Kodi Community Forum

I have a strange problem with a Acer RL80.

Have installed Ubuntu 12.10 with a patched Kernel (3.9.0-rc6) to resolve the bug that exists with kernel i915 driver.

Have installed XBMC from Team-XBMC repo along with X Edgers and their xserver/xorg and intel drivers, etc.

System boots fine, I can login and issue command startx...

VAinfo output

Quote:libva info: VA-API version 0.33.0
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_33
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 0.33 (libva 1.1.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver - 1.0.19
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Baseline : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Baseline : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileVC1Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Advanced : VAEntrypointVLD

glxinfo output

Quote:display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.4
....
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel® Sandybridge Mobile
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 9.1.1
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)

If I run startx and then run xbmc from the command line - the whole system locks up and becomes unresponsive

however......

if I run startx and then run mplayer -vo vaapi film.mp4 everything works - film starts playing fine...

Quote:libavformat version 54.25.104 (internal)
libavformat file format detected.
[lavf] stream 0: video (h264), -vid 0
[lavf] stream 1: audio (aac), -aid 0, -alang und
VIDEO: [H264] 800x340 24bpp 23.976 fps 666.7 kbps (81.4 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
major_brand: isom
minor_version: 512
compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
encoder: Lavf54.61.104
Load subtitles in /home/xbmc/
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
libavcodec version 54.54.100 (internal)
Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 127.9 kbit/8.33% (ratio: 15993->192000)
Selected audio codec: [ffaac] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg AAC (MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Audio))
==========================================================================
AO: [alsa] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
[VD_FFMPEG] Trying pixfmt=1.
Movie-Aspect is 2.35:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [vaapi] 800x340 => 800x340 H.264 VA-API Acceleration

I can then watch the film, or press 'q' and exit from mplayer. I can then start xbmc and everything starts fine and works normally.

SO

xbmc will only work if I run mplayer beforehand and step through things manually. If I autostart (autologin to xbmc) it hangs, if i login manually, startx, then xbmc it hangs. If I login, startx, mplayer then xbmc it works......

anyone have any ideas?

Update....

Have removed all packages from Xorg-Edgers PPA - and replaced with standard Ubuntu 12.10 versions. Same problem.....

Have also downgraded

libva-intel-vaapi-driver to 1.0.17 (from 1.0.19) still same problem

update #2

have downgraded xbmc to 2:11.0~git20120510.82388d5-1ubuntu2 from Team-XBMC repo

problem still exists

Another thing...

This Ubuntu install is 64-bit

Have reinstalled 32bit Ubuntu and have the same symptoms :-(

worked around the issue..

I have used a custom .xinitrc file for the xbmc user that runs a bash script

bash script runs:
/usr/bin/mplayer -vo vaapi -ss 10 -endpos 15 film.mp4
/usr/bin/xbmc --standalone

Seems to work fine - a little cludgy but at least I have HW Acceleration (vaapi) on a Acer RL80 Nettop :-)

very cludgy this is a known issue with sandy bridge and RC6 GPU power saving, not xbmc related, search the forum for details.

A cleaner workaround besides disabling RC6 or using a patched kernel is to start a minimal desktop, e.g. fluxbox or openbox

Thanks WSNIPEX

I need to patch the kernel as there is a bug in the i915 kernel driver? - it causes the RL80 to either display a blank screen or more likely rainbow colours flickering on the screen. Patch has been created it just doesn't appear to have made the kernel yet.

Patch is here - patch

am building a 3.8 kernel so will update this thread with the results

still a problem on 3.8 kernel....

I have a working solution - may not be elegant but it works and can be lived with. Will re-look later this year when a kernel beyond 3.9 is released.....