Arch Linux

dbolgheroni

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2008-02-09

Posts: 16

Website

Arch freezing TOO much

Hi,

I'm here praying for Arch do not freeze while I'm writing.

For a while, even with 2.6.24-x, I've had a lot of freezes with Arch. Now that I updated to 2.6.25-x, these freezes is making my machine almost unusable. I don't even know how to start to find the problem, thought I think it's one of those things: nVidia proprietary drivers, ACPI, APIC, firefox3 hogging 100% of my CPU using proprietary Flash or scrolling the screen (this makes me nervous, really), mplayer (and other CPU intensive tasks), etc.

Generally, if I don't use firefox or mplayer, I can use some apps for something like 5 min. When using these apps, normally the machine freezes in 1 or 2 min.

I already tried disable composing (XFCE), not using nv proprietary driver, disabling ACPI, etc. but all with no success.

I already saw a lot of messages in this forum and in other distros about GNU/Linux, but none of them are specific. And no, I can't go to console, restart X, anything. The only solution is to pull the plug.

My machine is new, a Compaq Presario V6000 series laptop. No memory problems.

Any hints? Thank you.

Sigi

Member

From: Thurgau, Switzerland

Registered: 2005-09-22

Posts: 1,131

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

Have you tried the vesa driver?

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Haven't been here in a while. Still rocking Arch.

skymt

Member

Registered: 2006-11-27

Posts: 443

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

The current stable Nvidia drivers are incompatible with 2.6.25. You need to either use the beta drivers or downgrade to 2.6.24.

Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,510

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

My machine is new, a Compaq Presario V6000 series laptop. No memory problems.

Are you sure about that?  The no memory problems that is, I'm sure you know your hardware!    Although video drivers may be the number one guess at this problem, corrupt memory would be my number two.

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dbolgheroni

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2008-02-09

Posts: 16

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

Have you tried the vesa driver?

No, vesa driver doesn't support 1280x800 resolution.

Thank you.

marxav

Member

From: Gatineau, PQ, Canada

Registered: 2006-09-24

Posts: 386

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

I have an old Thinkpad R31.  It kept freezing with kernel 2.24x.  Since I downgraded to 2.6.23.14-1, no problem.

dbolgheroni

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2008-02-09

Posts: 16

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

The current stable Nvidia drivers are incompatible with 2.6.25. You need to either use the beta drivers or downgrade to 2.6.24.

How incompatible is it? I'm running nvidia-169.12-3 with 2.6.25-x, from [testing], not from abs (AUR). I thought if they were completely incompatible, they wouldn't even run, right?

Thank you.

dbolgheroni

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2008-02-09

Posts: 16

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

My machine is new, a Compaq Presario V6000 series laptop. No memory problems.

Are you sure about that?  The no memory problems that is, I'm sure you know your hardware!    Although video drivers may be the number one guess at this problem, corrupt memory would be my number two.

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure it isn't memory problem, though I will test with memtest86 later.

Thank you!

dbolgheroni

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2008-02-09

Posts: 16

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

I have an old Thinkpad R31.  It kept freezing with kernel 2.24x.  Since I downgraded to 2.6.23.14-1, no problem.

How to force a downgrade? When trying to install core/kernel26, I got a lot of messages saying I already have the latest version.

Any hints? Thank you.

Sigi

Member

From: Thurgau, Switzerland

Registered: 2005-09-22

Posts: 1,131

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

Have you tried the vesa driver?

No, vesa driver doesn't support 1280x800 resolution.

Thank you.

Hm ok. I just switched from the proprietary ati drivers to the OSS for stability reasons. Never had an NVIDIA so I'm not really helpful here Good luck!

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Haven't been here in a while. Still rocking Arch.

marxav

Member

From: Gatineau, PQ, Canada

Registered: 2006-09-24

Posts: 386

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

I have an old Thinkpad R31.  It kept freezing with kernel 2.24x.  Since I downgraded to 2.6.23.14-1, no problem.

How to force a downgrade? When trying to install core/kernel26, I got a lot of messages saying I already have the latest version.

Any hints? Thank you.

