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cvmd

Member

Registered: 2023-04-06

Posts: 17

[SOLVED] Video streams freezing when mouse / keyboard inactive

Hello,

I run i3 with picom on an amd cpu and amd gpu desktop pc.

I usually watch videos on mpv or stream them on Firefox or Brave. Since a few months ago, I've noticed that if I watch something and don't touch mouse / keyboard for about 10-15mins, the picture on my screen freezes while the sound continues. I need to move the mouse and click away in order to fix it.

I've tried re-seated gpu and ram and connecting to different monitors; problem persists. I've also tried disabling picom, but doesn't make a difference. I don't have any screen-idling or power-saving packages installed.

I've noticed that if I run Wayland and sway rather than i3 and Xorg, the issue doesn't appear. However, I sway is still missing some functionality I use, and I can't switch to it fully yet.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks!

[SOLVED] changed picom to glx and removed xf86-video-amdgpu

Last edited by cvmd (2023-04-20 22:00:31)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,292

Re: [SOLVED] Video streams freezing when mouse / keyboard inactive

What's your picom config/renderer backend? Try setting glx if it isn't, check behaviour by removing xf86-video-amdgpu if installed to use the modesetting backend

cvmd

Member

Registered: 2023-04-06

Posts: 17

Re: [SOLVED] Video streams freezing when mouse / keyboard inactive

Hmm, two days in, and so far so good! I will report back in a couple more days. Thanks, @V1del!

I deleted xf86-video-amdgpu and changed picom to glx. What is the problem with the xf86-video-xxx packages? You've recommended their removal for other desktop / graphics issues.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,292

Re: [SOLVED] Video streams freezing when mouse / keyboard inactive

The usual suspect is xf86-video-intel which literally isn't maintained since years for newer GPUs. xf86-video-amdgpu wasn't usually on the list for that recommendation (and does actually see somewhat frequent releases)  but has recently come up as having some potential issues and one can always test how modesetting behaves. This is potentially related to the shift towards wayland and away from xorg. The only xorg backend that sees "proper" maintenance in that world is the modesetting one which is used by xwayland. So likely not many people looking at the device specific ones in general.

FWIW I'd assume the GLX switch on picom's side is more likely to be the culprit/fix rather than switching xf86-video-amdgpu

Last edited by V1del (2023-04-18 10:00:24)

cvmd

Member

Registered: 2023-04-06

Posts: 17

Re: [SOLVED] Video streams freezing when mouse / keyboard inactive

OK, so far so good. Marking my q as resolved. Many thanks!