Hi.

From time to time my computer freezes when I am in a full-screen VLC video. Sometime I can hit Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to force myself to the login screen - other times I must hit the physical reset button on the Desktop. Also just recently I was moving my mouse and my desktop just froze -- I had to reset my PC.

Why is this happening and is there a fix?

Thanks.

Edit: I'm using the nouveau drivers with the GeForce GTX650 if that's of relevance.

Same was happening to me. The only solution was to install the nvidia drivers from their site. in my case KDE was crashing. Same VGA as yours.

it might be relevant and the previous poster might be right; but it is also possible that vlc is misconfigured, or that the problem is of a completely different nature.

does it happen with ALL videos? if not, which sort?
please also try some different media players based on mplayer or mpv.

instead of closing the X session, can you switch to a different terminal with e.g. Ctrl-Alt-F2?
have you then looked at the relevant log files?
show us some output.

Hi Rhadamanthysan.

I don't want to install the nvidia drivers - I'll stick with Nouveau. It's not a daily occurrence anyway. Maybe future updates will resolve this.

Hi ondoho.

Yes, maybe I need to tweak some VLC settings -- not sure where to start though.

I download a lot of videos from YT in mp4 format so I guess it mostly happens with them. I never took notice if it only affects certain formats.

I tried mplayer also and it freezes but does not cause system freeze -- I can just close it. SMPlayer works fine.

Sometimes a total freeze does not even allow me to access a virtual terminal.

pay attention to resolution.
maybe it only happens to high resolution video (usually larger than your screen)?
also mp4 is just another container format; it's a little over my head, but one should also pay attention to the actual codecs i guess; some take a lot of computing power to decode. some rely on gpu capabilities for decoding, which nouveau might not offer.

I generally watch videos that are well below my screen resolution. I like 480p or 720p. My monitor is 1920x1080.

It just happened again. My only option was to reset via the Desktop reset button.

I was watching a mp4 video in VLC in a window (half tiled). The video just froze but the audio continued until the video ended. Everything else on screen was frozen also.

Attached is a screengrab of mediainfo.

Attached Thumbnails

 

I just booted up my PC and it got to the screen (I have autologin setup) and failed to load all panel items - a hard reset was my only option. All works fine at the 2nd try. Is this all down to graphic drivers?

i just thought i'd point that out again.

nevertheless, one would think that nouveau works well enough nowadays, and your GeForce GTX650 does not strike me as special.

it might be good to see some more system specs - hard- and software.
and some logs.

Here you go (I put XXXXX where info maybe sensitive).

System: Host: XXXXX Kernel: 4.13.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 6.3.0)
Desktop: MATE 1.16.2 (Gtk 3.22.11-1) Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)
Machine: Device: desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: P8H77-V LE v: Rev X.0x
BIOS: American Megatrends v: 1001 date: 02/04/2013
CPU: Quad core Intel Core i5-3470 (-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 25598
clock speeds: max: 3600 MHz 1: 3199 MHz 2: 3199 MHz 3: 3199 MHz 4: 3199 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GK107 [GeForce GTX 650] bus-ID: 01:00.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.19.2 drivers: nouveau (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVE7 GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.6 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card-1 NVIDIA GK107 HDMI Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
Card-2 Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: 08:60:6e:d8:81:2d
Card-2: Realtek RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter
driver: r8188eu v: v4.1.4_6773.20130222 usb-ID: 001-004
IF: wlx10feed2124f6 state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives: HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (37.7% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST2000DM001 size: 2000.4GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 1.8T used: 700G (41%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1
ID-2: /boot size: 236M used: 66M (30%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-3: swap-1 size: 4.24GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-2
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C gpu: 24.0
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info: Processes: 225 Uptime: 41 min Memory: 4953.9/15997.8MB
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 6.3.0 Client: Shell (bash 4.4.121) inxi: 2.3.5

Edit: I think my SATA data cable was dodgy for a long while. The HDD would make a sound like it was about to conk out - GNOME Disks always showed things were fine. About a 2 weeks ago, my HDD was not being detected at bootup. I wonder if some system files were corrupted as one time I did manage to bootup with the dodgy cable -- things on the desktop screen got all glitched. I disconnected the cable and saw that a part that keeps the connection tight was loose and eventually came off - it now has a good SATA data cable.

nice.
now the logs.
and don't just dump them here, try to find relevant details before posting here.
let's work on the assumptiion that this might be GPU related, but it also might be something else.

Thanks for sticking around.

BTW, incase you did not see it - I added more info to the last post - look from "Edit: ...".

What logs in particular should I look for?

A few days ago when I resized Corebird it froze the OS and I needed a hard reset to fix it. This happens with both the older and backport versions.

Today I went to resize the Telegram window and my computer froze -- a hard reset was needed. This is so frustrating.

you may want to go back to post #12.
and no, inxi output is not what i asked for.
you have been here long enough to know the procedure, and not using code tags is close to an insult in this case.