Skype crashes on Ubuntu Hardy

Skype is working for me on 64-bit hardy OK. I'm using it with USB Audio headphones just fine. Can you try doing an strace?

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Strace

And attaching it?

Hi Matthew, thank you for your answer.
The strace is 14mb long :( It is impossible to send it.

Is there any other info I can provide?

Regards,
Effenberg

Are you using 32 or 64 bit Hardy, and the version of Skype. Also, any chance you trying to use bluetooth headset?

I compared your output to my running skype and it looked pretty similar so I don't know if the strace is going reveal anything.

HI Matthew, there were tons of updates to Hardy since the last time I posted here but Skype is still not working for me.
I have booted in all kernels from 2.6.22-14 to the latest.
Right now I am using 32bit Hardy (Linux effenberg-mobile 2.6.24-11-generic #1 SMP Fri Feb 29 22:08:31 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux).
I have tried all official versions of SKype up to the latest one (2.0.0 Beta). None works.
About bluetooth, I had tried a bluetooth USB dongle + motorola BT headset about 6 months ago in this machine when it was running Gutsy. It worked but sound quality was bad, so I gave up on it and used a wired headset for the last 6 months, until I upgraded to Hardy and SKype died. You think maybe this machine is still looking for this BT device? Any tips on checking for it and disabling any BT here?

Thanks,
Effenberg

Skype does not like it when I have a bluetooth device even defined under Hardy. I think it might be a combination of pulseaudio+alsa emulation+skype is bad news.

Also, you can attach the Strace here in launchpad. No need to try and send it via e-mail.

Hi Guys, just to tell I've the same problem and the same configuration. I'm running Hardy on my laptop and on my machine at work. the only difference between the two is the use of the BT headset with my laptop.
I try now to remove all the BT configuration.

Thanks,
Denis

Denix, just to confirm we're seeing the same issue:

1) Cold boot your PC. Launch Skype. You see it's login/password dialog. You fill in the password. It tries to connect and as soon as it does, the Skype dialog goes blank, no icons show and the app stops responding (ps ax shows skype as "defunct" generally).

2) You kill it with kill -9 <SkypePid>.

3) If you try to launch Skype again, your whole PC is crashed. Nothing to do but press reset.

Is is exactly like this for you?

Thanks,
Effenberg

Not so bad for me.
I can boot my pc and lauch skype, I do the login and I can see people online. If I try to do chat, the messeges are newer sent and if I try to call or to open the option dialog skype go in defunct situation.
I can try to kill it but without any result. Like you, if I lunch skype again, everything crash :(

ciao,
Denix

I got something from dmesg:

