When playing some movies, PC restarts

ares952 · 2010-11-23 12:23:17

Hi,
I have a problem, that lasts about 2 months.
When I play some movies using totem or vlc, my PC sometimes restarst suddenly. When I use gnome mplayer (or mplayer), everything works correctly. The delay between start of playing and pc restart is much shorter, when I switch to full screen.
I have found out, that it is (probably) independent on audio/video codec. I think, it is probably connected with the horizontal resolution. If horizontal resolution of movie is lower than about 600 (e.g. youtube clips), it usually happens.
I don't have any problem with 720p or 1080p movies, I don't have any problems with downloaded tv series movies with the resolution of 624x352.
When I play youtube clips in flash, the problem does not appear neither.

Do you have any idea where the problem is? It is quite annoying.

Thanks.

Cyrusm · 2010-11-23 14:06:08

First thing I would check would be your logs in /var/log/. hopefully that will give you a better idea of what is happening.
a problem like this could be any number of things, So I would try to think of ways to narrow it down a bit.

Last edited by Cyrusm (2010-11-23 14:07:17)

drcouzelis · 2010-11-23 14:16:28

If your computer is having a problem that is that obscure, my first guess is you have a hardware problem. For example, maybe your video card is dying, or you are using a bad video driver.

Bregol · 2010-11-23 17:20:02

A hard restart like that would seem more of a hardware problem than a software one - I would think a software problem with video playing would be more apt to kill X at the worst, rather than bring down the whole system. Video card is one option. Maybe RAM is another option. I recently had a problem with a newly built machine where it would hard reset randomly when in Windows, but only randomly reset one or maybe two times in Arch. So at one point I thought it to be a Windows driver problem. Turns out it was something in the RAM voltages and timings - I needed to enable the XMP profile for the RAM in the BIOS, and suddenly it stabilized everything.

Running a graphics benchmark or other benchmarks / stress tests might help you narrow down where the problem is or isn't, if it is a hardware problem

ares952 · 2010-11-27 07:55:43

Well, there is nothing in /var/log, as I expected.
It could be HW problem, but what is that problem about, if the most of movies work? Just few movies have problem. If I convert (enlarge) the movie, it works OK.

What benchmark would you recommended?
I am going to try memory test now, but video card stress test would be better I guess.

Thanks.

x33a · 2010-11-27 10:42:01

Not being able to play lower resolution videos is rather strange. People have problems with HD videos is more common

I too think that it's a hardware problem. One thing you can try is to take the troublesome files to another computer and see if they cause problem on it.

Though, it looks like a ram or power supply issue to me, as bregol already mentioned.

ares952 · 2010-11-27 11:10:11

A few minutes ago, I have tried ubuntu live CD, it does exactly the same :-(
This morning I have checked RAM, it seems to be OK.

I suppose it could be HW problem, because sometimes happens, if I plug in the USB device, PC restarts (in the same way - hard reset), but I have this problem all the time. Could be chipset? Or what?

:-(

I can try another power supply, sometimes. I will see.

Thanks anyway.

ares952 · 2010-11-27 16:44:52

It seems, I have temporarily solved this problem in vlc by redirecting video output to X11 (GLX video output works as well)

graysky · 2010-11-27 16:51:26

Very odd... if you like the vlc interface, but want the stability of mplayer, try smplayer. More of a band-aid than a solution to your problem though.

TigTex · 2010-11-27 18:21:17

That looks like overheating or powersupply problems to me... you shouldn't ignore these problems with a workaround like that (because it reboots when you insert a usb flash for example)... Check your temperatures and powersupply output voltages (12v 5v 3.3v...)
And please post some more system specs, like your graphic card and cpu

Last edited by TigTex (2010-11-27 18:22:17)

ares952 · 2010-11-27 18:41:45

well, I have this HW configuration:
CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850+ EE (1MB, socket AM2) Box with pasive cooling (COOLER Thermaltake CL-P0323 SONIC TOWER rev.2)
Fortron 450W ATX ATX-450PNF
DVD-R/+R Samsung SH-S223Q, 16x16x22x22x SATA
MB Gigabyte MA78G-DS3H, AM2+, AMD780G, 6xSATA, VGA (and I use just only integrated video card HD3200)
RAM A-DATA 2x2GB DDR2 800 MHz CL4 Extreme Edition
and some disks and 120mm coolers

the temperature of CPU in no load is usually at most 30~C, when i load both cores, the temperature is at most 40~C

