New 11.3 install, video playback brief freeze (Desktop effects issue)

**caf4926** · 30-Jul-2010, 13:56

kde4 stock install
kwin effects
With video playback, standard .avi: Going fullscreen or coming out of full screen causes brief freeze 2-3 seconds. (smplayer)
If I switch off effects. All is good.

This is a replication of my previous 11.2 install - Which worked flawlessly yesterday with the latest nvidia driver and effects.

I'm really just wondering if anyone else has experienced this, as I'll be working on troubleshooting this in the morning. No time right now and the Mrs is using it.

**ijbreakey** · 30-Jul-2010, 15:10

Will actually be able to let you know in about an hour. FINALLY the weekend so no homework and no work

. Reinstalling 11.3 on my box with Nvidia graphics card. KDE 4.5 kept freezing up whereas stock install usually works fine. Will test this after it's done updating.

Take care,

Ian

**jdmcdaniel3** · 30-Jul-2010, 15:12

So if you set a screen saver active, do you notice the same issue when you stop the screen saver? I have one PC with 11.3 that does this, but not all do this. I use all nVidia cards, but the issue I think is going on with a PC that were upgraded from 11.3 RC2, but that was just what I think I am seeing.

Thank You,

**ijbreakey** · 30-Jul-2010, 17:50

Wow, it just did it with Kaffeine. It's kind of random though. When I first booted up with everything installed, it fullscreened and exited fine. But I just tried it again and the computer froze for about 2 seconds. Weird.

Take Care,

Ian

**caf4926** · 30-Jul-2010, 21:56

I never use a screensaver and don't even plan to go there, in the past they have been nothing but trouble.

I just booted to gnome to see there. I tried enabling effects and it said my hardware does not support it, the screen froze for a second and then it proceeded to let me say Yes to keep the settings and enable them.

And with effects running I can do 'whatever' - without issue.

glxgears runs fine
and all the indications are that I am running the driver correctly.

I'm going to kde now and will try compiz there instead of kwin.....

**caf4926** · 30-Jul-2010, 22:02

Compiz in kde
No issue....

Ian I kind of expected you to be using Compiz? But were you?

**caf4926** · 30-Jul-2010, 23:17

I'm fairly certain it's down to kwin, as for me it only happens with desktop effects using kde's native kwin. But it's doesn't happen on my Intel laptops which use kwin. It didn't happen in 11.2.
Only thing I didn't do is add the kde4 stable repo, so that's my next move I guess. As I had that in 11.2 and have it on my laptops (11.3) too.

**caf4926** · 30-Jul-2010, 23:37

For those interested, you might want to check back in this thread because I have made a number of posts in succession.

I updated to the kde4 stable repo and all is well in the world now. So the issue seems assuredly to be kwin in the release or any updates that may or may not have been applied.

**ijbreakey** · 31-Jul-2010, 08:46

No compiz for me. It was alsways so buggy with KDE4. Once Kwin started getting all of the plugins I use in compiz, then the effort wasn't really worth the benefits. I still use it ever now and then to check on it, but other than that Kwin's effects are sufficient for my needs.

I'll update with the KDE4 stable repo and see if I get similar results.

Take Care,

Ian

**twelveeighty** · 31-Jul-2010, 17:40

Originally Posted by caf4926

I updated to the kde4 stable repo and all is well in the world now. So the issue seems assuredly to be kwin in the release or any updates that may or may not have been applied.

I need a favor - can someone reproduce a very similar 11.3 problem for me and see if it's fixed with the kde4 stable repo (see my laptop specs in my signature below)? I think I've got it narrowed down to "rdesktop and kwin do not like each other". Whenever I have an rdesktop session open and then switch from the rdesktop window to another window by using the mouse - either clicking on the title bar of another window or switching using the task bar - my screen freezes 2-3 seconds. It doesn't appear to happen when I use "Alt-Tab".
The laptop is my work laptop so I don't like experimenting on it, since my "test" partition is still sporting the old 11.2 install in case a showstopper in 11.3 pops up (not likely, but still).