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I'm trying to have an Intel Compute Stick play a playlist of videos non-stop from a USB stick.

Tested with Windows 8 and PowerDVD - runs fine for a week in a row, no problem at all.

Exact same hardware, but with Ubuntu 18.04 and VLC - the whole thing freezes after 12-24 hours. I can't access it in any way once it's frozen, neither via keyboard or remote SSH.

Can't find anything in /var/log/kern.log or syslog. Nothing in /var/crash either.

During the past week I have tried:

  • Formatting the USB as ext4 instead of FAT.
  • Prevented USB autosuspend in both grub and with a rules.d (really hoped that was it, but no)
  • Tried adding settings in /etc/sysctl.conf to make it reboot on kernel panic - didn't work

Copying the videofiles from the USB stick to internal storage, and playing there works! Then it played fine for a week. So it seems to be an issue with the USB stick - not with the graphics driver.

Any ideas on what could be causing this crash when playing from USB on Ubuntu with VLC? Any ideas on something I can try?

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    Have you tried using a powered USB hub? Yes, I realize the implications of my suggestion, I have a specific reason for thinking a externally powered Hub might help.
    – Ramhound
    Commented May 28, 2020 at 10:38
  • No I haven't considered that, because there's no hub connected. I'm only using the single USB port the Compute Stick has for the USB stick. No other devices connected. Also, if it was a power issue, wouldn't it have frozen with Windows 8 too? But I can try it out, no problem.
    – mr_lou
    Commented May 28, 2020 at 10:48
  • Well it didn't like that one bit. Videoplayback is shoppy and slow with an external self-powered USB hub. Sometimes the Compute Stick wouldn't even boot.
    – mr_lou
    Commented May 28, 2020 at 17:40
  • Try another player to rule out a problem with VLC.
    – Bald Eagle
    Commented May 28, 2020 at 19:03
  • @mr_lou - You might want to read if this particular stick has some known issue surrounding it's USB hub. Windows and Linux don't deal with USB devices the same way.
    – Ramhound
    Commented May 28, 2020 at 19:43

1 Answer 1

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Well, after running without problems since posting, everything seems to indicate that the fix was this:

Add "intel_idle.max_cstate=1" to grub.

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=109051

After doing this, it's been running fine since.

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