 45.3 kbit/6.42% (ratio: 5666->88200) Selected audio codec: [ffvorbis] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg Vorbis decoder) ========================================================================== AO: [pulse] 22050Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample) Starting playback... A: 0.0 V: 0.0 A-V: -0.017 ct: 0.000 1/ 1 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.0 V: 0.1 A-V: -0.057 ct: -0.004 2/ 2 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.1 V: 0.1 A-V: -0.055 ct: -0.008 3/ 3 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.2 V: 0.2 A-V: -0.009 ct: -0.009 4/ 4 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.2 V: 0.2 A-V: -0.008 ct: -0.010 5/ 5 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.2 V: 0.2 A-V: -0.007 ct: -0.010 6/ 6 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.3 V: 0.3 A-V: -0.006 ct: -0.011 7/ 7 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.3 V: 0.3 A-V: -0.006 ct: -0.012 8/ 8 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.4 V: 0.4 A-V: -0.005 ct: -0.012 9/ 9 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.4 V: 0.4 A-V: -0.005 ct: -0.013 10/ 10 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.4 V: 0.4 A-V: -0.004 ct: -0.013 11/ 11 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.5 V: 0.5 A-V: -0.004 ct: -0.013 12/ 12 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.5 V: 0.5 A-V: -0.003 ct: -0.014 13/ 13 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0  A: 0.6 V: 0.6 A-V: -0.009 ct: -0.015 14/ 14 2% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 0.6 V: 0.6 A-V: -0.008 ct: -0.015 15/ 15 2% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 0.6 V: 0.6 A-V: 0.000 ct: -0.016 16/ 16 2% 1% 0.7% 0 0  A: 0.6 V: 0.6 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.016 17/ 17 2% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 0.7 V: 0.7 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.016 18/ 18 2% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 0.7 V: 0.7 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.016 19/ 19 2% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 0.8 V: 0.8 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.016 20/ 20 3% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 0.8 V: 0.8 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.016 21/ 21 3% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 0.8 V: 0.8 A-V: -0.007 ct: -0.017 22/ 22 3% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 0.9 V: 0.9 A-V: -0.006 ct: -0.017 23/ 23 3% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 0.9 V: 0.9 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 24/ 24 3% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 1.0 V: 1.0 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 25/ 25 3% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.0 V: 1.0 A-V: 0.000 ct: -0.017 26/ 26 3% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.0 V: 1.0 A-V: 0.000 ct: -0.017 27/ 27 3% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.1 V: 1.1 A-V: 0.000 ct: -0.017 28/ 28 3% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.1 V: 1.1 A-V: 0.000 ct: -0.017 29/ 29 3% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.2 V: 1.2 A-V: -0.005 ct: -0.018 30/ 30 3% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.2 V: 1.2 A-V: -0.005 ct: -0.018 31/ 31 3% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.2 V: 1.2 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 32/ 32 4% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 1.3 V: 1.3 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 33/ 33 4% 1% 0.6% 0 0  A: 1.3 V: 1.3 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 34/ 34 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.4 V: 1.4 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 35/ 35 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.4 V: 1.4 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 36/ 36 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.4 V: 1.4 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 37/ 37 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.5 V: 1.5 A-V: -0.005 ct: -0.018 38/ 38 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.5 V: 1.5 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 39/ 39 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.6 V: 1.6 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 40/ 40 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.6 V: 1.6 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 41/ 41 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.6 V: 1.6 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 42/ 42 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.7 V: 1.7 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 43/ 43 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.7 V: 1.7 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 44/ 44 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.8 V: 1.8 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 45/ 45 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.8 V: 1.8 A-V: -0.005 ct: -0.018 46/ 46 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.8 V: 1.8 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 47/ 47 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.9 V: 1.9 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 48/ 48 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 1.9 V: 1.9 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 49/ 49 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.0 V: 2.0 A-V: -0.005 ct: -0.018 50/ 50 4% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.0 V: 2.0 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 51/ 51 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.0 V: 2.0 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 52/ 52 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.1 V: 2.1 A-V: -0.005 ct: -0.018 53/ 53 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.1 V: 2.1 A-V: 0.002 ct: -0.018 54/ 54 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.2 V: 2.2 A-V: 0.002 ct: -0.018 55/ 55 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.2 V: 2.2 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 56/ 56 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.2 V: 2.2 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 57/ 57 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.3 V: 2.3 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 58/ 58 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.3 V: 2.3 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 59/ 59 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.4 V: 2.4 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 60/ 60 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.4 V: 2.4 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 61/ 61 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.4 V: 2.4 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 62/ 62 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.5 V: 2.5 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 63/ 63 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.5 V: 2.5 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 64/ 64 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.6 V: 2.6 A-V: -0.005 ct: -0.018 65/ 65 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.6 V: 2.6 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 66/ 66 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.6 V: 2.6 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.018 67/ 67 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.7 V: 2.7 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 68/ 68 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.7 V: 2.7 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 69/ 69 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.8 V: 2.8 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 70/ 70 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.8 V: 2.8 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 71/ 71 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.8 V: 2.8 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 72/ 72 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.9 V: 2.9 A-V: 0.000 ct: -0.017 73/ 73 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 2.9 V: 2.9 A-V: 0.001 ct: -0.017 74/ 74 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.0 V: 3.0 A-V: 0.000 ct: -0.017 75/ 75 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.0 V: 3.0 A-V: -0.011 ct: -0.018 76/ 76 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.0 V: 3.0 A-V: -0.010 ct: -0.019 77/ 77 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.1 V: 3.1 A-V: -0.003 ct: -0.020 78/ 78 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.1 V: 3.1 A-V: -0.003 ct: -0.020 79/ 79 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.2 V: 3.2 A-V: -0.003 ct: -0.020 80/ 80 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.2 V: 3.2 A-V: -0.002 ct: -0.020 81/ 81 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.2 V: 3.2 A-V: -0.002 ct: -0.021 82/ 82 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.3 V: 3.3 A-V: -0.002 ct: -0.021 83/ 83 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.3 V: 3.3 A-V: -0.002 ct: -0.021 84/ 84 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.4 V: 3.4 A-V: -0.002 ct: -0.021 85/ 85 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.4 V: 3.4 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.021 86/ 86 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.4 V: 3.4 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.021 87/ 87 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.5 V: 3.5 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.022 88/ 88 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.5 V: 3.5 A-V: -0.001 ct: -0.022 89/ 89 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.6 V: 3.6 A-V: 0.000 ct: -0.022 90/ 90 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.6 V: 3.6 A-V: -0.007 ct: -0.022 91/ 91 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0  A: 3.6 V: 3.6 A-V: -0.000 ct: -0.022 92/ 92 5% 1% 0.5% 0 0