[ 699.013503] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000028
[ 699.013508] printing eip: dcc9ebd5 *pde = 00000000
[ 699.013514] Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP
[ 699.013517] Modules linked in: nls_cp437 nls_utf8 cifs xt_limit xt_tcpudp ipt_LOG ipt_MASQUERADE ipt_TOS ipt_REJECT nf_conntrack_irc nf_conntrack_ftp xt_state wlan_tkip af_packet l2cap bluetooth snd_rtctimer binfmt_misc via drm nfsd lockd nfs_acl auth_rpcgss sunrpc exportfs ppdev ipv6 sbs sbshc dock container acpi_cpufreq cpufreq_userspace cpufreq_stats cpufreq_conservative cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_ondemand freq_table snd_bt_sco snd_hwdep parport_pc lp parport tun pcmcia joydev wlan_scan_sta ath_rate_sample evdev snd_via82xx gameport snd_via82xx_modem snd_ac97_codec snd_mpu401_uart ac97_bus snd_pcm_oss snd_pcm psmouse snd_mixer_oss serio_raw snd_seq_dummy video output snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq snd_timer snd_seq_device pcspkr snd snd_page_alloc soundcore i2c_viapro i2c_core battery ac button yenta_socket rsrc_nonstatic ath_pci wlan pcmcia_core ath_hal(P) shpchp pci_hotplug via_agp agpgart iptable_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack_ipv4 nf_conntrack iptable_mangle iptable_filter ip_tables x_tables ext3 jbd mbcache usbhid hid sg sd_mod sr_mod cdrom via82cxxx ide_core pata_acpi via_rhine mii ehci_hcd uhci_hcd sata_via pata_via ata_generic usbcore libata scsi_mod thermal processor fan fuse vesafb fbcon tileblit font bitblit softcursor
[ 699.013581]
[ 699.013585] Pid: 10616, comm: skype Tainted: P (2.6.24-11-generic #1)
[ 699.013587] EIP: 0060:[<dcc9ebd5>] EFLAGS: 00010286 CPU: 0
[ 699.013600] EIP is at snd_card_bt_sco_playback_open+0x125/0x180 [snd_bt_sco]
[ 699.013603] EAX: 00000000 EBX: c514a400 ECX: 00000003 EDX: c15d8000
[ 699.013605] ESI: c2644240 EDI: c2644260 EBP: 00000000 ESP: c52f7e68
[ 699.013607] DS: 007b ES: 007b FS: 00d8 GS: 0033 SS: 0068
[ 699.013610] Process skype (pid: 10616, ti=c52f6000 task=cba890e0 task.ti=c52f6000)
[ 699.013611] Stack: dcc9fa17 d9e43300 00000000 d9aa8710 d9aa8600 c85ad000 dcbaa936 c52f7e88
[ 699.013617] d9e43300 fffffff2 dcbaaa62 c52f7eb4 d9aa8720 00000000 00000000 cba890e0
[ 699.013621] c01269e0 d9aa8724 d9aa8724 c85ad000 dcb08ae0 00000000 c85ad000 d984f8f8
[ 699.013625] Call Trace:
[ 699.013646] [<dcbaa936>] snd_pcm_open_substream+0x46/0x80 [snd_pcm]
[ 699.013679] [<dcbaaa62>] snd_pcm_open+0xf2/0x1b0 [snd_pcm]
[ 699.013703] [<c01269e0>] default_wake_function+0x0/0x10
[ 699.013736] [<dcb034f8>] snd_open+0x78/0x150 [snd]
[ 699.013762] [<dcb03480>] snd_open+0x0/0x150 [snd]
[ 699.013778] [<c0191073>] chrdev_open+0xa3/0x190
[ 699.013803] [<c018c42f>] __dentry_open+0xbf/0x1c0
[ 699.013822] [<c018c5e5>] nameidata_to_filp+0x35/0x40
[ 699.013834] [<c0190fd0>] chrdev_open+0x0/0x190
[ 699.013846] [<c018c640>] do_filp_open+0x50/0x60
[ 699.013882] [<c018c2e2>] get_unused_fd_flags+0x52/0xd0
[ 699.013901] [<c018c69c>] do_sys_open+0x4c/0xe0
[ 699.013922] [<c018c76c>] sys_open+0x1c/0x20
[ 699.013933] [<c01053c2>] sysenter_past_esp+0x6b/0xa9
[ 699.013971] =======================
[ 699.013972] Code: f6 c9 dc 89 83 10...

I fixed it, all versions of Skype are working normally. It was Bluetooth related. Don't know exactly what the problem was. Here's what I did:

1) Uninstalled Skype. Completely removed all files (~/.Skype, /usr/share/skype, etc)
2) System / Preferences / Session -> Removed everything Bluetooth. Saved session.
3) ps ax | grep bt -> Killed everything bt
4) lsmod | grep bt -> rmmod everything bt
5) Reinstalled skype

Thats it!

Regards,
Effenberg

I can confirm this is caused by snd_bt_sco module being loaded. I loaded it yesterday and skype would start, and then die (eventually killing it put it into a zombie state).

