Playing videos sometimes works, sometimes not

[doctordruidphd]

After bootup, pick a file (preferably one you've had trouble with before), open a terminal, run dmesg, note the last lines and the current time. Open another terminal window and launch one of the players you have trouble with from the command line.

Assuming failure, re-run dmesg and see if anything is added there. Also go to /var/log and see if any logs were updated and read those that were. Finally, go the the terminal you launched the player from and read the output there.

Ok, tried this. I am not getting any obvious errors in dmesg, kern.log, Xorg.0.log, or the terminal from which the player (smplayer in this case) is being run. The first time I tried it, I got no immedate error messages, but eventually dmesg spit this out:

[  806.016929] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for nouveau/nv84_xuc00f failed with error -2
[  806.016933] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: vp: unable to load firmware nouveau/nv84_xuc00f
[  806.016935] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: vp: init failed, -2
[  806.016977] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for nouveau/nv84_xuc103 failed with error -2
[  806.016979] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: bsp: unable to load firmware nouveau/nv84_xuc103
[  806.016981] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: bsp: init failed, -2

I also noticed this, don't know if it's related:

[  953.249790] perf: interrupt took too long (2512 > 2500), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 79500

I tried running mplayer, and got no errors either, but it plays the videos.

Now here is what I got on the terminal when running mplayer:

greenman@Crynfyd17.04 ~/Videos$ mplayer 1X07-The_Outer_Limits_O.B.I.T-Alien_monologue-1963-qogLcQsRlG0.mkv 
MPlayer 1.3.0 (Debian), built with gcc-6.3.0 (C) 2000-2016 MPlayer Team
do_connect: could not connect to socket
connect: Connection refused
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing 1X07-The_Outer_Limits_O.B.I.T-Alien_monologue-1963-qogLcQsRlG0.mkv.
libavformat version 57.56.101 (external)
libavformat file format detected.
[lavf] stream 0: video (h264), -vid 0
[lavf] stream 1: audio (opus), -aid 0, -alang eng
VIDEO:  [H264]  1920x1080  0bpp  29.970 fps    0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
libavcodec version 57.64.101 (external)
Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
==========================================================================
Clip info:
COMPATIBLE_BRANDS: iso6avc1mp41
MAJOR_BRAND: dash
MINOR_VERSION: 0
ENCODER: Lavf56.40.101
Load subtitles in ./
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, floatle, 0.0 kbit/0.00% (ratio: 0->384000)
Selected audio codec: [ffopus] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg opus)
==========================================================================
AO: [pulse] 48000Hz 2ch floatle (4 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [vdpau] 1920x1080 => 1920x1080 Planar YV12 
[ASPECT] Warning: No suitable new res found!
[ASPECT] Warning: No suitable new res found!
A:  43.0 V:  43.0 A-V:  0.006 ct:  0.028   0/  0 33% 11%  1.1% 9 0 

Exiting... (Quit)

I am getting nothing in the terminal running smplayer other than:

greenman@Crynfyd17.04 ~/Videos$ smplayer
This is SMPlayer v. 17.3.0 (revision 8467) running on Linux

And for what it may be worth, here is what dmesg has to say regarding nouveau:

greenman@Crynfyd17.04 /var/log$ dmesg | grep nouveau
[    1.982441] fb: switching to nouveaufb from VESA VGA
[    1.991662] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: NVIDIA G92 (092380a2)
[    2.104234] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: bios: version 62.92.b2.00.0d
[    2.124728] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fb: 1024 MiB GDDR3
[    2.242709] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: VRAM: 1024 MiB
[    2.242714] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: GART: 1048576 MiB
[    2.242718] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: TMDS table version 2.0
[    2.242723] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB version 4.0
[    2.242727] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB outp 00: 02000300 00000028
[    2.242732] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB outp 01: 01000302 00020030
[    2.242736] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB outp 02: 04011310 00000028
[    2.242740] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB outp 03: 02011312 00020030
[    2.242744] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB outp 04: 010223f1 00c0c080
[    2.242748] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB conn 00: 00001030
[    2.242752] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB conn 01: 00002130
[    2.242756] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB conn 02: 00000210
[    2.242760] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB conn 03: 00000211
[    2.242764] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: DCB conn 04: 00000213
[    2.246460] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: failed to create encoder 0/1/0: -19
[    2.246465] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: TV-1 has no encoders, removing
[    2.246569] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: hwmon_device_register() is deprecated. Please convert the driver to use hwmon_device_register_with_info().
[    2.269639] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: MM: using CRYPT for buffer copies
[    2.311104] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: DRM: allocated 1680x1050 fb: 0x70000, bo ffff8ec35d235c00
[    2.312066] fbcon: nouveaufb (fb0) is primary device
[    2.434033] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fb0: nouveaufb frame buffer device
[    2.452029] [drm] Initialized nouveau 1.3.1 20120801 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0
[  806.016929] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for nouveau/nv84_xuc00f failed with error -2
[  806.016933] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: vp: unable to load firmware nouveau/nv84_xuc00f
[  806.016935] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: vp: init failed, -2
[  806.016977] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for nouveau/nv84_xuc103 failed with error -2
[  806.016979] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: bsp: unable to load firmware nouveau/nv84_xuc103
[  806.016981] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: bsp: init failed, -2

