[intrepid] Flash, VirtualBox, Dosbox etc. video freezes after few seconds

Binary package hint: flashplugin-nonfree

Whenever I start playing a flash video in firefox or konqueror, it will freeze after a few seconds. The browser is still responding and I can hear the sound of the flash video. When I force a refresh of the webpage, e.g. by scrolling the page, the video will run for a few seconds and then freeze again.

I'm running kubuntu intrepid on a dell xps m1330 with intel graphics.

I have the exactly same behaviou. On clicking on the progresssss bar video starts again, but again only for about 3 seconds.
Intrepid 64bit, nvidia graphics, firefox and konqueror
flashplugin-nonfree (libflashsupport installed and uninstalled)
nspluginwrapper is installed because its a dependency of flashplugin.

I confirm this bug on 32bit intrepid. Intel graphics, dell xps1330. I'll add that it also occurs in other applications (at least scummvm and the Android SDK emulator), so it might not be specific to flashplugin-nonfree.

It seems that it has been a KDE 4.1.1 issue. With the new KDE 4.1.2 packages flashplugin works fine (except for the usual random hickups).

Hmm, yesterday (KDE 4.1.2 was already there) it did not work, but today it works. Maybe a reboot was needed.

Comment was too early. Bug is back again at second flash video.

Yeah, it seems that my comment was too early, too.

This is not flash related. It happens for me in VirtualBox and DosBox too. I have a Dell Studio 15 with Intel X3100 graphics. I think this is an xorg bug.

Package: xserver-xorg
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 1:7.4~2ubuntu5

Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 2:2.4.1-1ubuntu6

I have these versions installed. What version are you using?
I'm using the latest Intrepid 32bit. Is there any way I could debug this?

No, i dont think its a xserver problem. It has to be flash.

@Gunni: Have you red my previous posts? Exacly the same thing happens with VirtualBox, DosBox, even Android SDK (which uses Qemu). Screen contents freeze until they are moved somewhere. But after a few seconds they freeze again, but in the background they continue running.

This bug probably consists to this bug in Xorg's intel video driver. I'll add the Freedesktop.org's bugzilla link.

http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16257

s/consists/corresponds
Damn.

Redraw problem also affects wesnoth and freeciv - so it really seems to be a xserver issue.

Here's a workaround for it: http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16257#c6

It also affects any video if it is played via X11 output

Looks like upstream is actively working on the bug, so I've tentatively approved it for Intrepid, however we'd need to see a patch within the next few days to be able to put it in for Intrepid, otherwise we'll have to wait for jaunty. I'd ideally like to see a small patch - less than 100 lines. If the patch is significantly larger than that, it may be tough to validate that it's sufficiently regression-free.

 Johnny Levai: As for me it only happens for flash video and not for virtualbox or others, i dont think its the xserver.
For me the problem was on nvidia and intel so it should be in both or none driver. For me it sounds like its more likely a flash fault, and it seems that its now working after the yesterdays _flash_ update ...

A little detail I can provide is, when a flash video freezes in one of the Firefox tabs, switching to another tab and switching back to the flash video tab makes the video continue (not from the second it froze. Even though the display is frozen, the video continues to play in the background).

Gunni: then you are experiencing a different bug related to flash. This bug report refers to an xorg bug.

He might be very well experiencing the same bug because the tab switch forces the redraw.

confirmed in 64-bit Intrepid with all updates.

I was able to reproduce this yesterday on an intel 965 laptop. And also confirm comment #19 - moving a window to the foreground makes the video start playing again. This seems to be a fairly new issue, like within the past couple weeks; however the last code change to -intel was Sept 20, so it must be something other than -intel. Looking over xorg-server for the past couple weeks, there's been quite a few code changes but none that leap out as obvious issues that would affect flash video playback.

Could someone try booting an older kernel and see if you can reproduce it there? If it can't be reproduced, then we may want to look into recent kernel changes for Ubuntu.

I've tested and confirmed cworth's workaround patch to disable frame buffer compression on 965. Videos are watchable with this patch.

I've uploaded the patch and will notify the release team to let it through.

