OpenGL screensavers crash session

[tihson]

I have just installed Mageia on two Thinkpad T520 units, and I am having this problem. The OpenGL screensaver in both the KDE module and Xscreensaver crash the session once the screensaver attempts to return to the desktop. If it means anything, I am also finding video playback poor, regardless of the player, and DVD playback has on occasion also crashed the session.

I installed the live 32 bit version of Mageia because the DVD wouldn't boot. They each have 4G of ram, and they both have Intel Sandy Bridge integrated GPU.

I am going to try and figure out this OpenGL issue here, but I am mostly a user, so in spite of over a decade with Mandrake and Mandriva (and now Mageia) I am not confident I will find a solution. I found nothing on these Mageia forums, and Google is not being my friend.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

[doktor5000]

Can you please attach /var/log/Xorg.1.log?

[tihson]

I was not able to find xorg.1.log, but instead found xorg.0.log. I have also attached kdm.log, as it seems to show the cause of the crashes, although my lack of technical kung-fu leaves me a bit lost.

Thanks.

[doktor5000]

Well Xorg.0.log is the logfile of the current running Xserver session, and if there were no crashes in that session,
no relevant entries in the log. But the other file you posted has the needed information

Maybe this sounds too much, but now you need to create a bugreport, but first you should do the following:
https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2047#c1 Read and do everything beginning from step 3)
Then please check back here or ask if you don't get what should be done, i can explain.

[tihson]

All steps done as requested, save for the bug report. I will get to that asap. I ran the opengl screen saver under KDE, not Xscreensaver, just because that was the one that started this adventure. The first time I ran it the screen saver did not kill the session, so I thought for a moment it had somehow solved itself, but when I ran it in the screen saver module of system settings it killed the x session when I tried to return to the desktop while testing the screen saver.

What I need to know now is what do I do? I will file the bug report, but I feel like I am missing something.

Thank you very much for the direction. I will watch for a reply.

[tihson]

Bug report filed. Bug 3206.

Thanks again for the assistance.

[mikala]

Bug report filed. Bug 3206.

Thanks again for the assistance.

You forgot to add the info suggested by docktor500 ( https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2047#c1 )

[doktor5000]

Well, if you did every step you should have gotten a usable backtrace of the crash,
which you should attach to the bugreport. But lets wait until someone asks in the bugreport for it.

[tihson]

I knew there was something missing. Where would I find this backtrace?

[doktor5000]

Did you follow the last three lines in https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2047#c1 ?
Then you should simply wait until it crashes again and you should see it, AFAICT.

[tihson]

I will try it again tomorrow and let you know the result. I am guessing I did something incorrectly, although I was reasonably sure I did it right the first time.

[tihson]

A few things;

First, this was in one of two text files generated by Xgdb2.sh in my home directory "./Xgdb2.sh: line 2: gdb: command not found". These were created when I crashed the session in order to get the backtrace. Looking into the software repositories I see it's a bit important, so I've installed it. I will try crashing the session again after this post and report back.

Second, this event occurs when either Xscreensaver or the native KDE screensaver attempts to use OpenGL screensavers, but not reliably. Twice in testing the KSE screensaver has started and then been stopped by myself without trouble.

[tihson]

I have attached the file it generated, but I don't think it will be much help as there was apparently another issue. It was looking for "gcmds2" which is not on my system (that I can find) and I cannot find it in the repositories. Have to go to work, so I will look into this more later.

[tihson]

I found a version of gcmds2 linked to on an older Mandriva forum, so I used that ... with bad results. System hung completely both times I tried it. I needed to hard reboot the system to get it back. I have attached a copy of the file I downloaded, renamed so it doesn't hang my system by accident, as well as the log generated from that crash.

Sorry for all the posts. I am just trying to be thorough.

[doktor5000]

First, this was in one of two text files generated by Xgdb2.sh in my home directory "./Xgdb2.sh: line 2: gdb: command not found".

You should at least install gdb as the error message suggests
But about gcmds2, this is actually the name of the second script your downloaded:

https://bugs.mageia.org/attachment.cgi?id=122 should be saved as gcmds2
and https://bugs.mageia.org/attachment.cgi?id=121 should be saved as Xgdb2.sh

[tihson]

First, this was in one of two text files generated by Xgdb2.sh in my home directory "./Xgdb2.sh: line 2: gdb: command not found".

You should at least install gdb as the error message suggests
But about gcmds2, this is actually the name of the second script your downloaded:

https://bugs.mageia.org/attachment.cgi?id=122 should be saved as gcmds2
and https://bugs.mageia.org/attachment.cgi?id=121 should be saved as Xgdb2.sh

GDB is already installed, as I said above, and I have overwritten the other two files with those you linked to. They seem identical to the ones I already had, so I am not sure what will change. I suspect I did run gcmds2 with as "gcmds2.sh", so perhaps that will make a difference. I will report back when I have a moment to crash my system ...

[doktor5000]

I suspect I did run gcmds2 with as "gcmds2.sh", so perhaps that will make a difference. I will report back when I have a moment to crash my system ...

Looking at the instructions in the bugreport, you should not run gcmds2 directly:

Then just run "sh ./Xgdb2.sh" on a text terminal as root
(not from a terminal within X11!!! use Ctrl+Alt+F1),
then switch back to X11 until it segfaults (Ctrl+Alt+F7).

Also if you do this during a running X session, this would explain why you got so bad results.

[tihson]

I am getting confused. I am doing exactly as the post states. I have found and installed the various unmentioned dependencies as they became issues. I am not running the script you just mentioned directly. So now I am now faced with trying to figure out how to crash an X session when I do not have an instance of X running?

Please understand, I ran the instructions EXACTLY as they are provided. I am quite aware I must run the script from outside of X. Your last few posts are telling me things I figured out on my own days ago. As it stands I have pretty much exhausted my free time with this issue, so whenever I find time to play with it I will post here, but unless you are able to explain to me how to start the debug process and then crash an X session, without actually returning to an active X session to crash it, I think I am simply going to need to call this bug a feature.

Thank you for your time with this. I apologize I have not been able to get the data to you that's required. I will do my best to return to this when time allows.

[doktor5000]

but unless you are able to explain to me how to start the debug process and then crash an X session, without actually returning to an active X session to crash it, I think I am simply going to need to call this bug a feature.

From rereading it seems you need to switch to a text terminal during a running X session, run the script,
and return to your normal X session and continue to use it until it crashes. Then you should have the textfile
to which the script writes its output, which should contain necessary information.

[tihson]

As I said, that's what I did.

Sorry about yesterday, frustration levels a bit higher than I like. When I have time I will return to this issue and try again.

[doktor5000]

Sorry about yesterday, frustration levels a bit higher than I like. When I have time I will return to this issue and try again.

Ahh, no problem and easily comprehensible with the problem at hand.

I'll see if i can reproduce this and contact the author of those scripts.