Freezes with VIA KM400/VT8378 (regression)

Thanks for reporting this bug. Could you please attach your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and /var/log/Xorg.0.log files, while using the 6.5.2-3ubuntu7 drivers?

For the record: i crashed the system by purpose for the Xorg.0.log by typing glxinfo - I don't know if that has any impact on the log file.

Hi narr,

Thanks for adding the information. Nothing jumps out at me in the logs as problematic, although there's a few warnings which could be clues:

(WW) VIA(0): [XvMC] Not supported on this chipset.
...
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x22
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x23
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x24
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x25
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x26
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x27
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x28
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x29
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2a
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2b
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2c
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2d
...
(II) VIA(0): Trying VBE Mode 1024x768 (0xc118)
(II) VIA(0): VBESetVBEMode failed...but worked OK without customized refresh and dotclock.

Thanks for reporting that you crashed the system with glxinfo - that's exactly the right thing to do here. It's useful data that crashing it didn't result in messages to Xorg.0.log.

I see a few similar bugs in via/3d behavior upstream in Xorg's bug tracker, but not sure if any of them are matches:

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1280
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9080
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10499

Can you try running glxgears and see if it too crashes the system, or produces any error messages mentioned on these bugs?

Also, after X has frozen, what steps do you take to recover? Do you do ctrl-alt-bkspace to restart it, or reboot the computer, or something else?

Also, have you ever collected a backtrace before? I think if you do not find a match yourself, our next step would be to get a backtrace of glxinfo. I can give you a sequence of commands to run if you've not done this before, and would like to try this route.

Hi Bryce,

I've searched throughe the bugs mentioned by you, but none of them shows the same symptons as my problem (as far as I can see).
#9080: no 3D program I've tested work (no glxgears either, see Xorg.0.log attached to this comment)
#1280: mouse cursor doesn't work, it is not possible to switch to a console (alt+strg+fX) plus I don't get any error messages for glxgears in the terminal
#10499: there isn't any movement of the gears as it just shows a black window

As mentioned above, glxgears doesn't work. I don't get any error message in the terminal - the glxgears window pops up, it is just black, and the desktop freezes immediately.

After X has frozen I just switch the power off, as I can't switch to a console and as I don't know any other way (strg+alt+backspace doesn't work either - well, I've waited for about 1 minute I guess) to do it ;)
As I don't use any login manager I duplicate the Xorg.0.log file before starting a new X session so that it won't be overwritten.

No, I have never collected a backtrace before.
But if you give me some information/link on how to do it, I will happily collect one :)

Anyone?

Hi narr,

This sounds much like bug 43154, which you've already commented on, so I'm marking this a dupe of that one. There are some slight symptom differences, however I suspect it's the same root cause, just different symptoms due to differing hardware. The upstream bug at freedesktop.org (5092) does not sound like it's going to get fixed soon, though. Using the downgraded mesa libs is probably the best option for now.

There is a new 6.5.3 mesa out, which is available in Gutsy, and we're hoping to see Mesa 7.0 out soon as well, so you could test those when they arrive. However, it sort of sounds like the issue is in the via driver, which unfortunately doesn't sound like it's been getting much developer attention.

Hi narr,

If you are willing and able to compile things from source, then join #unichrome on irc.freenode.net and present your problem there.