Changes:
 xserver-xorg-video-intel (2:2.4.1-1ubuntu9) hardy; urgency=low
 .
   * 27_disable_fbc_on_965.patch:
     - Works around issue where flash videos freeze after playing for a few
       moments on i965 chipset, by disabling Frame Buffer Compression, which
       is not working reliably on this chipset. It can be re-enabled via the
       FrameBufferCompression option for testing purposes.
Files:
 97fefbf7e983426421e2b0324fb9401b 1364 x11 optional xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.4.1-1ubuntu9.dsc
 e0e24178064cfe3bd4015bc4d4749560 227769 x11 optional xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.4.1-1ubuntu9.diff.g
z
Original-Maintainer: Debian X Strike Force <debi

I have a quite similar problem: video freezes for about 1 second randomly but it keeps going on.
This happens using dragon and mplayer and it doesn't seem to be related to the kind of file.
I've also noticed that the mouse pointer becomes active every 5-6 seconds.

More info:
- xserver-xorg-video-intel (2:2.4.1-1ubuntu10)
- xorg-server 2:1.5.2-2ubuntu3
- kernel 2.6.27-9.19-generic

My Xorg.0.log is full of lines like these:
 (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
 (II) intel(0): Modeline "1280x800"x0.0 71.00 1280 1328 1360 1440 800 803 809 823 -hsync -vsync (49.3 kHz)
 (II) intel(0): EDID vendor "CMO", prod id 5414

Hi all,

I have had a problem very similar to the one posted here. I have a Gateway GT5674 with AMD 9500 2.2Ghz Quad Core, Nvidia 6150 SE integrated graphics, and 3Gb RAM. I started off using Hardy on this machine (still installed) and everything is working beautifully there. I split my 500Gb HD in half and then made my system to be dual O.S. after the Intrepid official release.

Intrepid is very nice. Me likey 8-) However, one of the game places I visit is RuneScape which uses Java. The game will play video for about 3 to 5 seconds then freeze frame while still playing the audio for about 10 seconds, then the video will start again. If I jiggle the cursor over the video, it will start playing sooner, then freeze again after about 3 to 5 seconds. On occasion it freezes as soon as I stop moving the cursor. I know that YouTube also uses Java, so I went there, and the audio plays just fine, but the video is a little glitchy about ever 3 to 5 seconds.

I checked out my hardware to see if everything was in order. I used the lshw command, and it seemed that RAM was being slowed down to be in sync with the integrated GPU (from 677 down to 4?? don't remember exactly). Anyhow, I got a video card and am now running an Nvidia 7600 GS 512Mb RAM EIDE card thinking that this would do the trick.

Well, a little driver wrangling, the new card is installed as well as the driver, and the hardware listings are showing some promising results.

To make a long story a little less long, I'm still glitching every 3 to 5 seconds although the duration of the glitches has decreased somewhat.

If you'd like more information about my installs, let me know.

Before I go, Super Tux Kart was very glitchy before the hardware upgrade, now it is only slightly noticeable. Extreme Tux Racer on the other hand was has had no problems before or after the hardware change, and that little birdy sure can fly!!

Oh, I am running 64bit install, of course.

A couple other things I've noticed, sometime the web pages don't load the first time you enter them, and about half of the time when the screen saver activates, it is only visible over the desktop panel area while the rest of the screen is white. Both of these were unaffected by the 7600 GS upgrade.

Ugh!! I am such a stumble-bum, please forgive me.

I also forgot to say that the upgrade to the 7600 GS does seem to fix a problem I was having with the widgets disappearing. That was pretty cool, cause I'd be doing something, close an app and watch the widgets flicker (not synchronous, but more like christmas lights flickering on and off in seemingly random order) and then one or more would disappear not to come back until next boot.

Hmm, Java doesn't work in Konqueror at all.

-----
java -version

java version "1.6.0_0"
IcedTea6 1.3.1 (6b12-0ubuntu6) Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_0-b12)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 1.6.0_0-b12, mixed mode)
-----

Is this a bad configuration?
I'll look to see what the install looks like on the Hardy side. It it's different, I'll make the changes and post back.

