599661 - [D2D] Firefox periodically freezes on Thinkpad T400 with discrete/switchable graphics and needs force close when loading page

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Core :: Graphics, defect)

Description

[ne6]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:2.0b6) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0b6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:2.0b6) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0b6

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad T400 with switchable graphics between Intel's integrated graphics and a Mobility Radeon HD 3400 series chipset running Windows 7. The Intel graphics don't present a problem here, but if I browse Firefox with ATI's graphics enabled, if I browse long enough FF will asymptotically-always (I haven't had a session last longer than a day and some have frozen a few page-loads in) freeze such that it stops responding, the window goes grey, and Firefox then needs to be force-closed.

No such freezes/hangs occur when using Firefox 4.0 beta 5 or 6 with the Intel graphics drivers selected, so this very specifically is an interaction involving the ATI drivers and/or hardware.

I have checked for updated display drivers, but http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-72858.html states that I already have the most recent display drivers for this laptop installed.

about:support says:
Adapter Description: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series
Vendor ID: 1002
Device ID: 95c4
Adapter RAM: 256
Adapter Drivers: atiumd64 atidxx64 atiumdag atidxx32 atiumdva atiumd6a atitmm64
Driver Version: 8.641.1.1000
Driver Date: 8-24-2009
Direct2D Enabled: true
DirectWrite Enabled: true

Reproducible: Sometimes

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Find a Thinkpad T400 with discrete, switchable graphics (or maybe just any computer with a Mobility Radeon HD 3400 series chipset, but this could also be an artifact of the Win7 drivers from IBM and/or Lenovo specifically not having been updated since the Win7 launch whereas perhaps other manufacturers have been more responsive).
2. Install driver version 8.641.1.1000 from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-72858.html .
3. Run Firefox 4.0 beta 5 or 6 (seen it on both, since it's been enabled by default).
4. Browse the web for a while.
Actual Results:  
With a probability asympotically approaching 1, the Firefox process hosting the browsing session will hang and need force-closing by Windows. In particular, it nearly always happens when a web page is loading, not just at random moments. It will sit there indefinitely without hanging if I just switch tabs, switch windows, et cetera. It's loading a page that triggers this behaviour thus far.

Expected Results:  
Web pages load and Firefox doesn't hang.

I'm using the default theme. This computer has, aside from the graphics configuration listed, a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 4GiB of RAM (Memtest86+'s to be okay a few weeks ago).

Comment 1

[ne6]

Oh, to be clear: disabling Direct2D prevents Firefox from hanging in this manner as well. I need to be both using ATI's graphics chipset/drivers and Direct2D on Firefox (thus far experienced on 4.0 betas 5 and 6) to trigger this.

Comment 2

[ne6]

Attachment: Screenshot of IBM/Lenovo's display driver installer informing me my driver is current

I know that if one compares the date in about:support to the current driver date (August vs October) it looks like there is a newer driver. I've attached a screenshot to show otherwise.

Comment 3

[Scoobidiver (away)]

Do you use a tool for using/switching the 2 graphic cards ?
What is your Intel graphic card and graphic driver version ?
During the session with hang, was there a manual or an automatic switching from one graphic card to another ?

Comment 4

[ne6]

Yes, I use Lenovo's power manager tool for switching between the two graphics cards/chipsets.

about:support says regarding my Intel graphics chipset:
Adapter Description: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Vendor ID: 8086
Device ID: 2a42
Adapter RAM: Unknown
Adapter Drivers: igdumd64 igd10umd64 igdumdx32 igd10umd32
Driver Version: 8.641.1.1000
Driver Date: 8-24-2009
Direct2D Enabled: true
DirectWrite Enabled: true

Firefox session hangs (not just one session, lots of them - this is very repeatable) have happened certainly without my switching during the sessions and also without switching during that Windows session (i.e. since boot).

Comment 5

[ne6]

Attachment: Screenshot of notification area/system tray interface for switching graphics chipsets

Comment 6

[Scoobidiver (away)]

For the wrong driver version and date of the Intel card, I filed bug 600903.

For the hang on ATI card, could you provide a stack trace :
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/How_to_get_a_stacktrace_with_WinDbg

Comment 7

[Bas Schouten (:bas.schouten)]

This should be tested with the current nightlies too!

Comment 8

[ne6]

Attachment: Firefox debug log per Scoobidiver's request

Comment 9

[Scoobidiver (away)]

I see that it hangs at atidxx32!gfxInitInteropServices.

There is bug 597320 for NVIDIA Optimus that has been fixed in nightlies.
But, nothing has been done for ATI interop.

As requested by Bas, can you test the hang with the current nightlies :
ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/

Comment 10

[ne6]

Attachment: Firefox nightly 2010-09-30 debug log per Bas Schouten and Scoobidiver's requests

Comment 11

[José Jeria]

Have the same system configuration. T-400, same graphic driver (latest provided by Lenovo) and see exactly the same issues as in comment 0. 

Other issues that I had with this configuration:
. http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Windows-7-Discussion/Outdated-ATI-drivers-for-T400-crash-upcoming-Firefox-4-and-IE-9/td-p/243894
. Bug 597669

Comment 12

[José Jeria]

This driver should be blocked if this issue cannot be solved. 

Pity, since
a) this is the latest driver provided for this system
b) all HA demos (except WebGL, see bug 597669) work just fine

Comment 13

[José Jeria]

Did the log in comment 10 provide any useful information or is more information needed for this?

Comment 14

[José Jeria]

This is WFM now with the latest (can be downloaded from the "Lenovo - Update and Drivers" application) official Lenovo drivers:

  Graphics

        Adapter Description
        ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series

        Vendor ID
        1002

        Device ID
        95c4

        Adapter RAM
        256

        Adapter Drivers
        atiu9p64.dll atiuxp64 atiu9pag atiuxpag atiumdva atiumd6a atitmm64

        Driver Version
        8.752.4.0

        Driver Date

        Direct2D Enabled
        true

        DirectWrite Enabled
        true

      GPU Accelerated Windows
      1/1 Direct3D 10