Video playback with dual monitors causes system crash

[quarkslot]

Hi,

I've just added a second display, it's a different manufacturer and resolution to the primary display.

Everything works except video playback. First there's a pause before the files starts to play, I can sometimes hear some audio but can't see any video playback. Then both screen cycle between periods of flickering, going blank, back to flickering and so on. After a minute or two the system crashes. If the mouse pointer is still visible the mouse is not responsive to button clicks, neither is the keyboard responsive.

This happens with both MPV media player and VLC.

However there is no problem if I play the video in Dragon Player. I've nothing against Dragon Player but prefer the interface offered by MPV player and VLC!

I'm guessing it has something to do with FFmpeg which I think MPV and VLC use, Dragon Player uses Phonon, but that's about the limit of my knowledge. Does anyone have any suggestions why playback is OK with a single monitor but causes a system crash with dual monitors?

Thanks

Nick

[Snowhog]

"However there is no problem if I play the video in Dragon Player."
"...playback is OK with a single monitor but causes a system crash with dual monitors?"

To be clear, are you saying that when using Dragon Player with both monitors connected all is fine, or do you have to use Dragon Player with only on monitor as well?

[quarkslot]

With both monitors connected all is fine with Dragon Player, however if I use VLC or MPV player the system will crash.

With one monitor connected the system remains stable with Dragon Player, VLC & MPV player.

[oshunluvr]

Log files? Try running VLC from a terminal and observe the output. Does it crash the whole system or just VLC? Seems odd to me that it would take everything down. I would suspect hardware if the whole system goes down. Like, RAM or the Video card - which might explain the single monitor stability.

[quarkslot]

Thanks,

Playing AVI files does not cause a problem, any other format and things go wrong.

And you were right, the system doesn't crash. On further testing if I leave it alone it continues to run but is unusable. It was my attempts to switch between the desktop and a console window that leaves the screen blank.

Once the video has started playing if I try and open a console (Ctrl-Alt-F1) or SSH from another computer I don't get a login. A reboot is the only way.

Nick

Just to confuse things my update manager notified me of some updates, mostly video driver which I applied. Unfortunately after the login screen there was no desktop. On trying to start it I got the message "QXcbConnection: Could not connect to display". After manually reverting each update to the previous version, I have my desktop back!

[quarkslot]

I also forgot to mention. When I run VLC from the terminal there is no unusual output...

[Teunis]

What brand and model of video card are you running and how are the monitor(s) connected, Displayport, HDMI or RGB?

(Personally I like SMPlayer)

[quarkslot]

I'm using a PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 6750.

Both are DVI though one converts to VGA