desktop crash playing media after last update [Solved]

[ezioze]

Hi all.
After yesterday update (xorg libs, amdcccle, and other xorg files) every time i play a media file (.mkv, .avi etc) my desktop manager (xfce) crash and i have to re-login.
I tried vlc and smplayer and also tried with GNOME (last release)
i also tried to switch to opengl xorg-x11 instead ati but system doesn't start (always crash and reboot)
I watched log files but i didn't find something strange
any suggestion?


Moderator Edit: Fixed spelling in Subject.

[joost]

At least post some logs with errors.

[ezioze]

I found no errors in
Xorg.0.log
rc.log
dmesg
which other log file may i watch?

[Fitzcarraldo]

If you're using FGLRX driver versions 11.11 or 11.12 then it has a bug which means you cannot play video using XVideo (Xv) because the X.Org Server crashes. Switch to OpenGL output in your media players (Playing QuickTime videos in Firefox and Chromium + XVideo bug in AMD Catalyst 11.11 and 11.12 driver).

[ezioze]

It works like a chair.
Thank you very much

[Fitzcarraldo]

It works like a chair.

I think you'll find it's "charm", not "chair"!

You're welcome. It's an annoying bug in the FGLRX driver. Let's hope the AMD people fix it in the next release, as it's stopping me viewing video of the other party in Skype.

[Ponder]

Is there any way to rollback to the last stable version ( 11.8 )?

I cannot find any way to get MythTV to work

[Fitzcarraldo]

Ponder, only if you use Portage, given that ati-drivers-11.8 is no longer in the Entropy repository. Actually ati-drivers-11.10 should also work with X.Org Server 1.11.x, so you could try that instead. You will still need to use Portage either way, though.

Code: Select all

# # If this is your first time using Portage then set it up:
# equo install git # Sabayon overlays use Git.
# emerge --sync # Download ebuilds for Portage main tree.
# layman -S # Download Portage overlays list and update ebuilds of any already-added overlays.
# layman -d sabayon # Just in case you have the old monolithic Sabayon overlay added.
# layman -a sabayon # Add the first of the two new split Sabayon overlays.
# layman -a sabayon-distro # Add the second of the two new split Sabayon overlays.
# layman -S # Make sure all overlays are now updated.
# # Now you can install the driver module:
# emerge -1v =ati-drivers-11.8 # Unlike the Sabayon ati-drivers ebuild, amdcccle is also installed by this Gentoo ebuild.
# eselect opengl set ati # The merge above should do this but may as well be sure.
# equo rescue spmsync # Tell Entropy what you did via Portage.
# cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep Driver # Just to check FGLRX is specified.

Then reboot.

Note that amdcccle will probably tell you that the version of the Catalyst driver is still 11.12 (or whatever version it was that you were using before doing the above). There is some black magic to sort that out but it's not worth bothering with at the moment (I'll list the incantations some other time if you get through the above successfully).

[Ponder]

Well it failed on the emerge of the drivers themselves due to file collisions. I removed 11.12 via equo and tried again with the same result. Now, even reinstalling the binary 11.12 via equo gives me an unusable Desktop. After a reboot it even defaults to a safe screen with no keyboard/mouse

Now the long process of working out what the hell to do to fix it. All repos and updates are in place so I'm not entirely sure where to go next. I'm trying moving the warned of collisions into a temp folder and trying again. I can see a complete reinstall on the horizon and I'll probably end up back with Debian at this rate.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Every distribution is different. It's like riding a bicycle: easy when you know how. Prefix the emerge command with the following environment variable assignment (or, alternatively, assign the environment variable in /etc/make.conf):

Code: Select all

FEATURES="-collision-detect -protect-owned" emerge -1v <package name>

If you can't get to a VT by using Ctrl-Alt-F1 (or F2 to F6) then you can still run the above-mentioned commands by using a LiveDVD to chroot into your installation: see SL Wiki article HOWTO: chroot from a LiveCD.