Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

isofluran · 2006-12-07 11:15:06

With the latest update to kernel 2.6.19, my system (an old Siemens Celsius 630 with 2xXeon 550/2Mb, 1024 MB RAM, Intel 440GX chipset, noname(?) geforce4 mx440, 128 MB) randomly hangs after a few minutes. This happens with the standard kernel and the beyond version as well. (I normally use the beyond version ...).

My first idea was a problem with acpi, because after booting the kernel the cpu fan stopped and the cpus are getting very hot. So I switched acpi off in grub. This solves the problem with the fan, but not the hang ups. The next idea is that the hang ups are related to the nvidia driver, but there are still hang ups in single user mode or with the nvidia driver disabled (changed to nv) in xorg.conf.

I have had hang ups nearly a year ago with the same machine, but this was related to firefox. Over the last months there are no problems.

Any ideas?

Regards,
Sebastian

mouse256 · 2006-12-08 19:15:10

It might also be a problem not related to kernel 2.6.19, I'm having random lockups here too (I had already 5 of them today), and I'm still using 2.6.18. I suspect it being another upgrade causing the problems, but I have no idea what...

hightower · 2006-12-10 13:08:25

Hi,

do you listen to music when this strange behaviour happens? And which music player do you use? I experience similar issues when using mpd, now I'm trying another music client.

hightower

mouse256 · 2006-12-10 14:29:06

No, it's random.
I had it twice while screensaver was running, one time while browsing with firefox, and one time while programming c++ in kdevelop.

isofluran · 2006-12-11 14:15:03

The problem is actual related to a problem with the videocard. The lockup always happens after a switch between a console and x. There is sometimes a delay (some seconds up to several minutes) between the keyboard command (Ctrl+Alt+F1/7) and the lockup.
Maybe it is a problem of the old/new vesafb. Because now it has changed from vesafb-ng to vesafb. Or it is a problem because of vesafb and the nvidia driver of the xserver.
So there is no solution until now, but if someone has an idea about this ...

Sigi · 2006-12-11 15:54:39

I've got a similiar prob atm after the update to 2.6.19. My system hangs after a few seconds after login, sometimes even while I am logging in.(!)

As I am starting mpd on startup I blame it for being the cause of my problems. I'm going to check if everything works ok without mpd and report back.

Cheers Sigi

kth5 · 2006-12-11 16:14:41

I had similar problems with a machine that had a Intel ICH5 chipset. In the end disabling the onboard USB controller fixed all the troubles.

Sigi · 2006-12-11 17:21:34

Well, I haven't started mpd during this boot and my system works ok so far, whereas it had problems before with stock, ck and beyond (all 2.6.19). Looks like I found the one to blame ;-) (at least on my system)

hightower · 2006-12-11 21:12:18

What chipsets do you use?

00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)

hightower

Sigi · 2006-12-11 22:13:36

Me?

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corp.|82801FR/FRW (ICH6R/ICH6RW) SATA Controller (ata_piix)

Sigi

isofluran · 2006-12-12 09:59:24

I tried several graphic cards (Gainward Nvidia GF4MX440, Matrox Millenium II (AGP and PCI version, both very old (1997 and 1998!): The same problem appears when starting (or trying to start) the Xserver after bootup. No difference between AGP and PCI. I swapped the hd from the archlinux to a winxp one and it works without any problems.
Now the machine is up with a recent Knoppix without any problems too. It's a pity, neither winxp nor knoppix is what i want for this machine!

Again, as I metioned before, the problem is likely not a hardware one but it is actually related to the kernel update (2.6.19) or to an update which was performed at the same time.
Can anyone give a proposal for a step by step procedure to isolate the problem?

kth5 · 2006-12-12 12:05:55

isofluran wrote:

Again, as I metioned before, the problem is likely not a hardware one but it is actually related to the kernel update (2.6.19) or to an update which was performed at the same time.
Can anyone give a proposal for a step by step procedure to isolate the problem?

As I don't believe these crashes are related to anything but the kernel, one way of debugging your issues could be:

* boot Knoppix
* zcat /proc/config.gz | some non-volatile media
* boot arch
* get the current ABS
* replace config in kernels/kernel26 with the one from Knoppix
* makepkg
* install and test

When that kernel runs, try to diff the two configs and see what's changed in arch. Also comparing both kernel versions if no significant changes exist might hint on the kernel being the problem.

rztka · 2006-12-18 11:37:01

hi isofluran just wondering if you've found any solution to your problem.. my laptop also hangs up randomly after last "pacman -Syu" (including upgrade of both stock and beyond kernels 2.6.19)...
first the application (gimp,firefox,gedit..) stops responding, i can move mouse but everything else is freezed.. a have to use a power button to shut down.
it drives me crazy since i need the laptop to work

cheers,
t.

isofluran · 2006-12-18 11:56:41

but I did a pacman -Syu and the system is fine now with the latest beyond kernel. There are several updates, so I'm not clear about what caused my problems. I don't want to do research about this, because I'm a bit busy at the moment. So, sorry to all who are interested to find a solution.
In general, in all cases with such a strange problem it is worth to check out if the problem is hardware or software related. In my case it was NOT a hardware problem, because Knoppix works and win xp works. So try to find out what might be wrong with your hardware and then start thinking about the software ...

rztka · 2006-12-18 12:33:43

Nevermind, thanks anyway isofluran! i'm quite busy myself, that's why i was asking others first

Before like a year or so I have xp and suse on this laptop with no hw problems like this. Then with arch there were no problems as well, except in one moment there were terrible freezes but they were different from these i have now (there were HDD seek errors in log and it unfortunatelly turned out it was a bad controller - which is replaced now)

so i guess (and hope) it's not hw issue.... i will keep upgrading and when i have some time to kill i will search for some solution.. (i can boot with 0.7.2 arch cd and there are no hangups - so i will look for any differences - does it makes sense?)

cheers, t.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-12-07 11:15:06

Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#2 2006-12-08 19:15:10

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#3 2006-12-10 13:08:25

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#4 2006-12-10 14:29:06

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#5 2006-12-11 14:15:03

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#6 2006-12-11 15:54:39

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#7 2006-12-11 16:14:41

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#8 2006-12-11 17:21:34

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#9 2006-12-11 21:12:18

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#10 2006-12-11 22:13:36

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#11 2006-12-12 09:59:24

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#12 2006-12-12 12:05:55

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#13 2006-12-18 11:37:01

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#14 2006-12-18 11:56:41

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

#15 2006-12-18 12:33:43

Re: Random system hang ups after kernel update to 2.6.19

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