Bug#502004: X server randomly crashes on several occasions

["Luís Picciochi Oliveira" <pitxyoki@gmail.com>]

I upgraded the xserver-xorg package to the one available at the experimental repositories, so now I have:
xserver-xorg:
  Installed: 1:7.4~4
(...)
xserver-xorg-video-intel:
  Installed: 2:2.5.1-1


...and the problem persists. A sample crash I got is at the Xorg.0.log.Crash-default attached file.


Meanwhile, I found a way to get this error in a deterministic way (? - see P.S.): I just installed tileracer ( http://tileracer.model-view.com/tl/index.php/downloads.html ), and every time I try to start a race in the game, X crashes, the screen blinks and I can't go to any tty. Rebooting is the only solution (before the upgrade, I could go to a tty and login from there, but not restart GDM) - though I can't see anything now, I can still use Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot.


Using my default xorg.conf file, the crash log was very similar to what I get when X crashes randomly (attached Xorg.0.log.TRacer-default).

I did some more testing with this game:
Adding
    Option        "AccelMethod" "XAA"

to the "Device" section of xorg.conf makes the screen lock (the image stays the same and there is no answer to the mouse or the keyboard - not even the Caps Lock LED is turned on if I push it's key) and the screen doesn't go black. The corresponding Xorg.0.log.TRacer-XAA is attached.

Removing XAA and adding
    Option        "AccelMethod" "EXA"
    Option        "ExaNoComposite" "true"
    Option        "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"

to the "Device" section of xorg.conf produces the same result, but the corresponding Xorg.0.log was a bit different (see Xorg.0.log.TRacer-EXA attachement).



I see that there are many people reporting this problem to the
xserver-xorg-video-intel package, so maybe this bug report should be
moved to that package.


P.S.: This is getting really strange... I just ran tileracer with my default xorg.conf file and the screen didn't go black - it had the same reaction as with the XAA and EXA options set - I had tested tileracer about 3 or 4 times before, and the crash had always occured the same way - black screen, blinking screen, ctrl-alt-del to reboot...

Attachment: xorg.conf
Description: Binary data

Attachment: Xorg.0.log.Crash-default
Description: Binary data

Attachment: Xorg.0.log.TRacer-default
Description: Binary data

Attachment: Xorg.0.log.TRacer-EXA
Description: Binary data

Attachment: Xorg.0.log.TRacer-XAA
Description: Binary data