Unity crashes when many windows are opened (intel_do_flush_locked failed: No space left on device)

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Because of the bug unity 3D is unusable for me in dual monitor mode. (Crashes roughly every 10 mins.)
Single monitor mode is fine so far.

Im using todays daily with all updates installed on a Dell Inspiron E1505 with an Intel 945GM/GMS graphics card.

The bug also happens in single monitor mode - not as often however. It is often triggered by opening the dash or by calling the exposé-like overview of one application's opened windows.

This bug is really annoying. I confirm the behaviour on my Dell Latitude D430 (Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)).

It makes my laptop nearly unusable as it happens randomly and sometimes in periods of 10-30 minutes. The screen freezes and a restart is needed. Not sure if this is a unity bug or more an X issue (Intel driver) but it really makes this Ubuntu release unstable and unusable for anyone experiencing this bug.

The message is "intel_do_flush_locked failed: No space left on device" after the screen freeze.

Leandro.

This error ("intel_do_flush_locked failed: No space left on device") does also affect Gnome Shell users with said Intel Graphics. Gnome Shell dies upon this and no keystrokes are forwarded to applications, although mouse and application menus do work. This happens with on a single monitor with approx. 10 to 15 applications/windows open on multiple workspaces (usually 3 or 4).

Workarounds / Quickfix / Rescue:
* sudo gdm restart (from a TTY)
* gnome-shell --replace -d :0

The second workaround keeps the running applications.

unity --reset also gets you going again (control-alt-f1 first)
happens all the time, at least 5+ times a day

Same here with "intel_do_flush_locked failed: No space left on device" on up to date precise amd64 and a HP NC6400 with 945GM. The workaround for Unity is CTRL-ALT-F1 and "unity --replace". So at least X does not crash and our opened windows and unsaved data are still there, but it is so annoying and after all the destop is unstable.

Who has ideas for further debugging?

Same here on a Asus Eee PC 100H sporting an Intel 945GSE (on lspci: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller).

Same here on Dell D820
VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller

Tried to run the game Bastion and get the message:
"intel_do_flush_locked failed: No such file or directory"

uname reports:
Linux henrik-laptop 3.2.0-24-generic #39-Ubuntu SMP Mon May 21 16:52:17 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

and lspci reports:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary) (rev 0c)

I guess it's the samme issue. and i run gnome 3 so clearly it's not an issue with unity. my guess is it's either an issue with the kernel driver or mesa. maintainers should check upstream for fixes.

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Please test if the newest mesa update also fixes our issue:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mesa/8.0.2-0ubuntu3.1/+changelog

I've updated the mesa packages this morning as I found them in precise-updates, but still have the same problem.

That's sad, altough i didn't have the issue with the update on the last 12 hours in single monitor mode. Further verifications by others would be nice.

As already said it seems to get triggered on dual monitor mode far more often. Could there be a link to 2048x2048 texture limitation that we have on 945 and maybe as well on 965 Intel graphics?

Did someone already test the options mentioned in "man intel"?

  I still have the issue with "intel_do_flush_locked failed: No space left on device" (Unity 5.12.0, single monitor configuration, i915) in spite of all last available updates were installed.
  I've not tried to change any X.org/driver settings - everything has default values.

  I can try to collect new set of symptoms if required. Additionaly I would change settings if you advice me.

  I have seen message about 2048x2048 of HW limitation during attempt to use two monitor configuration in Unity. But there is no problem with Unity2D: nor with the topic neither with the limit of resolution. The only problem of Unity2D is low speed (at least for me)...

I'm also getting this crash with the latest unity and all updates as of 2012-06-11.

I can force this crash by opening nautilus and pressing Control-N 20 times to open 20 nautilus windows. The next time I press Alt-Tab or Super-W I will get the crash.

By opening 20 nautilus windows I can also crash Gnome-Shell, so I think this is definitly a graphics driver issue :-(.

I can reconfirm that opening a lot of nautilus windows and then clicking on it's switcher seems to trigger the bug quite well.

While i'm running a single display setup for the last week, i noticed that this bug seems clearly resolution dependent, as when i run 1280x800 on LVDS it's much less present than when running 1680x1050 on external VGA.

