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#1 2017-01-05 19:16:04

Pineman13
Member
Registered: 2016-12-04
Posts: 26

[SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

Solution: stop using systemd. Some of it's hooks are causing the instability.
Switch over to OpenRC. Details over at the wiki page.


Check out post [url=https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1682536#p1682536]#10
[/url]
Cloudbook 4Good CL110 on Intel Bay Trail(Atom Z3735F), 32bit UEFI, running Arch x86_64.
Blanks out in 1 to 20 seconds after the login prompt on TTY1(or any other TTY I am on) regardless of whether I login or not.
Though it does never happen before I reach the login prompt.
No kernel panic, no flashing indicators(it's hard to tell, since nothing is flashing on this device even during a kernel panic). Just a still white cursor at the top left of the screen(not even blinking).
If I run kernel with "quiet" flag, the laptop screen powers down instead [during the hang].

Works just fine in single-user mode(rescue mode, archiso install, kernel option "s")

I am assuming that I'd have to debug the kernel. I've got me that dmesg output trough some basic form of playful
cleverness:
Multi-user mode(hangs)
Single-user mode(does not hang)

Also, a running system(single-user) at one time featured the following at the end of dmesg:
[42.660027] random: crng init done

So from those I can tell that there are some generic hardware issues: of which devices - I have no idea!
But those seem to occur regardless of the single/multi user mode.
I thought that perhaps it could be related to the uvcvideo, so I blacklisted it. That had changed nothing.

What I've tried:
- official(arch) packages linux-4.8.11-1, linux-4.8.13-1, linux-lts-4.4.35-1(booting with all three of these kernels)
- disabling every enabled systemd .service file(even autovt@)
- blacklisting 'r8723bs' and 'uvcvideo' (no other custom drivers are installed/loaded)

So I don't really know what else to try... Whilst googling usually yields some junk related to bootloader mess-ups, it seems to be out of the scope of my issue.

P.S. My laptop only has wirelss(no wired(ethernet) ports). And since the wifi module(r8723bs) is buggy on it's own, I can not even dream of connecting to my router in under 20 seconds in order to use netconsole(if that is even
possible trough wireless).

Last edited by Pineman13 (2017-01-11 00:38:41)

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#2 2017-01-05 19:57:09

sherrellbc
Member
Registered: 2014-05-26
Posts: 112

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

Have you checked the system logs from the previous boot within your window of time? If you do not have enough time to dump the logs to a remote machine you may try mounting your hard drive on another box and pulling the log that way.

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#3 2017-01-05 21:05:52

Pineman13
Member
Registered: 2016-12-04
Posts: 26

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

Yes, I did. It is the one marked "Multi-user mode". I have setup autologin for root on tty1 and put a script in .bash_profile, which does the following:

dmesg > kernel0.log
sync
sleep 0.2s

I have 5 loops for 5 files(kernel{0-5}.log). They all look like that and run in parallel. Every next one starts 0.1s after the previous one:

loop &
sleep 0.1s
loop &
sleep 0.1s
...

If I set the delay in the loop itself to 0.1s instead of 0.2 one of the files ends up being blank. So I am assuming it gets messed up during the flush. Otherwise the contents of all 5 are identical.

So what we have here("Multi-user mode" file) is the output of dmesg about 0.1-0.2 seconds before the hangup. I don't think that I could get any closer than that.
Whilst "Single-user mode" is the file that I get during the recovery session. That session doesn't crash and can work forever. As soon as I leave it(ctrl+d) I get about 1-2s. During that I was still able to autologin and gather some data. But I am assuming that it is going to be the same. Still, I could put out dmesg's output for that case as well, if that is necessary.

Last edited by Pineman13 (2017-01-06 08:48:34)

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#4 2017-01-06 08:49:37

Pineman13
Member
Registered: 2016-12-04
Posts: 26

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

Let's try bumping this up, perhaps someone interested will come by

Thought of the day: Perhaps I should just get me a stripped-down kernel?

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#5 2017-01-06 17:32:50

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

A stripped down kernel might help.  Have you installed and configured the microcode updates for your processor?
If I understand correctly, this is console only.  No X server or anything? 

