Ubuntu

Xorg update crashes X when screensaver kicks on.

Asked by Bill

Sorry all. I'm sort of a newbie, so bear with me please.

Here is the deal. I'm running the latest version of Kubuntu. Dual head setup on my Nvidia Geforce 6800 Xtreme graphics card. All was good, up till yesterday when adept told me that there was a update for Xorg. So, silly me, clicked update. NOW, whenever the screensaver kicks on, X dies. It's like you hit ctrl_alt_backspace, and your back at the login window. Even if I right click on the desktop, choose configure desktop, then click on screen saver, it kicks me out of X as well.

Is there any OTHER way to disable the screen saver in Kubuntu, other than the configure desktop way? Or, can I somehow un-install that Xorg update I did?

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Bill (bill-enertronllc) said : 		#1

I also just figured out, when I launch the NVIDIA X Server Settings program, and click on OpenGL/GLX information, it crashes X also.

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Luisja (luysjavyer) said : 		#2

i'm also a newbie.

maybe it is in the configuration of energy, try to put "never" in both options.(screen and computer energy conf.)

i think this is a poor answer but stepwise you learn to walk...

Luisja

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Bill (bill-enertronllc) said : 		#3

Well (being a newbie) I'm not sure what files you are talking about. I did a locate for energy.conf and came up with nothing.

What I did was I re-installed the NVIDIA driver. It rebuilt everything, including the kernel module, and all appears to be well BUT.... every now and then, the monitor on the right will get a little jumpy, or flash on and off for a quick second. This was the reason why I dumped my ATI and got the NVIDIA in the first place.

I really believe it has something to do with the OpenGL/GLX stuff because that's what my screen saver was set to, but I'm not certain. After the re-install, the OpenGL screen savers work fine.

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Bryce Harrington (bryce) said : 		#4

I also have OpenGL screensaver problems with the nvidia driver, although I am running under GNOME, not KDE, and the symptoms are different - gnome-screensaver crashes and the primary monitor turns black (I can see the mouse cursor but not any of the applications.)

I researched into the problem as deeply as I could, and unfortunately all I found was that the problem in my case was certainly due to a known bug with the nvidia proprietary binary driver. See for example:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-screensaver/+bug/71030
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules-2.6.17/+bug/58232

My guess is that the root cause of your problem has something to do with what's causing these other bugs. I found that the OpenGL screensavers definitely were causing the crashes, so disabled them, but still experienced the problem, so perhaps other screensavers also cause trouble once and a while. I ended up disabling the screensaver entirely, but perhaps if there is one that seems to work, you could set it to always use that one.

I also found that the open source nv driver didn't have the screensaver problems. However, I had trouble getting it to work with xinerama, and that was more important to me.

Hope this helps!

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thefrozenpenguin (iain-thefrozenpenguin) said : 		#5

I also have the same problem but with the built in Intel card on my Dell laptop. Using Compiz on one screen and everything worked fine, after connecting a second monitor as dual head and being forced to use gdm again, everytime gnome-screensaver kicks in the system acts as if I had ctrl-alt-backspace'd it. The temp fix is to disable the screensaver. It only affects my login (main) not my girlfriends one.

Could not make any sense of either the Xorg.0.log or the gdm log.

Iain

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Epson (epson-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#6

I have two desktop with different Nvidia cards.
My fix on Kubuntu 7.10 and Kubuntu 8.10 was to install Envy for Kubuntu 7.10 and EnvyNG for Kubuntu 8.04.
Now, my favorite opengl screensavers work with my Nivida video cards.
Here is how to install Envy or EnvyNG.

http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

My 1st pc has an nvidia geforce 7200 gs video card
My 2nd pc has an Nvidia TNT2 M64 or another Nvidia video card.

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