The Hardy install is OpenJDK all the way. No matter what I try, I cannot get Intrepid to assume the same configuration. Yes, the Hardy install is also 64bit. Now, I'll try downgrading the Intrepid install to a 32bit version to see if that helps any. I'll post again when I've finished with that.

Side Note: The YouTube video playback is better with the new card, now I'm running into the same problem that my dad has with his Hardy install, that the video plays 5 to 10 seconds and does a double frame. Kind of like the video is playing too slow or the audio is play too fast and has to re-sync every so often to catch up.

Oi, just thought of something else to try, will post back if it works, whatever I do.

Well, the Java files were so thrashed by the time I was done tinkering, I did a complete re-install. Still having same problems. I found a flash handler that has fixed the YouTube glitch, it is as follows (I found these instructions on another website):

wget http://queleimporta.com/downloads/flash10_en.sh

sudo bash ./flash10_en.sh

I also tried adding a cache handler add-on to Firefox hoping it would help with RuneScape, but it didn't. That one is called, "BetterCache".

I'm done trying to figure this one out. It also seems that Firefox on Intrepid doesn't recognize some of the web address code from "RuneScape" either.

I have yet to be able to get Java running in Konqueror also. It seems to start to initialize the Java Applet and it states at the bottom that the applet is running, however there is no video or audio from the Java app. Ive tried giving Java all available rights (including putting the pertinent web addresses in both of the account lists as "accept") through the Configure Konqueror editor, but nothing seems to help.

I guess I'll just stick with KDE Hardy for now, as everything is working there. Oh, another thing, the icons at the bottom right of the screen that show background processes and apps, have a habit of being replaced by a dark blue box. They still work, but you cannot see what they are.

I don't really want to downgrade the system to a 32bit when the 64bit Hardy is working.

I thought of some other stuff to try. I turned off the NVidia proprietary driver and reconfigured XOrg to Vesa.

Now, I have good video, but in small window only. When I try to access large window I lose all video and audio. (2.2Ghz AMD 9500 Quad Core, 3Gigs 677Mhz Ram, Nvidia 7600 GS PCIE with 512Megs Ram - this system should have absolutely no problem with audio/video.) With Vesa in control, I tried the option posted way up there with the framebuffer modification and it did nothing to change the video problem.

That sent me on another path, video drivers. It turns out that the Hardy install is using NVidia's 173.xx driver and Intrepid is using the 177.xx driver. Ahaa!! (The monkey said to the scientist.)

I went back to Intrepid and installed the 173.xx NVidia driver. Now, intrepid glitches more often and freezes faster than ever. Also, the widgets and icons are disappearing again. Ugh. (If only, if only, the woodpecker sighed. The bark on the tree was as soft as the sky.)

I'll try again in a couple months, but apparently the Intrepid is still a little too young for me.

I guess my problem was different since it's solved now that I've upgraded to kde4.2 beta (kubuntu-experimental).
Reading the apt logs I couldn't find any references to X or intel drivers updates, so I don't see a link between my problem and this bug report anymore.

Related to Xorg, is fixed within xorg

I believe this has regressed in Natty. I've been consistently able to reproduce this behavior on my Lenovo X61s.

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) (rev 0c)
ii xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3.1 the X.Org X server
ii xserver-xorg-core 2:1.10.1-1ubuntu1.1 Xorg X server - core server
ii xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1 X.Org X server -- Intel i8xx, i9xx display driver

Youtube videos stop moving after ~10 seconds until I force a redraw by scrolling or changing workspaces. I notice that my xterm windows also don't fully update when I click-drag to select text to paste elsewhere, when individual characters change (e.g. the bottom window status bar of irssi), etc.

I also know someone else who is seeing this behavior and can reproduce it.

There's nothing abnormal in Xorg.0.log or in dmesg. I'm going to try applying the instructions from this bug to see if anything fixes it, but I'm happy to collect any additional debug information people want.

(and for reference, this was working in Lucid, so I believe it regressed at some point between Lucid and Natty.)