Asus 1225C crashes constantly with (L)Ubuntu 13.04

[der_vegi]

I have a problem with the Asus 1225C and several variants of Ubuntu 13.04 (and I have to hurry up writing this, before it crashes again): Daily-live images (last one tested was from two days ago) as well as Lubuntu 13.04 Beta1 crash during boot from USB in 3 out of 4 tries: I get the very simple Grub menu and when I select "Try...", the screen turns black for a while without the possibility to set language etc. After a while, the startup screen for (L)Ubuntu shows. But most of the time (3 out of 4), the moving dots will stop at some point and the computer freezes. No chance to switch to tty1 or anything. When I do finally get into X, chances are good, that it crashes within the next 5 minutes, at least for Ubuntu with Unity. Ubuntu 12.04 and 12.10 run stable on this machine (though Unity is incredibly slow in 12.10 due to lacking graphics acceleration).

I think this is a graphics problem of the "Intel Corporation Atom Processor D2xxx/N2xxx Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)" at the kernel level. Any chance that I can provide any error logs from my crashing liveusb?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: linux-image (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-12.21-generic 3.8.2
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.9.1-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: lubuntu 3322 F.... lxpanel
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'iw'
CasperVersion: 1.330
Date: Sat Mar 23 14:09:36 2013
LiveMediaBuild: Lubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Alpha amd64 (20130311.1)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. 1225C
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 psbfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/username.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.8.0-12-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.8.0-12-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.104
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/06/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 214
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: 1225C
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr214:bd07/06/2012:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pn1225C:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rn1225C:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: 1225C
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.9 kernel[0] (Not a kernel in the daily directory) and install both the linux-image and linux-image-extra .deb packages.

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-rc4-raring/

[der_vegi (m-may)]

Okay, installing the mainline kernel under my 12.10 installation works, the machine does not crash. I am now trying to build a 13.04 liveusb with the mainline kernel and will tell you about the results there.

[der_vegi (m-may)]

Is there any convenient way to install the mainline kernel on a live USB disk? Using Ubuntu Customization Kit failed...

[der_vegi (m-may)]

Okay, I installed the mainline build kernel 3.9-rc4 in the Ubuntu 12.10 running on that machine. This works, but so does the kernel 3.8.0.15.30 from the raring repositories.
Then, I tried the daily-live 20130328 again: Still the same. The first two tries, the Asus 1225C hang during boot, the third time I got a desktop, but then it instantly froze. The same live-usb works flawlessly on my other computer.

So maybe this is not a kernel-only issue? Is there any way, I can do further tests without having to install the daily-live on my system? I don't want to overwrite my current installation...

[der_vegi (m-may)]

Still there with Ubuntu 13.04 beta2: I do not see the screen, where I can select language etc., it is black instead. Most of the times, it will stay black, with the liveusb failing to boot. Sometimes, the machine does boot and if it is successful, it seems to be quite stable.

[der_vegi (m-may)]

And again, still present in Ubuntu 13.04 final (amd64): The computer booted flawlessly 6 times into the livecd, but when shutting down the last time, it froze stilly being in Unity. The next two times, it crashed already during boot.

This is something, I already realized the last times: When the computer crashes once, the probability is much higher, that it crashes the next boot, as well. Booting into Lubuntu 12.10 worked without a problem.

Maybe this is related to the Intel graphics driver? This is obviously still not working properly in 13.04, as Unity is incredibly slow, making the computer practically unusable with this desktop.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[penalvch (penalvch)]

der_vegi, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please just make a comment to this.

[der_vegi (m-may)]

Sorry, I cannot test that computer any more, as I got rid of it. I was tired of fighting with the bad linux support and - additionally - the bad quality of the hardware itself.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

der_vegi, this bug report is being closed due to your last comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1159140/comments/11 regarding you no longer have the hardware. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.