Yelp and Firefox cause desktop freeze in RC1

Bug #14809 reported by O
This bug report is a duplicate of:  Bug #13530: nvidia-glx crashes/lockups. Edit Remove
12
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Ubuntu
Invalid
Critical
Daniel Stone

Bug Description

After browsing a random number of pages in either application the whole desktop
locks up. The pointer can still be moved around but that's about it. In Firefox,
some sites are more likely to cause the lockup, http://sourceforge.net being
very reliable in this respect. Turning the computer off with the power-button
(the one on the front off the case) works, and after a new boot everything runs
smoothly 'til I try some more browsing. Running other apps seems to work just
fine. The problem is new to me and occured right after upgrading.

I have un- and reinstalled both Yelp and Firefox, being careful to reinstall all
the packages (I think Ubuntu desktop is one of them) that Synaptic automatically
uninstalls together with Yelp, but to no avail.

I have an Intel P4 CPU and use the i686 kernel. The only packages not in the
Ubuntu repositories that I have installed are printer drivers for canon i850
(converted from .rpm using alien) and the gstreamer lame-encoder. My system is
up-to-date except for gstreamer and openoffice, which I have locked to earlier
versions.

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

is the desktop only frozen ? Can you switch to a console with ctrl-alt-F2 ? is
your cursor a normal one ?

Revision history for this message
O (olofsundstrom) wrote :

(In reply to comment #1)
> is the desktop only frozen ? Can you switch to a console with ctrl-alt-F2 ? is
> your cursor a normal one ?

Everything is frozen, both app-windows and desktop. Neither clicking menus and
icons, nor using keyboard-shortcuts works (including ctrl-alt-F2). As I wrote,
the arrow-pointer can be moved around, but in Firefox, where the freeze usually
occurs when a page is loading, the small progress-clock attached to the arrow
stops turning. The arrow looks normal, the cursor I don't know since I can't
open any text-editing apps nor terminals.

I have two KDE apps instaled (K3B and KDirStat), but they were there some time
before the freezing started (which was yesterday), and they are not running when
it happens.

The most serious problem I had before this was maybe a week ago. I have a
machine set up for dual-boot with Windows XP (4 partitions: NTFS 35GB/ext3
32GB/linux swap 3GB/FAT32 42GB), using GRUB. After a normal Synaptic update (I
don't remember what was updated but I think there was a question somewhere along
the way whether I wanted to keep or reject a change in a gdm configuration
file), the boot-process was interupted at different points every time I tried to
start the computer (and I did it a lot of times). Sometimes not even the
boot-screen would appear, the only thing to be seen was a line saying "Operating
system not found". After booting from a Knoppix LiveCD, mounting the partitions,
reading some files (but not writing), and then turning the computer off, Ubuntu
was back to normal again. The whole experience was very confusing and probably
not relevant to bug 14809.

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

I've not idea on the issue but that's not a GNOME issue for sure, maybe a kernel
one ...

Revision history for this message
O (olofsundstrom) wrote :

(In reply to comment #1)
> is the desktop only frozen ? Can you switch to a console with ctrl-alt-F2 ? is
> your cursor a normal one ?

Another thing I just noticed: Usually when I turn the computer off the console
appears briefly. When I turn it off using System -> Log out -> Shut down there
is some scrolling text, just like when booting. When I turn it off using the
power button there is a static screen full of text with a blinking cursor at the
bottom. But after a freeze the only way to turn the computer off is the power
button, and there is no text, no cursor, just a black screen. It takes about the
same amount of time anywhichaway I do it though.

Revision history for this message
Matt Zimmerman (mdz) wrote :

So when it is frozen, you can still move the mouse pointer, but not click on
anything?

Revision history for this message
O (olofsundstrom) wrote :

(In reply to comment #5)
> So when it is frozen, you can still move the mouse pointer, but not click on
> anything?

That's right!

Revision history for this message
Matt Zimmerman (mdz) wrote :

A misbehaving application can cause this...it doesn't seem like a kernel problem
since the system is still "alive".

Does Control+Alt+Backspace have any effect?

Revision history for this message
O (olofsundstrom) wrote :

(In reply to comment #7)
> A misbehaving application can cause this...it doesn't seem like a kernel problem
> since the system is still "alive".
>
> Does Control+Alt+Backspace have any effect?

Noops, not whatsoever. I tried it several times and gave the strokes some time
to take effect. I tried all the ctrl+alt+F-keys and a few others too, without
really knowing what they're supposed to do, but nothing happens.

The only good thing about this is that it's so easy to make it happen.
http://sourceforge.net does it everytime and instantly. http://www.dn.se and
several other sites do it after some clicking around. Same thing with Yelp.
Since it doesn't happen only when visiting a specific site, and effects the
desktop as well, and with at least one app that doesn't connect to the internet
at all, I guess it's not a matter of an interupted internet connection but
something else. Thunderbird and Synaptic both download as they should.

