OpenSUSE 11.1 Gnome: Nautilus crash and windows refresh

Hi, I have some problems with my installation of openSUSE 11.1 (32bit) and Gnome desktop + Compiz. I wanted to know if they are common or if they can depend on a configuration problem.

  • Nautilus –
  1. I noticed that fails to create thumbnail (preview) of some video files (avi, mp4 or mkv). The video is OK, but if I try to view the file properties Nautilus window closes and the desktop is refreshed.

  2. occasionally when Nautilus windows is opened in background or minimized, especially if not used for a while ', the window becomes white and does not show the contents, so I have to force closure and open it again.

  • Gnome (or compiz?) –
    I have often noticed that the windows are not updated properly. Some examples are:

  • Cairo-dock configuration (mod. advanced): often when I click a tab on the left to view relative options the window does not update but continues showing options of previous tab until I click on the tab again or do scrolling of the page.

  • Firefox: same issue, sometimes, clicking a link on the page, the page is loaded correctly, but new contents are not displayed until I click on the page or make a scrolling of the page;

  • Amarok (or Qt applications): scrolling menus or combobox, some items remain highlighted until I select them again;

Someone else is experiencing similar issues? Any suggestion?

Well, i’m suffering from the very same “refresh” problem. Also, compiz shuts down for no aparent reason after the box has been running for a while.

The screen is, apparently, not refreshed correctly, and when changing windows some elements don’t get draw (this happens very often).

One regularity is the compiz chrashes and closes every time I start Google Earth. So, I think something with the nVidia driver could be bad.

I tried with nVidia driver 177.XX (don’t remember the exact version) and I had to reinstall, because I manage to completely crap gdm (don’t ask how, I just did it). With this version of the driver, anything 3D compiz related could freeze the box completely, making necessary a shutdown (no virtual consoles -Alt+Fx- where available, only the mouse colud move).

Now I’m working with version 180.22, and seems a bit more stable (it takes more time to compiz to crash on it’s own) but the Google Earth problem and the windows refresh problem are still well and alive. I didn’t tried much to hang the box with Alt+Tab, as I did with the old driver and installation, but probably it still works.

Also, i noticed that the configuration of the corners of the screen, at the desktop effects dialog don’t last a restart, ie. it works until I restart, after that, the configuration is still there, but nothing happens when moving the mouse to the borders.

The problem is an annoying because you can’t use any program that uses composite to work well, as Cairo Dock (which I’m unable to compile, but that’s another story).

For those of you who are wondering, the specs:
Acer Aspire 5520G-401G16
AMD Turion X2 TK-58 (1.9 Ghz.)
nForce 560 (or something similar, not completely sure).
2Gb. RAM DDR2-667
GeForce 8400M G (8 unified shaders).
openSUSE 11.1 (mostly in spanish ;-]).

Even if not a powerhouse, the video card is more than enough for compiz, so there is clearly something wrong somewhere.

I’ll gladly provide any log, extra data, etc. as soon as possible. I’ll try anything suggested, but taking in account that this box is for production, I will try not to try “system killer” suggestions.

Thanks for your time and thanks for you comprehension (my English is far from good, so far that it’s hardly English at all).

Anibal

ps: in case you are wondering, Google Earth can work with compiz enabled without problem. Positive.

A little update, installing the (latest?) version of Compiz, available at the yast repository (really is the X11/XGL repository or something like that) seem to have had some effect, and now everything is more stable. I cannot get rid of the screen corruption, but at least now compiz don’t go crashing around just because.

The software is:
Nvidia proprietary driver 180.22
Compiz 0.7.8-20.1

If I can get rid of the screen corruption, everything will be working as expected (at least ‘graphically’ speaking’).

Greets, Anibal

Hi
Have you added these options into your xorg.conf file in the section
called “Screen” (just after the color depth);


Option         "AllowGLXWithComposite" "True"
Option         "DisableGLXRootClipping" "True"
Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"

Also when running video playback use x11 rather than xv.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-default
up 3 days 15:52, 2 users, load average: 0.61, 0.24, 0.15
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 180.22

Thanks for your answer. I’ve all these options but under the section ‘Device’ not under the Screen section, Would it make any difference?

I will try, and tell you the output.

It’s worth noting (considering the post title) that I don’t experiencing Nautilus crashes, only screen corruption.

Nothing new to report, except that the update to compiz 0.7.8-23.1 had no effect on the problem.

Greetings, Anibal

Well, just tried and I still get screen corruption.

Could the clue be in the portion of shared memory the video chip uses?

It’s an nVidia 8400M G, 128MB for itself, but up to 512MB through sharing system memory.

