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General => Users => Topic started by: colinjones on January 11, 2009, 01:16:20 am

Title: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 11, 2009, 01:16:20 am
Occasionally (sometimes once per day, other times it can go for several days) my core locks up completely, keyboard LEDs flashing. Have to reset the box completely...

I have noticed in dmesg some errors which are obviously related. They tend to happen some time before the lock up and obviously the kernel eventually falls over. But I have noticed the last few all seem to be complaining about Photo Screen Saver particularly.. Can anybody shed any light on what might be causing this?

[28100.604000] Bad page state in process 'Photo_Screen_Sa'
[28100.604000] page:c15cb7e0 flags:0x40000000 mapping:00000000 mapcount:-1 count:0
[28100.604000] Trying to fix it up, but a reboot is needed
[28100.604000] Backtrace:
[28100.604000]  [<c01628d3>] bad_page+0x63/0xa0
[28100.604000]  [<c01635f3>] get_page_from_freelist+0x343/0x3a0
[28100.604000]  [<c016369f>] __alloc_pages+0x4f/0x340
[28100.604000]  [<c0122786>] try_to_wake_up+0x46/0x480
[28100.604000]  [<c0172e3d>] anon_vma_prepare+0x1d/0xe0
[28100.604000]  [<c0165d66>] __pagevec_lru_add_active+0xb6/0xd0
[28100.604000]  [<c016d457>] __handle_mm_fault+0x8c7/0xb00
[28100.604000]  [<c017b123>] add_partial+0x13/0x40
[28100.604000]  [<c01032d6>] __switch_to+0x176/0x1d0
[28100.604000]  [<c02f1f8a>] schedule+0x2ca/0x890
[28100.604000]  [<c02f5b36>] do_page_fault+0x126/0x690
[28100.604000]  [<c02f5a10>] do_page_fault+0x0/0x690
[28100.604000]  [<c02f4292>] error_code+0x72/0x80
[28100.604000]  =======================
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: hari on January 11, 2009, 01:21:48 am
ouch
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: daballiemo on January 11, 2009, 10:00:40 am
Colin,

don't know about any software issues, but I presume you have run fsck, memcheck etc to make sure its not coming out of the hardware.

rgds

Han
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 11, 2009, 10:17:12 am
fsck just happens to have run yesterday, no issues. Haven't run any memory check yet, but I think it is indicative that it only seems to happen for the one process.. PSS... I guess that could either be a bug in the code generally, or perhaps a particular photo is triggering an arcane bug? esp. given the rescaling function that was recently added...
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: hari on January 11, 2009, 10:24:17 am
do you run the nvidia binary driver? Revert to vesa to see if it keeps stable.

br, Hari
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: Afkpuz on January 12, 2009, 03:36:29 am
2 possibilities: 

1.) Hardware compatibility
2.) Thermal



Check temps, then try swapping out parts.  Main things are mobo and video card that cause incompatibility.  I got hard lock up about the same frequency as you and putting a new motherboard in fixed it.
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 12, 2009, 03:54:00 am
Will have a think about using vesa - but I'm concerned it will be unusably slow (how slow is it, hari?)

Its not compatibility, the same hardware has been running very successfully for over a year. I have checked heat before, and it runs well below the critical temperatures, but I will take another look to make sure something hasn't changed - but again, I point out that it is the same process failing each time. Although PSS runs most of the time, and that statistically increases the likelihood of a "random" hardware issue effecting that process repeatedly, there are dozens of other processes that run all the time as well... wish I could find a clear explanation of that the error message means generally. If its just memory management getting pages mixed up/page tables corrupted then it is extremely unlikely to be hardware, but if it is the hardware memory mapping CAM or such like, then very likely to be hardware... hmmm
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: Zaerc on January 12, 2009, 04:54:28 pm
It could even be "bit-rot" on the HD (granted, not very likely) maybe try reinstalling the pluto-photo-screen-saver package and see if that makes any difference: sudo apt-get --reinstall pluto-photo-screen-saver (from memory).
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: hari on January 12, 2009, 06:56:19 pm
i vote for:

1.) bad hardware (most likely mainboard, maybe memory)
2.) binary module going havoc (less likely in that area of the kernel, but who knows)
3.) bug in the vm subsystem (very unlikely)

I'd say vesa is fast enough for a test :-)

br, Hari
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: skeptic on January 12, 2009, 07:30:20 pm
+1 vote for hardware. 
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: Marie.O on January 12, 2009, 07:47:00 pm
Put a fan into the case to blow fresh air onto your nvidia card.

Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: totallymaxed on January 12, 2009, 07:48:09 pm
Will have a think about using vesa - but I'm concerned it will be unusably slow (how slow is it, hari?)

Its not compatibility, the same hardware has been running very successfully for over a year. I have checked heat before, and it runs well below the critical temperatures, but I will take another look to make sure something hasn't changed - but again, I point out that it is the same process failing each time. Although PSS runs most of the time, and that statistically increases the likelihood of a "random" hardware issue effecting that process repeatedly, there are dozens of other processes that run all the time as well... wish I could find a clear explanation of that the error message means generally. If its just memory management getting pages mixed up/page tables corrupted then it is extremely unlikely to be hardware, but if it is the hardware memory mapping CAM or such like, then very likely to be hardware... hmmm

I think the suggestion of using vesa mode was purely to allow a test of your hardware... not intended for permanent use etc.