Revision history for this message
Daniel Stone (daniels) wrote :

What sort of video hardware are you using? If nVidia or ATI, are you using
their proprietary drivers? Can you please post your /var/log/Xorg.0.log,

Revision history for this message
O (olofsundstrom) wrote :
Download full text (30.1 KiB)

Here it is:

X Window System Version 6.8.2 (Ubuntu 6.8.2-9 20050402083823
<email address hidden>)
Release Date: 9 February 2005
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.8.2
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.10 i686 [ELF]
Current Operating System: Linux Ubuntu 2.6.10-5-686 #1 Fri Apr 1 16:48:32 UTC
2005 i686
Build Date: 02 April 2005
 Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.X.Org
 to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
OS Kernel: Linux version 2.6.10-5-686 (buildd@rothera) (gcc version 3.3.5
(Debian 1:3.3.5-8ubuntu2)) #1 Fri Apr 1 16:48:32 UTC 2005 T
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
 (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
 (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Mon Apr 4 10:10:36 2005
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) ServerLayout "Default Layout"
(**) |-->Screen "Default Screen" (0)
(**) | |-->Monitor "SyncMaster"
(**) | |-->Device "NVIDIA Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400]"
(**) |-->Input Device "Generic Keyboard"
(**) Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
(**) XKB: rules: "xorg"
(**) Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
(**) XKB: model: "pc105"
(**) Option "XkbLayout" "se"
(**) XKB: layout: "se"
(==) Keyboard: CustomKeycode disabled
(**) |-->Input Device "Configured Mouse"
(WW) The directory "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic" does not exist.
 Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID" does not exist.
 Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) `fonts.dir' not found (or not valid) in
"/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID".
 Entry deleted from font path.
 (Run 'mkfontdir' on "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID").
(**) FontPath set to
"unix/:7100,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi,/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
(==) RgbPath set to "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
(==) ModulePath set to "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
(WW) Open APM failed (/dev/apm_bios) (No such file or directory)
(II) Module ABI versions:
 X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.2
 X.Org Video Driver: 0.7
 X.Org XInput driver : 0.4
 X.Org Server Extension : 0.2
 X.Org Font Renderer : 0.4
(II) Loader running on linux
(II) LoadModule: "bitmap"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/fonts/libbitmap.a
(II) Module bitmap: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
 compiled for 6.8.2, module version = 1.0.0
 Module class: X.Org Font Renderer
 ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.4
(II) Loading font Bitmap
(II) LoadModule: "pcidata"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libpcidata.a
(II) Module pcidata: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
 compiled for 6.8.2, module version = 1.0.0
 ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 0.7
(++) using VT number 7

(II) PCI: PCI scan (all values are in hex)
(II) PCI: 00:00:0: chip 8086,1a30 card 110a,0087 rev 03 class 06,00,00 hdr 00
(II) PCI: 00:01:0: chip 8086,1a31 card 0000,0000 rev 03 class 06,04,00 hdr 01
(II) PCI: 00:1e:0: chip 8086,244e card 0000,0000 rev 12 class 06,04,00 hdr 01
(II) PCI: 00:1f:0: chip 8086,2440 card 0000,0000 rev 12 class 06,01...

Revision history for this message
O (olofsundstrom) wrote :

(In reply to comment #9)
> What sort of video hardware are you using? If nVidia or ATI, are you using
> their proprietary drivers? Can you please post your /var/log/Xorg.0.log,

It seems I'm not the only one who's had this problem, judging from recent posts
in the forums.

I tried suggestions by xander in
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=23388&highlight=xorg.conf and the
device section of my xorg.conf now reads:

Section "Device"
 Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400]"
 Driver "nvidia"
 BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
        Option "RenderAccel" "false"
        Option "NvAGP" "1"
        Option "NoLogo"

I have absolutely no idea of what this does to other parts of the system, but
the problems I reported have disappeared for now at least.

Revision history for this message
Daniel Stone (daniels) wrote :

This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 13530.

Revision history for this message
R E Broadley (bugzilla-ubuntu-com) wrote :

*** Bug 15058 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Revision history for this message
R E Broadley (bugzilla-ubuntu-com) wrote :

(In reply to comment #4)
> (In reply to comment #1)
> > is the desktop only frozen ? Can you switch to a console with ctrl-alt-F2 ? is
> > your cursor a normal one ?
>
> Another thing I just noticed: Usually when I turn the computer off the console
> appears briefly. When I turn it off using System -> Log out -> Shut down there
> is some scrolling text, just like when booting. When I turn it off using the
> power button there is a static screen full of text with a blinking cursor at the
> bottom. But after a freeze the only way to turn the computer off is the power
> button, and there is no text, no cursor, just a black screen. It takes about the
> same amount of time anywhichaway I do it though.

This sounds identical to what I am experiencing. I don't think this bug is the
same one as described in 7183. Can someone please say why they are being marked
as the same bug? As I mentioned in my original bug report (now linked to this
one), this also happens with the NV drivers, not just the NVIDIA drivers. Bug
13530
seems to be specifically about the NVIDIA drivers as the cause.

Revision history for this message
R E Broadley (bugzilla-ubuntu-com) wrote :

Raised severity to Critical - as this does cause the whole system to crash.

Revision history for this message
R E Broadley (bugzilla-ubuntu-com) wrote :

I'll update 7183 with the comments from these two bugs instead - just hope we're
not merging two different bugs into one.

This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 13530.

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