Arch Linux

schimpfj

Member

From: Frankfurt, Germany

Registered: 2007-08-15

Posts: 53

Unresponsive System

Hi All,

I am experiencing a strange issue since approx. one week: I am using kernel 2.6.26 with b43 module for my wifi/wlan. It was working just fine until last week. After being online for 3 days the internet connection got lost whilst browsing the web. It turned out that the module became unresponsive. Also some linux commands, e.g. 'tail -f ...'. A few commands still work, e.g. 'ls'. When trying to shutdown/restart my laptop the system also becomes unresponsive and I have to press the power button for while in order to force the system to shutdown.

Because I suspected the issue might be caused by b43 module I have disabled that one and switched back to ndiswrapper (still installed from 2.6.25 and earlier). Same issue.

Now I suspected a hardware issue, but I am fine using Vista or my second ArchLinux install (2.6.26_x64, b43). A memory test for 15 hrs did not reveal any issue either.

Running a virus check (avira, though an old pattern file) did not find anything.

Anyone having an idea what could cause this system behaviour or how I can pin-point the culprit or maybe even how to fix?

errors.log for b43

Sep 24 11:20:31 limob b43-phy0 ERROR: Fatal DMA error: 0x00000800, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000
Sep 24 11:20:32 limob b43-phy0 ERROR: Fatal DMA error: 0x00000400, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000

messages.log for b43

Sep 24 11:19:49 limob b43-phy0: Broadcom 4311 WLAN found
Sep 24 11:19:49 limob Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PMLR, Firmware-ID: FW13 ]
Sep 24 11:20:29 limob input: b43-phy0 as /class/input/input11
Sep 24 11:20:29 limob firmware: requesting b43/ucode13.fw
Sep 24 11:20:29 limob firmware: requesting b43/lp0initvals13.fw
Sep 24 11:20:29 limob b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10)
Sep 24 11:20:31 limob Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
Sep 24 11:20:31 limob Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
Sep 24 11:20:31 limob Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
Sep 24 11:20:31 limob b43-phy0: Controller RESET (DMA error) ...
Sep 24 11:20:31 limob b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10)
Sep 24 11:20:32 limob Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
Sep 24 11:20:32 limob Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
Sep 24 11:20:32 limob Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
Sep 24 11:20:32 limob b43-phy0: Controller restarted
Sep 24 11:20:32 limob b43-phy0: Controller RESET (DMA error) ...

(whereby the last six messages go on and on)

errors.log for ndiswrapper

Sep 24 14:43:42 limob INFO: task wrapndis_wq:1329 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
Sep 24 14:43:42 limob "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.

errors.log for unresponsive commands (here: ifconfig, firefox)

Sep 24 12:59:29 limob INFO: task ifconfig:25571 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
Sep 24 12:59:29 limob "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
Sep 24 13:00:46 limob INFO: task firefox:11570 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
Sep 24 13:00:46 limob "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.

At some point there are also Call Trace's logged for the unresponsive commands in messages.log

After the issue occured I have upgraded to the most recent kernel 2.6.26-5 (was: 26-3) but the issue persits.

Currently I am using that system without starting the network and it seems to working at least for a while. I am still trying to reproduce an issue where the system became unresponsive even without the network started. If I start the network manually it just takes minutes until the system becomes unresponsive again.

Jochen

msmiley

Member

Registered: 2006-11-29

Posts: 7

Re: Unresponsive System

I had this same issue on an Acer Aspire 5520 laptop with an atheros chipset for which I was using ndiswrapper. Long story short I downgraded to kernel 2.6.24 and that fixed the problem .

Sorry not much help...I have no idea where the culprit is, but it is a very annoying problem.

wonder

Developer

From: Bucharest, Romania

Registered: 2006-07-05

Posts: 5,941

Website

Re: Unresponsive System

http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10819

but it seems that is fix. try to report another bug. also did you tried 2.6.27 and see if you have the same problem with b43?

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