If you still have a previous version in /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ then it is as easy as doing
  pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/kernel26-2.6.X-i686.pkg.tar.gz

dbolgheroni

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2008-02-09

Posts: 16

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

I have an old Thinkpad R31.  It kept freezing with kernel 2.24x.  Since I downgraded to 2.6.23.14-1, no problem.

How to force a downgrade? When trying to install core/kernel26, I got a lot of messages saying I already have the latest version.

Any hints? Thank you.

If you still have a previous version in /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ then it is as easy as doing
  pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/kernel26-2.6.X-i686.pkg.tar.gz

Shit, I already ran 'pacman -Scc'.

Thank you anyway.

marxav

Member

From: Gatineau, PQ, Canada

Registered: 2006-09-24

Posts: 386

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

You maybe able to find some "archived" kernels if you do a search on the forum.  Good luck

arunvragh

Member

Registered: 2007-04-17

Posts: 111

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

I have the same problem. It is an upstream issue with kernel 2.6.24 and the kernel 2.6.25 in testing. Pl see http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=43932

The latest kernel at kernel.org 2.6.25.1 addresses this issue. I have compiled a custom kernel and it now works without a freeze. I used the 173.08 beta drivers from NVIDIA. I have had no issues for the last 48 hours. It is no an archlinux issue, It is more intense on x86_64 systems.

attila

Member

Registered: 2006-11-14

Posts: 293

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

@dbolgheroni Instead of other suggestions here i have had some little problems with the nvidia driver 173.08 and i start using the patches for 169.12 from http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=110088. After this all runs stable as before unpatched with kernel 2.6.24. Have you take a view to the output of glxinfo mainly if "direct rendering" is "Yes"?

Flash be from my view in seldom cases still again very much cpu intensive and i think this has more to be with flash. Firefox consume a lot of memory with the default settings and i suggest that you search for some optimizing hints. But this all could be only sideeffects.

dav7

Member

From: Australia

Registered: 2008-02-08

Posts: 674

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

Rather than poke at video drivers, I recommend you do something a little different: Don't use X.

Just live in the console for an hour, and soak test whether your system locks up.

Also, tip: when X freezes, it locks the display, mouse and keyboard since it hooks them at the hardware level (I think)... but it does not actually lock the system up! With this knowledge in mind, ssh to your laptop from another machine (assuming you have another one... if you don't, ringing a friend to ssh to your box for you comes to mind, lol) and kill X from there. If ssh doesn't respond (you aren't asked for a pass), I'm completely wrong and you do indeed have a locked up laptop.

-dav7

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floke

Member

Registered: 2007-09-04

Posts: 266

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

Since 2.6.25 is only in testing - can't you just comment it out in your pacman.conf, run a -Syu and reinstall 2.6.24 from core?

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

Rather than poke at video drivers, I recommend you do something a little different: Don't use X.

Just live in the console for an hour, and soak test whether your system locks up.

Also, tip: when X freezes, it locks the display, mouse and keyboard since it hooks them at the hardware level (I think)... but it does not actually lock the system up! With this knowledge in mind, ssh to your laptop from another machine (assuming you have another one... if you don't, ringing a friend to ssh to your box for you comes to mind, lol) and kill X from there. If ssh doesn't respond (you aren't asked for a pass), I'm completely wrong and you do indeed have a locked up laptop.

-dav7

There's an easier way: switching virtual consoles - if X locks up you should still be able to do that.

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freakcode

Member

From: São Paulo - Brazil

Registered: 2007-11-03

Posts: 410

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key

finferflu

Forum Fellow

From: Manchester, UK

Registered: 2007-06-21

Posts: 1,899

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

Interestingly I had a lot of headaches with a problem like that on Ubuntu at some point, even though I can't recall which version I was using. I remember having those freezes every time I installed XFCE and used it for a couple of days. The interesting bit is that even when I managed to type "top" (just before the freeze) I could see no process using 100% of the CPU. I never understood what the problem really was. However my video card was an ATi Radeon 7500. Quite an old lappy.

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dbolgheroni

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2008-02-09

Posts: 16

Website

Re: Arch freezing TOO much

Hi,

I downgraded to core/kernel26 (2.6.24-ARCH) and problems seems to have gone. Firefox (and think the main problem while running 2.6.25) is no more running hogging all my CPU. I don't realize what was happening though, but it must be a kernel problem.

Thank you.