After doing all this, mplayer still works, smplayer, vlc, kmplayer do not, but no error messages from any of them. Just no video.

OK, I tried kmplayer, and it worked, and now smplayer works, too. This is what the terminal for kmplayer printed:

reenman@Crynfyd17.04 ~/Videos$ kmplayer
KGlobal::locale(): Warning your global KLocale is being recreated with a valid main component instead of a fake component, this usually means you tried to call i18n related functions before your main component was created. You should not do that since it most likely will not work
Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address. 
IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon 
Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
kbuildsycoca4 running...
mplayer -wid 121635916 -slave -vo xv,sdl,x11 -ao alsa,oss,sdl,arts -framedrop -vf pp=de -contrast 0 -brightness 0 -hue 0 -saturation 0 /media/data/zen/greenman/Videos/1X07-The_Outer_Limits_O.B.I.T-Alien_monologue-1963-qogLcQsRlG0.mkv -identify

eval quit
eval quit

Absolutely nothing in any of the log files or dmesg.

[flamboyant]

NVIDIA Corporation G92 [GeForce GTS 240] (rev a2)

well, other people also have problems when trying to watch H264 videos with nouveau on G92: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=82835#c14

Manual install

are proprietary nVidia drivers out of the question for you?

[doctordruidphd]

well, other people also have problems when trying to watch H264 videos with nouveau on G92: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=82835#c14

are proprietary nVidia drivers out of the question for you?

Thanks for your reply. I read through that article, but the problem is not only h264. but any video file of any size. The baffling thing is that supposedly smplayer is a "front end" to mplayer; alright then, why does mplayer always work, but smplayer only when it feels like it? Ditto kmplayer, and vlc, which I suspect is its own player. Unfortunately mplayer doesn't really have any straightforward way of playing dvd features, menus, etc.

The proprietary driver is not out of the question, only that for reasons I can't really articulate, the nouveau driver just seems to give a more "pleasant" display to look at. I may go ahead and reload the proprietary driver if no other solution appears.

OK, maybe I just need to say this, but ever since the appearance of the 4.8 kernels, this system has become about as stable as a jug of nitroglycerin on a roller coaster. Half the time it won't boot at all; it freezes when trying to mount disks sometimes, and other times it doesn't; it may or may not load its snd modules, so there may or may not be any audio; and who knows what else. The nouveau stuff may or may not load, and may or may not have errors, the antecedent conditions for which I cannot determine. I have found workarounds for the disk mount problem, though still whether it mounts its swap drives or not is a matter of chance. The LTS with its 4.4 kernel works perfectly, so I can't believe it's hardware failure. Maybe the video problem is just another manifestation of whatever the same underlying problem is. I had hoped the 4.10 kernels would improve over 4.8, but no such luck.

[flamboyant]

The proprietary driver is not out of the question, only that for reasons I can't really articulate, the nouveau driver just seems to give a more "pleasant" display to look at. I may go ahead and reload the proprietary driver if no other solution appears.

i always use the proprietary one and i can't imagine how display can be more "pleasant" than what i see. in case you decide to go proprietary, first uninstall nouveau and then install the most appropriate driver:

sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

that will also install a chipset driver along the way, if available and not installed. good luck!

[GreyGeek]

...
The LTS with its 4.4 kernel works perfectly, so I can't believe it's hardware failure. Maybe the video problem is just another manifestation of whatever the same underlying problem is. I had hoped the 4.10 kernels would improve over 4.8, but no such luck.

Why don't you revert to the 4.4 kernel and lock it?

[doctordruidphd]

Why don't you revert to the 4.4 kernel and lock it?

I actually tried that. Turns out that would need a different libc, which would mean replacing most everything on the system, if I'm not mistaken. I did give it a try anyway, and the system wouldn't boot. In any event, I still have the LTS on the disk, and will keep it, so in a dire situation it's there. But I sure wish I knew what happened along the way to really mess up the system.

[GreyGeek]

Your experience is an excellent reason why Btrfs is so essential. Rolling back to a snapshot is easy.