sensors gives this result:

k8temp-pci-00c3
Adapter: PCI adapter
Core0 Temp:  +29.0°C                                    
Core0 Temp:  +29.0°C                                    
Core1 Temp:  +25.0°C                                    
Core1 Temp:  +22.0°C                                    

it8718-isa-0228
Adapter: ISA adapter
in0:         +0.98 V  (min =  +0.00 V, max =  +4.08 V)   
in1:         +2.05 V  (min =  +0.00 V, max =  +4.08 V)   
in2:         +3.34 V  (min =  +0.00 V, max =  +4.08 V)   
+5V:         +3.04 V  (min =  +0.00 V, max =  +4.08 V)   
in4:         +3.12 V  (min =  +0.00 V, max =  +4.08 V)   
in5:         +3.22 V  (min =  +0.00 V, max =  +4.08 V)   
in6:         +0.10 V  (min =  +0.00 V, max =  +4.08 V)   
in7:         +3.34 V  (min =  +0.00 V, max =  +4.08 V)   
Vbat:        +3.28 V
fan1:          0 RPM  (min =    0 RPM)
fan2:        809 RPM  (min =    0 RPM)
fan3:       1205 RPM  (min =    0 RPM)
fan5:          0 RPM  (min =    0 RPM)
temp1:       +43.0°C  (low  = +127.0°C, high = +127.0°C)  sensor = thermistor
temp2:       +90.0°C  (low  = +127.0°C, high = +127.0°C)  sensor = thermistor
temp3:       +35.0°C  (low  = +127.0°C, high = +60.0°C)  sensor = thermistor
cpu0_vid:   +1.100 V

TigTex · 2010-11-27 18:49:52

That first temperature reading is probably wrong (know kernel bug)... your real cpu themperature is 43 or 90 or 35ºC. Please check that in your bios. Usually "temp1" is your case temperature "temp2" is your cpu temperature and temp3 is nothing.... if your bios is reading 90ºC it will restart or shutdown your pc once it gets any hotter than that. If your cpu is really at 90ºC you can feel that with your hand... If your bios reads 90ºC to the cpu AND your cpu isn't that hot, search for a bios update, it might be a bios bug.

ares952 · 2010-11-27 19:06:52

Well, the temperature is OK. It was like this since the kernel 2.6.29 (i guess, it was in gentoo), so, it was like this all the time, and the temperature corresponds to the reading in bios. The cooler is quiet cold, it is not hot.
There is an image from bios:

TigTex · 2010-11-27 19:13:21

Ok, you have 60ºC on warning temperature... it's a little low for that cpu... maybe it reaches those 60ºC under full load and your pc restarts. Try to increase it to 70ºC, your cpu can handle it. Also your voltages seems to be ok... The other thing that could be faulty is your RAM. Once it loads something to a damaged area, your pc reboots (had 1 pc that did that...). Run memtest86 for an hour, just for safety. If it's stable, well, at least your hardware is fine

Last edited by TigTex (2010-11-27 19:15:51)

ares952 · 2010-11-27 19:24:21

today, I made memtest, however just for about 30 or 45 minutes (the full progress was about 50%) with no error.
The setting of the temperature is ok, I think, because when I start stress (dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/null for both cores), the temperatures increases to 40 degrees, and system works fine. In addition, HD and full HD movies works fine. The problem is with few movies with very low resolution.

But few minutes ago, I have changed the VGA core clock from 500MHz (default) do 200MHz, and it seems, that movies are played fine now, so it looks, that the problem could be in integraded VGA.

x33a · 2010-11-28 09:44:25

If it seems to be an integrated vga problem, maybe there is a firmware upgrade for it. search the net for known problems related to that chipset.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-11-23 12:23:17

When playing some movies, PC restarts

#2 2010-11-23 14:06:08

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#3 2010-11-23 14:16:28

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#4 2010-11-23 17:20:02

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#5 2010-11-27 07:55:43

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#6 2010-11-27 10:42:01

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#7 2010-11-27 11:10:11

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#8 2010-11-27 16:44:52

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#9 2010-11-27 16:51:26

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#10 2010-11-27 18:21:17

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#11 2010-11-27 18:41:45

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#12 2010-11-27 18:49:52

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#13 2010-11-27 19:06:52

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#14 2010-11-27 19:13:21

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#15 2010-11-27 19:24:21

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

#16 2010-11-28 09:44:25

Re: When playing some movies, PC restarts

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