[Asus X401A1] System slows/chugs/stutters then freezes when physical memory is low kswapd0

[Zachary Dea]

Sometimes the mouse on my 13.10 laptop starts skipping, the system would become unresponsive, then completely lock up, and only a power off would restore it.

Another time this started happening, I closed some apps right away and the system stayed alive. I was watching top while this happened and kswapd0 is active and my 2GB physical memory is low prior to the system grinding to a halt. I'm operating on a sata3 SSD, with 2GB swap space which was hardly used.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: linux-image-3.11.0-19-generic 3.11.0-19.33
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-19.33-generic 3.11.10.5
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-19-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: zdea 1817 F.... pulseaudio
Date: Fri Mar 28 21:05:30 2014
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=57e76561-68f3-44c5-b029-a0ac3cf31a65
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-01 (27 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
MachineType: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. X401A1
MarkForUpload: True
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-19-generic root=UUID=20063a7b-33e9-4c0d-a5e6-2dc154ed8552 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.11.0-19-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.11.0-19-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.116.2
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/20/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: X401A1.211
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: X401A1
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.:bvrX401A1.211:bd08/20/2012:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnX401A1:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnX401A1:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: X401A1
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Zachary Dea, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. Could you please confirm this issue exists with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ . If the issue remains, could you please just make a comment to this.

If reproducible, could you also please test the latest upstream kernel available (not the daily folder) following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-3.14-rc8

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[Zachary Dea (zdea)]

Chris,

I downloaded that image you linked and loaded it onto a usb stick and tested it that way (a little wary of direct installing it at first, it not being a final release).. however it did use the local swap space on the same drive and I was able to get kswapd0 to become active so I assumed that would be a reasonable starter test... I wasn't able to reproduce it with that release! the system did become slow when I drove it out of memory... and I did see a few seconds of mouse stutter however it never locked up permanently. Several of the applications I was using to drive up memory usage became greyed out as they became temporarily unresponsive but they returned to me and the system never locked up. I'm a little sad about the performance low performance of the whole situation however not locking up is a big plus and maybe if the applications themselves never need data on a medium as slow as a usb2 key it will not hit the brick wall quite so much... on the other hand, maybe the speed with which the ssd responded to data requests of unswapped applications will cause the issue itself...

Another variable to consider might be that I did not enable the compiz cube on the usb2 14.04 beta environment... which maybe contributes to the issue.

Anyway... I will reload the laptop shortly with the new code base and see what happens. If I continue to be unable to reproduce it in 14.04...should I update any particular tags? you mentioned specific actions based on "upstream" but no particular actions for 14.04 test unless I missed it.

Thanks very much for the time and assistance.

Zach

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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