Video Player (Totem) does not work

What do you mean by "doesn't work" please?

Thank you for your response.

Video Player (Totem) appears on the side menu bar and in "Show Applications".

Video Player icon > right click > menu appears > "Show Details" clicked > indicates that it has been installed
however - Video Player icon clicked - there is no response

Also if a video file such as a .mp4 is clicked - it indicates that there is no player installed to run this file.

any suggestions
OR
how to remove and re-install this again
Thank you.

For diagnostic purposes please provide the output that you receive for the command

uname -a
lsb_release -crid
dpkg -l | grep totem

Thank you. The output is as follows:-

ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ uname -a
Linux ssrikumar-OEM 4.13.0-16-generic #19-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 11 18:35:14 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ lsb_release -crid
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 17.10
Release: 17.10
Codename: artful
ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ dpkg -l | grep totem
ii gir1.2-totem-1.0:amd64 3.26.0-0ubuntu1 amd64 GObject introspection data for Totem media player
ii gir1.2-totem-plparser-1.0:amd64 3.10.8-3ubuntu1 amd64 GObject introspection data for the Totem Playlist Parser library
ii libtotem-plparser-common 3.10.8-3ubuntu1 all Totem Playlist Parser library - common files
ii libtotem-plparser18:amd64 3.10.8-3ubuntu1 amd64 Totem Playlist Parser library - runtime files
ii libtotem0:amd64 3.26.0-0ubuntu1 amd64 Main library for the Totem media player
ii totem 3.26.0-0ubuntu1 amd64 Simple media player for the GNOME desktop based on GStreamer
ii totem-common 3.26.0-0ubuntu1 all Data files for the Totem media player
ii totem-plugins 3.26.0-0ubuntu1 amd64 Plugins for the Totem media player
ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$

What happens if you open a terminal window and issue the command

totem

Thank you. The result is as follows:-

ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ totem
libva error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so init failed
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with unknown libva error,driver_name=(null)
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with unknown libva error,driver_name=(null)
libva error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so init failed
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with operation failed,driver_name=i965

(totem:1988): Gdk-WARNING **: Native Windows taller than 65535 pixels are not supported
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=818035

Try:

sudo apt-get --reinstall install i965-va-driver

Seems to be the same bug. You may want to read through the report

Thank you.
tried it but Totem still does not work.

The screen output on running Terminal is as follows:-

ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ sudo apt-get --reinstall install i965-va-driver
[sudo] password for ssrikumar:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  libnih-dbus1
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Need to get 633 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://lk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful/universe amd64 i965-va-driver amd64 1.8.3-1ubuntu1 [633 kB]
Fetched 633 kB in 11s (54.5 kB/s)
(Reading database ... 192141 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../i965-va-driver_1.8.3-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking i965-va-driver:amd64 (1.8.3-1ubuntu1) over (1.8.3-1ubuntu1) ...
Setting up i965-va-driver:amd64 (1.8.3-1ubuntu1) ...
ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$

For diagnostic purposes, what is the outptu of the command

vainfo

In case that you get "...vainfo is not installed..." run the commands

sudo apt install vainfo
vainfo

and copy/paste the output.

Thank you. Installed vainfo as suggested. The output from this command is as follows:-

ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 0.40.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_40
libva error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so init failed
libva info: va_openDriver() returns -1
vaInitialize failed with error code -1 (unknown libva error),exit
ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$

Do you get the same error message for
LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=i965 vainfo

What is the output of the commands
sudo lshw -C display
dpkg -l | grep va-driver

Thank you. The output is as follows:-

ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ sudo lshw -C display
[sudo] password for ssrikumar:
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 10
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:16 memory:fdf00000-fdf7ffff ioport:ff00(size=8) memory:d0000000-dfffffff memory:fda00000-fdafffff memory:c0000-dffff

ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ dpkg -l | grep va-driver
ii i965-va-driver:amd64 1.8.3-1ubuntu1 amd64 VAAPI driver for Intel G45 & HD Graphics family
ii mesa-va-drivers:amd64 17.2.2-0ubuntu1 amd64 Mesa VA-API video acceleration drivers
ii va-driver-all:amd64 1.8.3-2 amd64 Video Acceleration (VA) API -- driver metapackage
ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$

What is the output of

LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=i965 vainfo
ldd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so

Thank you. The output is as follows:-

ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=i965 vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 0.40.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: User requested driver 'i965'
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_40
libva error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so init failed
libva info: va_openDriver() returns -1
vaInitialize failed with error code -1 (unknown libva error),exit

ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ ldd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
 linux-vdso.so.1 => (0x00007fff0c5fd000)
 libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f7db4937000)
 libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f7db4733000)
 libdrm.so.2 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdrm.so.2 (0x00007f7db4522000)
 libdrm_intel.so.1 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdrm_intel.so.1 (0x00007f7db42ff000)
 libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007f7db3fa9000)
 libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f7db3bc9000)
 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f7db5163000)
 libpciaccess.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpciaccess.so.0 (0x00007f7db39c0000)
 libz.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0x00007f7db37a3000)
ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$

any assistance on this ?

I am sorry, but I am at my wits' end. I do not know why your system is showing such error. Totem is well working on my system.

Thank you very much for your assistance and advice which has been greatly appreciated ever since I began using Ubuntu many year ago.

Is there a way to un-install Totem and then re-install again. Will appreciate the commands to be run on the Terminal since I cannot do this via Sofware Updater.

Thank you.

Completely uninstalling totem is done with the commands

sudo apt-get purge totem
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

and installing it again is done with

sudo apt-get install totem

In case that the first command also removes the package ubuntu-desktop, you should re-install it with the command
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Thank you.

Have completely removed Totem and re-installed Totem as instructed. But Totem still does not work.

Looked at SM Player and VLC Media Player at the Software Center - both have negative review comments "does not work with 17.10"

Have you tried rhythmbox?

It is no surprise to me that removing and reinstalling totem did not help, because it seems to me that the problem is caused by some va (video acceleration) packages (see above - error code -1 unknown libva error).

Will this also affect SM Player or VLC Media Player.
OR is there any other video player that can still be used.
any suggestions please.

Do you read our answers?
In my previous comment I suggested using rhythmbox.

What output do you receive for the command
apt-cache policy libgl1-mesa-dri

Sorry about that. There is a delay in responding due to the ADSL connection not working as yet. This was posted in a different post and the problem is not yet resolved.
Shall try Rhythmbox when able to do so - no internet.

ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$ apt-cache policy libgl1-mesa-dri
libgl1-mesa-dri:
  Installed: 17.2.2-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 17.2.2-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 17.2.2-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://lk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
ssrikumar@ssrikumar-OEM:~$

Thank you.

There is a new version of the mesa packages already in artful-proposed which corrects several bugs, and I assume that this version (17.2.4-...) will be published in artful-updates soon. Maybe this new version helps. Details in Bug #1727390

Need to get my ADSL connection working. Have not been able to do any of the regular updates

Have got anew Computer and installed Ubuntu with all the upgrades. Now Totem Video Player works.
This question may now be closed.
Thank you.