I cannot reach your ftp site, so your links are AFU sad
Can you ping the box?  (Not clear if you've a wired interface working)
Can you ssh into the box?

What is the output of ls -l /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants  ?  You should be able to do that in single user mode.

Last edited by ewaller (2017-01-06 17:34:02)


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#6 2017-01-06 20:50:35

rdeckard
Wiki Maintainer
Registered: 2015-01-28
Posts: 137

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

Can you repost the log? It says it is not available.

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#7 2017-01-07 11:17:35

Pineman13
Member
Registered: 2016-12-04
Posts: 26

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

Sorry about the log files, folks. I fixed them.

ewaller wrote:

A stripped down kernel might help.  Have you installed and configured the microcode updates for your processor?

I never knew that was a thing. Currently working on it

ewaller wrote:

If I understand correctly, this is console only.  No X server or anything?

Yep. As bare as it gets.
TTY dies, not X. Ctrl + Alt + Del are not working. Not even Capslock is being toggled. The system just dies completely.

ewaller wrote:

Can you ping the box?  (Not clear if you've a wired interface working)
Can you ssh into the box?

It is doable(theoretically). I can even surf the web from the troublesome box. The problem is: due to a poor wireless driver, the bandwidth is pathetic. It takes about 15 seconds to merely setup a connection.
nmtui is kinda dead in single-user mode(it shows no connections). wifi-menu works just fine.

I can ssh into the single-user mode. That's class!
Funny thing... It says "System is booting up. See pam_nologin(8)" twice and then just gives me root's bash prompt.

ewaller wrote:

What is the output of ls -l /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants  ?  You should be able to do that in single user mode.

It's gone. Only getty.target.wants and gett@tty1.service.d are there(autologin).
It was there at first. Then it was gone after I disabled NetworkManager.service. It also comes back if I enable it:

[root@shitlord ~]# ls -l /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 46 Nov 27 23:12 NetworkManager.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service

Did the microcode:

[    0.951681] microcode: sig=0x30678, pf=0x2, revision=0x82f
[    0.952647] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.01 <tigran@aivazian.fsnet.co.uk>, Peter Oruba

Apparently, there are no updates for my CPU sad
And the hangups still persist.

Last edited by Pineman13 (2017-01-07 11:39:30)

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#8 2017-01-07 11:43:32

Pineman13
Member
Registered: 2016-12-04
Posts: 26

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

HEY, GUYS!!!
IT WORKED!!!

The hangups are actually no more after I did the microcode update!!!
I can still hardly believe it!! But it no longer dies!
There are new issues now, but those are marginal compared to the previous problem of mine!!

P.S. Shall I leave the kernel logs right here, for future generations? smile
Though I doubt that there'll be much more people having the same hardware.

Also - how can I adjust the subject so that more people, who perhaps would be suffering from the same issue, might find it?


Great thanks to all, that partook in the resolution of this issue!
I would not have gotten to the solution myself.
Thank you all! I am glad to be a part of such great community!

Last edited by Pineman13 (2017-01-07 20:52:32)

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#9 2017-01-07 16:33:26

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

You can edit the first post in the thread -- it gives you the ability to edit the title.  That is also how things get marked as solved.
Glad it is working smile


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#10 2017-01-09 20:23:00

Pineman13
Member
Registered: 2016-12-04
Posts: 26

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

So I have that laptop, 4GOOD CL110 whatever, It's irrelevant.

[Introduction] for those who are new to the thread:
(might wanna skip straight to the [Problem] section down below)

I have had some major issues with it, besides the
EFI: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1681385
In short: it would just hang no matter what I did soon after booting up.
Completely dead, HIDs(such as keyboard) are not responding. Indicators are
still.
No kernel panic and such. Just death and a blank screen with a still cursor
on it.
However, such issue did not persist in single-user mode. So... It was just
fine. Nothing crashing and such.

I've tried many bells and whistles with it, yet had achieved nothing.
And then I tried the microcode suggestion. Funny thing: according to the arch-wiki page and my dmesg, I'd say that it didn't work. But it did. At least I thought so.

I was majorly surprised when my system had been left sitting there for more than a minute in multi-user mode
and didn't crash. So I reported back success. Indeed it was...