I tried xserver-xorg-video-intel version 2:2.19.0-0ubuntu1~xup1 from the ubuntu-x-swat ppa, but the bug is still there.

@Steffen: I think testing newer mesa versions and kernels might be more promissing, as the bug should be in the 3D stack.

I don't see anything in the newer mesa version that indicates it fixes this specific bug, but I've stuck a package of it into a PPA for you guys to test out:

https://launchpad.net/~bryce/+archive/mesa-803

If anyone finds this *does* fix the issue and can confirm it solves the crash, we may be able to get the fix rolled out in precise.

@Bryce: I just tested the packages from your PPA, but as you have already guessed Mesa 8.0.3 doesn't fix the issue. What i meant was also rather new major versions.

But as you changed the status to incomplete what advices do you have on further debugging and testing? Or did you have the chance to reproduce the issue yourself like already explained?

BTW The issue should affect a rather large installation base with the relevant Intel generations also being in netbooks and chromebooks.

  Additionally I have tested packages from
https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa :
mesa 8.1~git20120606.ec19bdd1-0ubuntu0sarvatt~precise ,
xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.19.0+git20120606.c433fb45-0ubuntu0sarvatt~precise -
No visible progress related to the issue.

@Bryce: I have also tested your package (8.0.3-0ubuntu0~xup1~precise) but the crash is still there :-(

The issue is confirmed also for other distrubutions e.g., Fedora 17:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=830772

Hi all,

I have the same issue affecting Ubuntu 12.04 (x86 desktop) on lenovo 3000 v100, which has an Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME graphics card.

I used to restart compiz when this bug crashes my desktop, but I also noticed that changing the "window switcher" in unity works as a work around. I tested the following solution with opening 40 nautilus windows, and hitting alt-tab several times, as well as with the Workspace switcher, and there was no crash.

Anyway, all I did was:
- install ccsm (sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager)
- run ccsm (go to dash, type ccsm)
- Scroll down to Window Management - Enable Application Switcher (the top-left plugin right under Windows Management).
- It will tell you several key bindings are the same with Unity. Select the appropriate option to override these settings.
- That's all.

I wrote the above steps from my mind, so if someone can test & write a better guide that would be great.

best,
batu.

Hi batu,

I tried your workaround but it did not solve the underlying problem for me.
The Alt-Tab window switcher from ccsm works now with a lot of windows but Super-W still produces the crash with error message

intel_do_flush_locked failed: No space left on device

in the .xsession-errors file.

I have an Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) on my machine and 20 windows are enough to produce the crash with Super-W.

Hi, All!

I've installed an update of compiz up to version 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1.1 via -proposed repository. The update has fixed some errors included
compiz (decor) - Warn: failed to bind pixmap to texture
(https://bugs.launchpad.net/compiz-core/+bug/929989)
I have made few tests of Unity (3D) in part of switcning between many opened windows (e.g., Nautilus and gnome-terminal) via Super+W, Alt+Tab, Alt+` with success (without crashed Unity due to the bug "intel_do_flush_locked failed: No space left on device").
The only thing is used "xorg-edgers" ppa. Will try to purge the ppa and test Unity behaviour once again.

@alexus: sounds promissing, would be great if you could test it without xorg-edgers and just -proposed (and maybe also vice versa).

Hi, All!

I have tested some currently available versions of the packages:
1) precise-proposed (mesa 8.0.2-0ubuntu3.1, compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1.1, xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4);
2) precise-proposed + PPAs ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates (mesa 8.0.2-0ubuntu3.1, compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1.1, xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.19.0-0ubuntu1~xup1);
3) precise-proposed + PPAs ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates + bryce/mesa-803 (mesa 8.0.3-0ubuntu0~xup1~precise, compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1.1, xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.19.0-0ubuntu1~xup1);
4) precise-proposed + PPAs ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates + xorg-edgers/ppa (mesa 8.1~git20120618.1692d3ad-0ubuntu0sarvatt~precise, compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1.1, xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.19.0+git20120628.31caa43a-0ubuntu0sarvatt~precise).
In cases 1-3 my i915GM can manage about 15-20 windows (e.g., Nautilus) in Expo mode of windows overview.
In case of 4 - Expo mode handles up to 45-50 windows but not more.
As a result I would conclude that the issue is still there. Sad but true.

