Idea #10563: Auto-Recovery From graphics drivers crash

Written by Auzy the 1 Jul 08 at 13:03. Category: System.
Related to: Nothing/Others. Status: New

Description

Windows Vista is capable of automatically recovering from a graphics driver crash without any of the users programs having to be restarted, whereas, in Xorg's case, the only solution would probably be to kill X, or restart the computer.

We should ensure that Xorg is able to do the same. Whilst it is obviously ideal for graphics drivers to never crash, it can happen. And crash recovery is definately an important component of a high-availability OS.

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Comments

kahping wrote on the 1 Jul 08 at 15:27

Vista doesn't even do it properly. I've seen Vista blank the monitor while you're using it. It just blanks it and the screen doesn't come back. Only "solution" is to cut the power. So much for reseting the video driver.

There's even a case where the video driver gets into a infinite loop of reseting so you get to see Vista switch between "Vista Basic" & "Vista Aero Glass" over and over and over...

Having said that, I do agree that crash recovery is good to have.. done properly

+1

andruk wrote on the 1 Jul 08 at 15:32

Ctrl+Alt+Backspace restarts X, but it has the side effect of killing all desktop sessions (and the open programs). Luckily, a lot of good programs (Firefox, I'm looking at you) account for this and offer to bring back sessions after a crash.

Not saying ctrl+alt+backspace is what you're looking for, but it is helpful for me.

+1, Helpful for New Converts

supercarrot wrote on the 18 Jul 08 at 21:00

I was just thinking about this one as well. I wish that the programs could survive an X server restart, particularly when buggy programs (ahem google gadgets ahem) have the habit of bringing down X.

This would be a really boon, if the programs could actually survive that one.

Auzy wrote on the 19 Jul 08 at 01:40

Kahping, you cant rely on it to be 100%, But it has helped me twice (Blanked the screen for a second, obviously because it is swapping the drivers, and the screen came back).

Because for us at the moment, our only solution is to kill X anyway. People would rather a 50% chance they don't lose their work then 100% chance they will

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