Help with solving a system freeze when using XBMC
#1
Sad 
Hi,

I'm experiencing total system freezes when using XBMC, and I'm at my wit's end to figure out the cause. If any one can offer some expertise, it would be most welcome.

Basically, what happens is that, usually during video playback (although it can happen on the main XBMC interface too), the system freezes completely: video stops, audio stops, the system cannot be contacted through SSH, and I have to hard-reboot the machine.

This happened on Ubuntu 9.04, but I installed 9.10 this week-end, with the same result.

The freezes are pretty random, sometimes I can watch stuff for several hours without problems, and sometimes it crashes within minutes after XBMC has started.

The difficulty in finding the cause of these freezes is that nothing is reported in the logs. xbmc[.old].log show nothing suspicious, there is no XBMC-crashlog generated. there is nothing in /var/log/messages, /var/log/kernel or /var/log/Xorg.0.log[.old].

I've ruled out bad memory as I ran memtest86 overnight without error. I also thought about overheating issues, but I stress-tested the processor at 100% load again overnight without problem.

The freezes seem to only happen when using XBMC, but leave no trace.
Can anyone think of something I could try to find the root of the problem?

Thanks
-Diziet

EDIT: forgot to mention: I'm running nVidia-glx-185 drivers, no window manager.
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#2
anyone?
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#3
Is this on a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.10 and XBMC 9.11?
What kind of hardware configuration are you running?
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#4
Fresh minimal install of Karmic Koala, installed XBMC 9.11 from PPA.

The computer is based on an AMD Athlon XP 1.1GHz with 1GB RAM. The GPU is a NVIDIA GeForce 6200 AGP card.

What bugs me is that there is no trace left from the freeze. So I'm looking for ways to increase the verbosity of different components to help me pinpoint the issue.
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#5
anyone?
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#6
With no evidence of bad RAM or crashes in logfiles, I'd guess you've got an overheating CPU/motherboard or a bad component.
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#7
That was my initial guess too, but as I said before:
  • I've stressed test the computer at 100% CPU load overnight without problem
  • The crash only happens in XBMC, I've never had any freeze with any other software, even CPU intensive
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#8
What about GPU intensive? Run some 3D stuff overnight.
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#9
You were right pashdown,
running some 3d stuff triggered the same freeze.

Any idea what I can do to try and figure out what is causing it?
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#10
Could be either, bad drivers, over heating gpu, or bad memory on video card.

Try different drivers, either, upgrade, or downgrade. If still the same problem, replace video card and test again.
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#11
MrBump Wrote:Could be either, bad drivers, over heating gpu, or bad memory on video card.

Try different drivers, either, upgrade, or downgrade. If still the same problem, replace video card and test again.

Or bad ram alocation.. try excluding areas of ram and see if thyat helps.. OS logic is stupid and tends to play the gentleman with device calls in memory...( After You...No After you...No I insist after you... Thank you but you were here first after you) so the delay could be the need for sorting out memory regioned variables.. Also try changing the request order and see if that helps.. Maybe re-alocate the video memory manually instaed of allowing the OS to do it for you.
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#12
luckly he isnt using windows then hey. hah.
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Help with solving a system freeze when using XBMC0