Arch Linux

Rob_H

Member

Registered: 2012-06-19

Posts: 72

Random reboots and shutdowns related to video hardware

I've been having a problem since switching to Arch in which my laptop will suddenly reboot or shutdown for no apparent reason. It happens most often when:

• An OpenGL game or screensaver is running.

• I try to start an application with optirun or primusrun (Bumblebee).

So it definitely seems to be video-related. I have an HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition laptop with NVIDIA Optimus. The primary video chipset is Intel HD 4000 and secondary is NVIDIA GT 650M. But I don't think Bumblebee is to blame because it sometimes happens when I'm not using the secondary card. Nothing is written to the journal, probably because it happens so quickly. Any ideas?

techwiz

Member

Registered: 2012-01-26

Posts: 48

Re: Random reboots and shutdowns related to video hardware

I was having the same issues until it recently just "stopped" but I have no idea why (no updates or config changes)... I've had my rig a little more stable on the graphical side with bumblebee and optimus using the linux-ck and nvidia-ck packages but overall I'd say system is far less stable and somewhat unpredictable.

Rob_H

Member

Registered: 2012-06-19

Posts: 72

Re: Random reboots and shutdowns related to video hardware

I think I was dealing with two different problems because the reboots/shutdowns no longer occur when starting a program with optirun or primusrun. So that was probably fixed by a Bumblebee/driver update.

HOWEVER, I still get the problem when using the HD 4000 video chipset to do something intensive. I think it's overheating because when it reboots, the fans spin up to full speed for a while and I occassionally see a kernel message related to temperature exceeding threshold. But prior to the reboot the fans never kick up to full speed unless I'm using Bumblebee, so something is preventing the fan from cooling off the laptop properly when only Intel graphics are in use. I tried following the instruction in the Fan Speed Control wiki, but I don't see fan RPMs in the output of sensors and I don't see my chipset listed in /etc/sensors3.conf. The output of sensors looks like this:

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0:  +48.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0:         +45.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1:         +47.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 2:         +42.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 3:         +36.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)

pkg-temp-0-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +47.0°C  

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +44.0°C  (crit = +120.0°C)
temp2:        +30.0°C  (crit = +120.0°C)

I also tried adding pcie_aspm=force and the parameters described in this Phoronix article to the kernel boot line, but they didn't make a difference. Any help greatly appreciated.