I've also the same problem on module loading

# sudo modprobe snd-bt-sco
Segmentation fault
# dmesg
[ 7726.455853] snd-bt-sco revision 1.19 $
[ 7726.455880] snd-bt-sco: snd-bt-scod thread starting
[ 7726.456009] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000001
[ 7726.456014] printing eip: f8ea0745 *pde = 00000000
[ 7726.456019] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP
[ 7726.456023] Modules linked in: snd_bt_sco vmnet(P) vmmon(P) binfmt_misc rfcomm l2cap af_packet ppdev ipv6 acpi_cpufreq cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_conservative cpufreq_stats freq_table cpufreq_userspace cpufreq_powersave sbs sbshc dock iptable_filter ip_tables x_tables nls_iso8859_1 nls_cp437 vfat fat aes_i586 dm_crypt dm_mod arc4 ecb blkcipher iwl3945 iwlwifi_mac80211 cfg80211 sbp2 parport_pc lp parport joydev snd_hda_intel snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_pcm fglrx(P) sg sr_mod snd_hwdep cdrom pcmcia snd_seq_dummy snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi container snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event video output snd_seq psmouse snd_timer serio_raw snd_seq_device battery ac snd button pcspkr soundcore evdev ext3 jbd mbcache sd_mod hci_usb bluetooth ata_piix ata_generic e100 sdhci mii tifm_7xx1 ohci1394 mmc_core tifm_core pata_acpi iTCO_wdt yenta_socket rsrc_nonstatic pcmcia_core ieee1394 iTCO_vendor_support libata scsi_mod ehci_hcd uhci_hcd usbcore snd_page_alloc shpchp pci_hotplug intel_agp agpgart thermal processor fan fuse vesafb fbcon tileblit font bitblit softcursor
[ 7726.456095]
[ 7726.456098] Pid: 12932, comm: modprobe Tainted: P (2.6.24-12-generic #1)
[ 7726.456101] EIP: 0060:[<f8ea0745>] EFLAGS: 00010246 CPU: 0
[ 7726.456117] EIP is at snd_pcm_timer_init+0x25/0x170 [snd_pcm]
[ 7726.456120] EAX: 00000001 EBX: f6c1b800 ECX: ec0bfdfc EDX: 00000000
[ 7726.456122] ESI: dfa2c780 EDI: f6c1b234 EBP: 00000018 ESP: ec0bfde4
[ 7726.456125] DS: 007b ES: 007b FS: 00d8 GS: 0033 SS: 0068
[ 7726.456128] Process modprobe (pid: 12932, ti=ec0be000 task=f6b1b0e0 task.ti=ec0be000)
[ 7726.456130] Stack: 00000000 00000001 f6ae3e00 00000000 f6ae3e00 00000000 00000003 00000000
[ 7726.456137] f6c1b800 00000018 f8dd020c 00000000 dfa2c780 f6c1b200 f8e9867f f8ea992c
[ 7726.456143] f6c1b200 ec0bfe38 f6c1b000 00000001 f8ea15f4 436d6370 63304431 ffffff00
[ 7726.456149] Call Trace:
[ 7726.456173] [<f8dd020c>] snd_add_device_sysfs_file+0x3c/0x70 [snd]
[ 7726.456194] [<f8e9867f>] snd_pcm_dev_register+0xef/0x200 [snd_pcm]
[ 7726.456223] [<f8dd4e4d>] snd_device_register_all+0x2d/0x60 [snd]
[ 7726.456241] [<f8dd0a1e>] snd_card_register+0x1e/0x320 [snd]
[ 7726.456265] [<f90592d7>] alsa_card_bt_sco_init+0x277/0x2be [snd_bt_sco]
[ 7726.456279] [<c01516c6>] sys_init_module+0x126/0x19c0
[ 7726.456320] [<c0138540>] sigprocmask+0x0/0x110
[ 7726.456338] [<c01053c2>] sysenter_past_esp+0x6b/0xa9
[ 7726.456358] =======================
[ 7726.456359] Code: 5b c3 8d 74 26 00 56 89 c6 53 83 ec 30 8b 56 30 c7 44 24 1c 00 00 00 00 8d 4c 24 18 c7 44 24 18 03 00 00 00 8b 18 83 e2 01 8b 03 <8b> 00 89 44 24 20 8b 43 0c 89 44 24 24 8b 46 0c 01 c0 09 c2 8d
[ 7726.456391] EIP: [<f8ea0745>] snd_pcm_timer_init+0x25/0x170 [snd_pcm] SS:ESP 0068:ec0bfde4
[ 7726.456404] ---[ end trace b1183a475424ec05 ]---

...

Apparently this is because Skype does not support pulse audio yet.

Relevant Skype forum discussion:
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=112021

Possible workaround:
http://wlx.westgis.ac.cn/488/

I had problem with skype crashing when chatting/opening chat. problem was fixed by changingn the theme in qtconfig-qt4 and setting diffrent font.

i had skype running fine. but now it crashes as soon as i double click on someone's name. my ubuntu is weird anyways. sometimes it crashes and malfunctions and i need to restart it to get it to work fine. dunno whats wrong.

Since Hardy was in alpha stage when this bug was reported and the original reporter has already solved this issue I guess this bug can be closed.