[MPlayer-users] mplayer video suddenly gone

[RC]

On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:46:20 -0400
"Russell Behne" <rwbehne1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> rebooting sounds too much like a Micro$oft solution.  

I would agree 99% of the time.  But in this case it's a PC-hardware
problem, not a software issue, and there's often no other way to
completely reinitalize a device (like a video card).

> I rebooted and just as suddenly as it disappeared, the video is back
> working now.  Why? Who knows!! I sure don't.

After some time, buggy drivers will corrupt the device to the point of
not functioning.  It can also happen if you have unclean power (marginal
PSU or a quick brown-out), or as Dominik mentioned, after S3 suspend. 

To make matters worse, your videocard will continue to get power (5V
standby) while the computer is off but the PSU is plugged-in, so a
simple reboot won't clear the possibly-corrupt RAM, and if the driver
doesn't know how to properly reinit, the problem can follow you across
reboots (though I find that's fairly rare).