totem goes dark

Hi,

What happens is that totem crashes. It seems to happen (see the list of reported bugs here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/totem ). If you want to know if your bug is already reported, you might want to try to open totem in a terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal, and type "totem"). Then make it crash and try to pick some keywords --in particular, the line containing SIGSEGV .

Another important information is the version of Ubuntu you're using, and the version of totem.

Note that totem is not the only video player for Ubuntu. You can try to find Mplayer or VLC in the package manager.

Thanks for the quick response.

First of all you should know that I am an ABSOLUTE NEWBIE to Linux, so please bare with me. I know nothing about code or programming....so far everyone has been very patient and helpful. I am learning alot, and love not having to deal with MS Windows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am using Ubuntu 8.10

I looked at : https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/totem and that is exactly what is happening...it buffers the data then sometimes displays an initial image, but never does play the video and fades to all grey. So I understand that it is a known issue....now how do I fix it? By the way it used to work fine. This issue only surfaced in the last week or so. Could some of the Ubuntu updates caused this?

Thanks for your help!

Hi,

Before fixing the problem, it is necessary to identify it precisely. It is not easy at all, you might have to generate a backtrace and/or automatic bug reports to help the developers identifying the problem. It's great if you want to learn how the system works and how a free software community is organized, but it might be a bit complicated and time consuming.

What most people do is to wait until someone else does it :-)

The simplest thing for you is to install another video player. You will have much more choice in System -> Administration -> Synaptic package manager. VLC or Mplayer are generally good.

Otherwise, just keep on updating your system and check if totem is fixed from time to time.

I already did install VLC , but how do I make it the default video player? I cant find a place where I can change the default.

Have you tried "System -> Preferences -> Preferred applications -> Multimedia"?

Yes, I have tried that...the only applications that show up are Rhythmbox Music Player and Totem Movie Player. VLC, which I have installed, does not display in that dropdown menu. I will try installing VLC again. Please advise.

Right-click on Applications menu (not the usual left click with the mouse but the right click often gives interesting weird menus worth exploring). Choose "Edit Menu", now see if you can find VLC in there so you can add it to your menus.

Now go to
System menu on the top taskbar - Preferences - Preferred Applications
Now in the pop-up box click the Multimedia tab and use the drop down to change to VLC instead of Totem.

If you are still having trouble with this then please post it as a new question. Only the most recent questions tend to get looked at so posting/reposting a question just before america arrives online gives the best chance of getting a good few answers.

If the problem has been resolved then please follow the link to the forum thread and mark it as Solved.

Good luck and many regards from
Tom :)

Hi, sorry for such a long delay. I keep learning new things and think this guidelines page might help you
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)