totem loops in sound and blocks X session

[Aisano]

Binary package hint: totem

While playing a DVD video totem stopped, freezing the screen image and looping through the last two or so seconds of sound (it definitely was more than one second). Everything on the screen was frozen, even the mouse pointer, which hints at the X session being affected. Switching to another application was impossible, as was switching to a console session by Ctrl-Alt-F1 etc.

The latter may not mean a thing, as I just tried it on a freshly booted Ubuntu 10.04 beta 2 session, and it does not work there either but freezes the system (on my computer). So this may or may not be related to the totem problem.

Of course I can provide details about the DVD video. Is there anything else I can provide?

[Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino)]

Meanwhile I found that the Ctrl-Alt-Fn problem is a known issue (see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/usplash/+bug/447692), so it probably is not related to this problem.

[Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino)]

Totem crashed my session again, this time without a sound loop (as far as I can tell; it might have been a moment of silence). The video was a different one. Ctrl-Alt-Fn did not produce any visible effect, contrary to a working session, where it at least produces some colour change on the screen.

Inspecting the "messages" file I found that about four minutes before the crash messages about "irqbalance Tainted" started to appear at a rhythm of about 65 seconds. Maybe that is related to the freeze. I attach the relevant section of "messages".

[Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino)]

Today I had the same problem, with a 2-second sound phase being looped while the rest of the system was inactive. (Yes, I have been watching a video each night for the last couple of days.) This time there were no "irqbalance Tainted" messages. I had to reboot the system by permanently pushing the off button.

I am wondering whether this is just a totem problem. It is somewhat annoying if any odd process can bring down the whole system, even if by mistake.

[Aisano (info-ais-sanmarino)]

I have not had this problem for quite a while, and since nobody else seems to be affected I suppose the issue might as well be closed.