Possible ubuntu video driver bug

Derek Trotter expat.arizonan at gmail.com
Fri Nov 11 21:49:58 MST 2011 

This is something I hadn't heard before.  Thanks for letting me know.  
If this is the problem, there's one thing I don't understand.  Why do I 
not have any problems when the machine is running XP?

On 11/11/2011 21:28, Michael Butash wrote:
> You might be dealing with hardware issues.  I've not seen that kind of 
> problem in my laptop with that chip under solid use for 4 years until 
> it gave up the ghost.  I had an 8400 in my dell laptop, and those had 
> serious and well known (read: class-action lawsuit) on that chipset 
> for defective chips.  BGA chip use began that generation for nvidia 
> and ati, and they're notorious horrible at popping off and losing 
> conductivity also into the 9600 series.  Read about a like issue, 
> something called RRoD in xbox360 or YLoD in ps3's for the same reason...
>
> When my laptop began dying from this, 2d desktop would work great 
> until something hit the gpu, and artifacting would begin instantly but 
> still *kinda* work.  Sounds like playing a video is hitting vdpau 
> (most video engines default to using this if available, thus hitting 
> gpu shaders, and locking.  Desktop compositing probably likewise 
> causes this with complexity due to hitting gpu.
>
> That kind of hard lock could be driver related, but sketchy hardware 
> is often the cause too, especially with that genre of gpu.
>
> -mb
>
>
> On 11/11/2011 01:52 PM, Stephen wrote:
>> If you want to try an alternate Graphics card i do have some AGP cards
>> floating about still.
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 11:23 AM, Derek Trotter
>> <expat.arizonan at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>> Good idea, but the motherboard does not have a video card onboard.  
>>> The bios
>>> does have a setting to   set the primary video adapter as AGP or 
>>> PCI.  It's
>>> set to PCI.
>>>
>>> Thanks for taking the time to write your suggestion.
>>>
>>> Derek
>>>
>>> On 11/11/2011 07:44 AM, Stephen wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Something to consider in some CMOS you can have settings that choose a
>>>> preferred video card, and sometimes on-board video is not disabled
>>>> fully. some Intel boards are notorious for this.
>>>>
>>>> Look in your settings and see what you can find. this may help. I had
>>>> one helluva time with PCI-e graphics and Ubuntu for a while back in
>>>> the 8.xx days with this.
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 4:38 PM, Derek 
>>>> Trotter<expat.arizonan at gmail.com>
>>>>   wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> It happens whether or not I'm playing a video.  Most of the videos I
>>>>> watch
>>>>> are not flash videos.  They're mostly avi files with xvid, but 
>>>>> some were
>>>>> mpeg1 or mpeg2.  I used vlc to play them.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 11/10/2011 16:32, Dazed_75 wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> All of your issues sound like they happen when playing videos.  Is 
>>>>> that
>>>>> true
>>>>> or are there other times as well?
>>>>>
>>>>> As far as what else it could be, there could be lots of 
>>>>> possibilities but
>>>>> they might be hard to track down to elements that are common to 
>>>>> Ubuntu,
>>>>> Kubuntu, and Fedora.  If it is localized to playing videos, I would
>>>>> certainly be suspicious of the command line based underpinnings the
>>>>> players
>>>>> might use.  Oh, and are the videos Flash based or not?
>>>>>
>>>>> If you are coming to the meeting tonight and can come to the 
>>>>> restaurant
>>>>> after, someone there may be able to help.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 4:21 PM, Derek 
>>>>> Trotter<expat.arizonan at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 11/10/2011 16:10, Dazed_75 wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Try looking to see if you are using the open source generic nvidia
>>>>>> driver
>>>>>> or the proprietary one.  I am not sure where that is in the Kubuntu
>>>>>> menus
>>>>>> but look for something in System, or Administration with a name 
>>>>>> that is
>>>>>> probably something about Hardware.  It should run a program that 
>>>>>> looks
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> see if there are proprietary drivers you might choose to use.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When I first installed the os I noticed the problem with the 
>>>>>> driver it
>>>>>> came with.  I checked and found where it suggested a proprietary 
>>>>>> driver
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> offered one other.  I chose the one that was recommended.  The bug
>>>>>> showed
>>>>>> itself with the driver that came with the install and the one I
>>>>>> installed
>>>>>> later.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I AM curious though if you have some particular reason for 
>>>>>> suspecting it
>>>>>> is due to you having that video card since a screen freeze could be
>>>>>> something above the driver level.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I've had that card for about 2 years while the machine was 
>>>>>> running XP
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> didn't have this problem.  It only showed itself after I 
>>>>>> installed the
>>>>>> latest Ubuntu and Kubuntu version as well as the other latest linux
>>>>>> flavors
>>>>>> I mentioned earlier.  Fedora 15 was the worst.  It would freeze the
>>>>>> screen
>>>>>> as soon as I started playing a video.  The others would let me 
>>>>>> watch at
>>>>>> least for a few minutes before the screen froze.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Also if it's not a driver problem, what else could it be?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 3:59 PM, Derek 
>>>>>> Trotter<expat.arizonan at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have an NVIDIA Geforce 8400 GS card that plugs into a PCI 
>>>>>>> slot.  I
>>>>>>> have
>>>>>>> no problems with it in XP, but when I installed Kubuntu 11.10 I 
>>>>>>> found a
>>>>>>> problem.  Occasionally the screen freezes.  I can't switch to a
>>>>>>> console.
>>>>>>>   Also I can't kill the x server.  I know the machine has not 
>>>>>>> completely
>>>>>>> locked up because when I have audio playing, it keeps playing even
>>>>>>> though
>>>>>>> the screen has frozen.  None of the usual means to shut down a 
>>>>>>> machine
>>>>>>> work.
>>>>>>>   The only thing I can do is hit the reset button, press the power
>>>>>>> switch for
>>>>>>> several seconds until the machine shuts off, or pull the plug.  
>>>>>>> I've
>>>>>>> encountered this on Ubuntu 11.10, Kubuntu 11.10, Mepis 11 and 
>>>>>>> Fedora
>>>>>>> 15.  I
>>>>>>> installed the LTS verson of Kubuntu 10 and haven't had any problems
>>>>>>> with it.
>>>>>>>   Does anyone have any idea what's going on or how to fix it?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>> Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain
>>>>>> occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
>>>>>>    - Thomas Jefferson
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry
>>>>>
>>>>> The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain
>>>>> occasions,
>>>>> that I wish it always to be kept alive.
>>>>>    - Thomas Jefferson
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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>>
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