[The problem]

But then something akin to magic had taken place!
I rebooted it again, putting an SD card into the memory slot(comes up as an mmcblk2).
But then, shortly after(less than 30 seconds since bootup) the system hang
again. I was sad. But I started experimenting.
Throughout my exploits I have found out the following:

- The hangups weren't caused entirely by the microcode, nor by my microSD.
Instead it was caused by the sheer amount of the ports in use.
- By ports I mean anything. So far I've tested USB ports, microSD port,
DC-jack(sic!) port. It all counts!
- So my computer boots up and doesn't fail only with certain configurations
of the ports!
Which is why I'd call it magic! Though I think it's a hardware issue.
The kernel logs(without microcode. Those with it differ by a mere of two lines, stating that microcode is present):
Hangs(multi)
Works(single)
And here are some of the working port configurations.

Since my previous post I've also tried both i686 and x86_64 kernels /w microcode
I tried to plug in the rest of the sticks for the port configuration #1(2x USB sticks) after the initial bootup sequence didn't fail. And the system was stable for more than 5 minutes(then I rebooted manually).
Some other variations of this configuration work as well.

So the answer came when I saw the motherboard layout:
Basically, it's an ultra compact almost-monolithic board. It has a small
4"-circuit which features all of the mainboard and is interfaced with the
battery directly.
Due to the small board size and relatively large laptop(11.6"), the ports on
the other side(DC-jack, 1x USB, HDMI) are connected with some sort of a bus
and have no dedicated power supply(they draw it from the mainboard).
And since the laptop is very cheap(barely 160 USD) I assume that it's some
cheap circuitry problem.

Now, that I can't fix and I don't suppose that you know how to. So this
isn't really the point I wish to make.

My point, is that it isn't crucial to the system functioning. The faulty
circuitry prevents Linux from booting up and staying stable. But what it
doesn't do: it doesn't cause the instability on it's own. It merely causes
the boot sequence to go wrong. And after that is past - you can safely plug
those in and they WILL work.

This is where MS with their shite come in. For the issue is virtually non-existent under Windows 10 IA32.
That would explain why it is there - vendor ships the laptop with Windows.
So the hardware was tested under Windows and has proven to be stable.

[Solutions]:
So the way I see it: there's something faulty in the kernel or the
init-service, something that only manifests in multi-user mode... Some
kernel module, some systemd-service... And it messes things up. And for my
money: it is a temporal service. That is - it is ran only on boot and soon
exits, probably some kind of hook.

And I am afraid that will all of my experience and some ability code, I never grasped something as complex and sophisticated as a Linux kernel, or for that matter - even systemd. So my question is - which part of the system(kernel) is doing it? And how do I get rid of it? And if it is part of systemd - is it reasonable to try some other init system?

I am hoping to find an answer, or perhaps a path that would help me find one.

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#11 2017-01-11 00:35:38

Pineman13
Member
Registered: 2016-12-04
Posts: 26

Re: [SOLVED] 4GOOD CL110 Cloudbook. System hangs after starting up

If you want the solution: go straight down to the bottom paragraph.

OK, screw all of this farking garbage. I have solved the issue. Thanks to the forum and the support of the community, provided by various individuals. Also thanks to the IRL support by the ppl all around me, who kept on encouraging me to stick to my gums and kick MS's arse(at least I thought that I was fighting MS all along).
Personal thanks to nl6720 - for the utmost support. They were the first to help me on this forum, in another thread and helped me further on as I went, with the wiki page(which is still a mess, but I'll sort it out soon).
Thanks to ewaller, whose senile advice had kept me going when I was ready to give up and sell the damned thing.
I'll even express my thanks to the manufacturer, for making such a grand device available at such incredibly low price of 160 USD.

So... I am now officially a member of the The Klan of OpenRC supremacists. The clan of people who boundlessly hate systemd for breaking their favorite KISS principle and blatantly violating the body of UNIX philosophy of a single program for a single task and so on and so forth.

There's much to do, but I am satisfied with the output and I am willing to take a 40s boot instead of a 20s crash.

SCREW SYSTEMustDie.
INSTALL OPENRC.
OpenRC_250px-Rms.jpg
Thank you all!

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