Greetings, Anibal

Well, time paid. Compiz 0.7.8-30.1 plus enabling Indirect Rendering and Loose Binding through Compiz-Icon seems to have done the trick.

I didn’t restarted the box after the changes, but I’m confident this will work. Well, confident it’s not the word, I’ve hope :\

Anyway, I’ll update if something new happen.

Greets, Anibal

Lets call this a draw.
In fact, restarting had the effect to mess everything again, so now the screen corruption is back, BUT (there’s always a but nowadays) if I disable the Loose Binding option (in Compiz-Icon) and re-enable it again the corruption is gone and I’m a happy user.

Something is starting to work as expected. I don’t know still what causes the corruption in what seems to be the video memory buffer or something like that (provided that something like that actually exists), but at least I know how to get rid of it. Good enough while a magical solution arrives.

If somebody have anything to test, provided it will not break the box, I’ll try to try it.

Greets, Anibal

Well, I’ve just found that disabling and re-enabling ‘Indirect Rendering’ with Fusion-Icon also has the effect of stop screen corruption. For some reason, any one of the two compiz options must be disabled-enabled in order to get everything to work as expected.

Any clue is very welcome.

Greets, Anibal

I have the same exact issue, with a latitude d630 with an nvidia card (Quadro 135). I’ve tried downgrade the nvidia drivers but the 180 version is the only one that have support for my video card, the problem is really annoying, I’ll try enable and disable ‘Indirect Rendering’ per session.

Any help is appreciated.

Hi
I’m using compiz from the X11:XGL repository, works fine without
selecting either of those options. Window decorator is set to auto.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-default
up 23:55, 2 users, load average: 0.33, 0.17, 0.11
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 180.22

Just to update that Compiz 0.7.8-31.1 didn’t changed anything.
I’m confident it’s a simple problem, but really I don’t have a clue about it’s origin and solution.

Greets,
Anibal

I have the very same problem.looking forward to a good solution.
NVidia GeForce 8400M GS

Hello All,

I also confirm the problem with screen refresh. The code changes suggested to xorg.conf above dont seem tow work. However, disabling and then re-enabling indirect rendering in to compiz fusion icon does the trick. I am not sure how long in the session does this trick work.

Devendra

Hi, me again.

devendra-rai: AFAIK, and based in experience, the “disable-enable indirect rendering or loose binding” work like a charm all the session long. Also doing twice “Reload Window Manager” in Fusion-Icon does the trick.

But, the no-good news: updating to nVidia drivers 180.29 seems to NOT have solved the problem. Which left us, again, waiting for a future (and almost magical) update which will solve the problem.

At least, currently, it takes more time to the screen to get messed, so, something somewhat good happened with the update.

Just for the record, currently using:
nVidia official drivers V. 180.29
Compiz (from X11-XGL repository) V. 0.7.8-40.1

Greets, Anibal

Here a solution a permanent solution :
fixing refresh problems with nvidia and compiz in fedora 10 — Fedora Unity Project

( I know, it’s Fedora but also works with OpenSUSE :wink:

As far as I’ve used the box after the fix suggested by spla everything works as expected… Great!!

I’m using nVidia drivers 180.29, so it also works for this version.

For everyone with problems understanding vim (like me), can try with nano, which is (at least for me) easier to use, or with Midnight Commander (you should download the package from the repositories).

The line to use nano would be:

su -c ‘nano /usr/bin/compiz-manager’

With Midnight Commander you just need to launch the program as root (su or sudo would do the trick, as it’s a console program):

su -c mc
-or-
sudo mc

And then navigate to the file and edit it as described in the how-to linked by spla.

Greets, and thanks spla again!
Anibal

It is not what I call a solution. Deactivating loose bindings has a big side effect on performances.

Laggy animation or screen refresh issues… or no compiz are the only solutions.

This problem has been long known in Ubuntu too :
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/269904

I read that Compiz is working on a workaround, and Nvidia is working on the bug.

But it has been so long, I am becoming tired. My hardware will be old when it becomes usable !!!

With the last kernel update 2.6.27.21 I tried again the ‘standard’ compiz-manager settings. And didn’t work. So, the problem is still there, the workaround works, but it’s not optimal.

For the record:
Kernel: kernel-default 2.6.27.21-0.1.2
Drivers: nVidia 180.44
Compiz: 0.7.8.46

Greets, Anibal

With the last nVidia update I tried again the ‘standard’ compiz-manager settings. And didn’t work. So, the problem is still there, the workaround works, but it’s not optimal.

For the record:
Kernel: kernel-default 2.6.27.21-0.1.2
Drivers: nVidia 180.51
Compiz: 0.7.8.46.1

So, new update, same problems. Once again…

Greets, Anibal