I have to correct my previous calculations:
4) precise-proposed + PPAs ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates + xorg-edgers/ppa (mesa 8.1~git20120618.1692d3ad-0ubuntu0sarvatt~precise, compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1.1, xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.19.0+git20120628.31caa43a-0ubuntu0sarvatt~precise).
In case of 4 - Expo mode handles up to 35-40 windows but not more.

It is still twice more than other variants (1-3) but less than I've posted early.

@Steffen Goetz: You are right, the bug is definitely still there. Actually today when I was working on the second monitor, I keep getting compiz crashes with the "intel_do_flush_locked failed: No space left on device" message, triggered with Alt+tab switching... I don't know if anything had changed (updates etc.) since I posted the message. Hope a solution can be found soon. I will try alexus' suggestion now.

In my case, with a fully updated ubuntu 12.04 as of today, it happened to me twice... and "many" windows were actually just a couple of Nautilus, one Firefox, one Thunderbird... clicking on the top unity icon (trying to open a new application) froze everything once the dash was displayed, with four windows.
Dual display 1360x768 plus 1280 x 800... (1360x1568), seems that something gets "out of memory"...
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
This is a "production" machine, nothing "bleeding edge" installed.

As asala I too have a fully updated Ubuntu 12.04 (today there was even an update to compiz).

But the problem remains and I have like 7 to 9 windows opened...

Any time there is a freeze unity says
"intel_do_flush_locked failed: No space left on device"

and in dmesg I see
"[ 5932.613235] [drm:drm_mode_getfb] *ERROR* invalid framebuffer id
[ 6039.184478] [drm:drm_mode_getfb] *ERROR* invalid framebuffer id"

Don't know if is useful information but the errors seem to be linked.

Hi All!

  Are there any progress in the issue investigation? I just worry that if the problem will be still there in the next release of Ubuntu (12.10) it will be unavoidable for more users because of there is no planned "fallback" shell like Unity 2D.
  Can we speed investigation up?

Hi All!

  Are there any progress in the issue investigation? I worry that if the problem will be still there in the upcoming release of Ubuntu (12.10) it will be unavoidable for many users because of absent Unity 2D.
  Can we speed the investigation up?

I' found the similar bug reported in "KDE Bugtracking System":
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=307348

With my 1920x1200 resolution I hit this bug with only my primary laptop screen. It is still present in 12.10. It makes Ubuntu unusable, since unity-2d is not available anymore. I've ran into this bug consistently since a few years, never bothered to investigate, just switched to 2d. Now the best analysis I've found is by Adam Jackson:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699705#c6

Problem is present on my hardware as well (ThinkPad T43 with Intel GM915) under Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 Alpha.

Did this ever get fixed?

I am still experiencing this ennoying and quite important "every-day-use functionality" bug :-((((
(especially as a developer where you often have to switch between many windows and often only between two very often, e.g. browser, eclipse, ...)

This also happens in debian GNOME Shell 3.4.2 on a Thinkpad T60.

Happens still to me an arch linux, with Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM, and Gnome-Shell 3.12.2. Has is ever been fixed?

Happens to me, every time I launch bricscad in 3D mode

intel_do_flush_locked failed: No such file or directory

[ Ubuntu 14.10, PPA Olaf ] [ HP G62: VGA Intel i915 with hybrid muxless Radeon HD54xx ]

Just like Guillermo, I'm trying to run BricsCAD on my X220 laptop and get this error/crash. Anyone know if it has been reported upstream and if there's a fix in sight?

To Guillermo: Did you ever find any workaround to getting BricsCAD to run? I tried setting LIBGL_DISABLE_DRI3 in the environment since I saw that tip here: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=71759 , but it didn't work :(

Can anyone confirm the bug is still present in Ubuntu 15.10?
Can you reproduce the bug in any desktop or just Unity 7 and Gnome-Shell 3.12.2?

This happen to me on Ubuntu 16.04.1, on Firefox 50.1.0, running it on CLI randomly (couldn't find any pattern) crashes with "intel_do_flush_locked failed: No such file or directory".
Asus UX303UB
uname -sir: Linux 4.4.0-59-generic x86_64
product: HD Graphics 520
vendor: Intel Corporation
configuration: driver=i915_bpo latency=0

is this still an issue on 20.04?