Ubuntu GUI hangs often

[Michael Murphy]

Using Radeon HD 7950 with fglrx on a 1920x1200 screen. Firefox normally works, but sometimes when a window is launched it immediately locks up the entire interface. You cannot switch to another tty session after it has hung.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: firefox 20.0+build1-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-16.26-generic 3.8.5
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-16-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu5
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC3: mmstick 2314 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC2: mmstick 2314 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: mmstick 2314 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: mmstick 2314 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20130404201520
CRDA: Error: command ['iw', 'reg', 'get'] failed with exit code 1: nl80211 not found.
Channel: Unavailable
Date: Wed Apr 10 20:17:34 2013
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
 # interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-04-07 (3 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Alpha amd64 (20130402.1)
IpRoute:
 default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0 proto static
 169.254.0.0/16 dev eth0 scope link metric 1000
 192.168.1.0/24 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.50 metric 1
IwConfig:
 eth0 no wireless extensions.

 lo no wireless extensions.
MarkForUpload: True
PrefSources: prefs.js
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=20.0/20130404201520
RelatedPackageVersions:
 rhythmbox-mozilla 2.98-0ubuntu5
 totem-mozilla 3.6.3-0ubuntu4
RfKill:

RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 03/12/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1102
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: SABERTOOTH 990FX
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev 1.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1102:bd03/12/2012:svnTobefilledbyO.E.M.:pnTobefilledbyO.E.M.:pvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnSABERTOOTH990FX:rvrRev1.xx:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To be filled by O.E.M.

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

If you can't even switch vt, then that's not a Firefox bug

[Michael Murphy (mmstick)]

It only happens with Firefox, which the latest version of Firefox without any addons. It doesn't happen with chromium. Now that I have uninstalled Firefox, it no longer happens.

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hallo
As Chris said, Firefox is a victim, the problem is elsewhere.
Please reproduce the issue instaling the latest release of FF and add here as attachment the files:
/var/log/syslog
~/.xsession-errors
/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Apr 12 23:27:49 mmstick-PC kernel: [ 84.527791] ata6.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
Apr 12 23:27:49 mmstick-PC kernel: [ 84.527795] ata6.00: irq_stat 0x40000001
Apr 12 23:27:49 mmstick-PC kernel: [ 84.527798] sr 5:0:0:0: CDB:
Apr 12 23:27:49 mmstick-PC kernel: [ 84.527799] Test Unit Ready: 00 00 00 00 00 00
Apr 12 23:27:49 mmstick-PC kernel: [ 84.527807] ata6.00: cmd a0/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0
Apr 12 23:27:49 mmstick-PC kernel: [ 84.527807] res 51/20:03:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 Emask 0x1 (device error)
Hallo
If the system is installed on a hard disk then make a backup of important data because it is going bad and analyze it with some diagnostic tool like disks or others.
If instead is installed on a memory stick this can depend on the speed of the support.
Closing as hardware error
Thanks and feel free to reprot any other issue you may find.
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Michael Murphy (mmstick)]

That's an unrelated issue.

The log reads as follows: ata6.00: ATAPI: ATAPI iHBS112 2, PL05, max UDMA/100

ata6 is my optical drive which does not function in Linux. It only functions in Windows. I don't use my optical drive though, so if I unplug it, the errors disappear. Nonetheless, the hanging continues.

[Michael Murphy (mmstick)]

I've recently added the xorg edgers ppa to install all the latest fglrx drivers for my graphics card in Ubuntu. The default fglrx has a logo on the bottom right that reads "Unsupported Hardware." Going to see if it still hangs.

[Michael Murphy (mmstick)]

It still happens. However I was able to move to a different tty, kill lightdm, and launch lightdm from that terminal to get back in.

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hallo
If you want to investigate the problem you can follow this hints:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Bugs?action=show&redirect=DebuggingFirefox
or if you think that is a lightdm (/var/log/lightdm contains the logs) issue, reproduce it and open a new report running
ubuntu-bug lightdm
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Michael Murphy (mmstick)]

The problem is that I simply don't know. It hangs quite often, in various situations. Launching steam after steam crashes, opening a web link inside steam, playing a video in smplayer, playing a video in VLC, switching through playlist in either, clementine. Anything that invokes launching a window can potentially cause the hang.

[Michael Murphy (mmstick)]

I don't want to restart either because I run a lot of local and remote x264 encoding in different tty sessions. Killing lightdm and restarting it is the only way to unhang the GUI. I moved my critical batch encoding sessions to different tty sessions in case the GUI hangs and I need to restart lightdm, so it wouldn't harm them if it crashes.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.