Andrew
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 12, 2009, 11:16:54 pm
Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! I will try the vesa thing first and run it for a few days (that should also help with heat on the video card as it won't be doing the graphics acc)

Thanks Zaerc for the tip on reinstalling PSS, that's exactly the type of thing I would like to eliminate..
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: indulis on January 13, 2009, 03:46:51 am
If you are worried about the HD having problems you can also install the smart tools which allow monitoring and self-test of the disks.  I can't remember if they are installed/activated by default.

Code: [Select]
apt-get install smartmontools
More info here http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983 (http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983)
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 13, 2009, 04:11:49 am
All - before I can use apt-get install for either the smartmontools or to reinstall PSS I have to resolve a dependency issue.

I recently got a SqueezeBox Boom, and as a result of it being incompatible with the existing streamer, I had to go through a process of upgrading to SqueezeCentre. This has left my dependencies a bit screwed up. So now if I try to issue any apt-get install commands it comes back with:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  pluto-slim-server-streamer: PreDepends: slimserver but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
linuxmce@dcerouter:/etc/pluto$ man apt-get

The dependencies indicate that is it still using slimserver when in fact it is really using squeezecenter (Zaerc did squeezecenter make it into the alpha1?)

I would like just to be able to override this check/failure for now and go ahead with the install/reinstall I want to do - how can I do this? I really don't want to 1) mess around with the dependencies or 2) accidentally install/uninstall a component at this stage because I can't remember how I got squeezecenter hooked into the system in the first place! So just getting it to ignore this problem temporarily would be great!
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: Marie.O on January 13, 2009, 10:26:36 am
(Zaerc did squeezecenter make it into the alpha1?)

I ain't Zaerc, but yes, the latest alpha contains support for the latest Logitech Squeezeboxes, as we have changed the port of the plugin to the default port of the squeezeboxes.

rgds
Oliver
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 13, 2009, 10:40:04 am
phew! thx possy, that'll make it much easier when I rebuild for the betas :)
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: Marie.O on January 13, 2009, 10:41:20 am
phew! thx possy, that'll make it much easier when I rebuild for the betas :)

Could you give me a link to the beta's ;)
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 13, 2009, 10:44:40 am
was a loaded statement ;)
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: Zaerc on January 13, 2009, 11:49:16 am
The easiest way to get out of the current dependency-hell that you're stuck in, I reckon would be to create a dummy slimserver .deb package and install it.  Unfortunately I cannot reach my notes on how to do that at the moment, try googling for "equivs" (iirc). 
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 15, 2009, 03:58:44 am
Zaerc - seems to be a catch 22! You have to install equivs and this triggers the same problem (and others):

linuxmce@dcerouter:~$ sudo apt-get install equivs
[sudo] password for linuxmce:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  equivs: Depends: debhelper (>= 4) but it is not going to be installed
          Depends: devscripts but it is not going to be installed
          Depends: fakeroot but it is not going to be installed
  pluto-slim-server-streamer: PreDepends: slimserver but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
linuxmce@dcerouter:~$
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: Zaerc on January 15, 2009, 04:27:52 am
I'll see if I can wrestle up a dummy package for you tomorrow.
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 15, 2009, 05:03:22 am
Thanks Zaerc - how will I install it? Can I override using a dpkg command or something?
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: Zaerc on January 15, 2009, 12:45:17 pm
Now that you mention it, try downloading the equivs package manually and install it with dpkg directly, which would go something like this:

wget -c 'http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu/pool/universe/e/equivs/equivs_2.0.7_all.deb'
dpkg -i equivs_2.0.7_all.deb

Or maybe you prefer another mirror (http://packages.ubuntu.com/gutsy/all/equivs/download) to download it from.
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 15, 2009, 12:51:48 pm
hmm damn! Not sure what happened, seems like it installed but didn't configure...

linuxmce@dcerouter:~$ sudo dpkg -i equivs_2.0.7_all.deb
Selecting previously deselected package equivs.
(Reading database ... 111976 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking equivs (from equivs_2.0.7_all.deb) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of equivs:
 equivs depends on debhelper (>= 4); however:
  Package debhelper is not installed.
 equivs depends on devscripts; however:
  Package devscripts is not installed.
 equivs depends on fakeroot; however:
  Package fakeroot is not installed.
dpkg: error processing equivs (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 equivs


Any thoughts?
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: Zaerc on January 15, 2009, 01:42:44 pm
Well, dpkg doesn't try to automatically resolve dependencies like apt-get does, so I'm afraid you'll have to download and install those manually too.  Normally an apt-get install -f could solve them afterwards.  This page might help a bit to locate them: http://packages.ubuntu.com/gutsy/equivs

They don't call it dependency hell for nothing.  :-\

If I wasn't so busy at the moment I would have generated the dummy for you already, but right now I have a few other things I need to take care of first. 
Title: Re: LMCE keeps hard locking....
Post by: colinjones on January 16, 2009, 12:33:50 am
no no I don't want you to help me any more than you already have... don't want your attention distracted from the "bigger issues" at the moment .... (how long til beta do you think? :) )

thx for the pointers, will start looking through this and work it out.