Periodic input freezes

On Nov 10, 3:26 am, "Frank Bell" <frankwb....DeleteThis@comcast.net> wrote:
> On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:24:34 -0500, David W. Hodgins  
>
> <dwhodg....DeleteThis@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
> > I'm currently running 2.6.27.4.
> > Might be worth trying a newer kernel.
>
> Updating the the kernel is a Linux skill I have successfully avoided  
> learning.
>
> Oh, well, all things come in their time.
>
> --
> Blogging from Pine View Farm (http://www.pineviewfarm.net)
> Updates daily.  Worthwhile updates occasionally.
>
> Opera (http://www.opera.com), Fluxbox (http://www.fluxbox.org), and  
> Slackware (http://www.slackware.com)--
> the ultimate internet experience.

I don't think it's the kernel that's causing this problem because I
have another system running 2.6.24.19.21 and the same version of Opera
and I don't get any freezes.

My other system is a laptop running Ubuntu Hardy.

Thanks

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:39:27 -0500, Diaa <diaasami.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:

> I don't think it's the kernel that's causing this problem because I
> have another system running 2.6.24.19.21 and the same version of Opera
> and I don't get any freezes.

Usually when an entire X session freezes, it's a problem with the
combination of kernel video module in use, and the specific video card.

> My other system is a laptop running Ubuntu Hardy.

Is it using an identical video chipset/module? There are only a few
people reporting problems with opera freezing up. As an application
should not be able to lock the entire x server, it's most likely a
problem with the video driver. That's not the only possibility, but
it seems to me to be the most likely.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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On 2008-11-10, David W. Hodgins (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:39:27 -0500, Diaa <diaasami.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I don't think it's the kernel that's causing this problem because I
>> have another system running 2.6.24.19.21 and the same version of Opera
>> and I don't get any freezes.
>
> Usually when an entire X session freezes, it's a problem with the
> combination of kernel video module in use, and the specific video card.

Theoretically, another way to freeze an X session would be if opera
can grab the keyboard and mouse input (and it does, occasionally, but
fortunately usually only for short durations - I can't remember for
what specific actions[1]), which makes it look like the X session has
locked up if the user no longer has the ability to focus another
window, select anything from another window (because the mouse is
still grabbed by opera) or flick over to another virtual page using
the keyboard.

For an example how this is used for good and not evil, see
ssh-askpass. Now imagine if ssh-askpass stops responding itself at
this point (I've had that, but then eventually the remote X connection
over a frozen ssh session timed out).

Now keep in mind that opera 9.27 also frequently stopped responding
for half a minute at a time on certain pages (like linux.conf.au that
I mentioned earlier[2]), but didn't drag the X session down with it.
That sounds suspiciously like an application issue and not an X issue.



[1] Mozilla is far far worse though, and is just one reason why
covorting with the lizard should be outlawed and punishable by
hanging. From memory, it grabs the keyboard and mouse if you are
silly enough to invoke a drop down listbox. Furrfu. You have to
press esc (or enter) to get mozilla to relinquish focus, and you can
imagine what happens if it then locks up.

[2] Although dratfully, it's not doing it right now on either of the
machines running 9.25, that I might have expected it to happen to me
(one with an nvidia card and the nvidia driver, and another with the
intel driver running a 965. I'm not about to go reinstalling 9.62 yet
to see whether the site itself has changed.

--
TimC
"Application encountered an error while failing. Error recovered
successfully, proceeding to fail"

It's worth noting that this bug doesn't happen in KDE 4.x, I had to
switch(probably temporarily) to KDE 4.1(the one that comes with Ubuntu
Intrepid) so I noticed that this problem doesn't happen anymore.