Hard lock when module e1000 in use

[Alexander Hunziker]

When I am using wireless connectivity (but with the module e1000 loaded), hardy runs for me for days without hardlocking. As soon as I switch to wired connection using the module e1000, the computer freezes after a few hours. It's then in a state where absolutely nothing can be done anymore (ctrl+alt+backspace, ctrl+alt+delete, SysRq combindations all won't help) except cold booting.

As to in which situation the bug occurs, I don't know. If I observe anything, I'll report more.

[drivinghome (drivinghome)]

same issue here. It happens on a Thinkpad T60p and it's definitely related to the kernel (xen included). I've also tried the 2.6.24.16-xen kernel on a debian lenny system and it freezes in a matter of hours.

[David Jansen (bw-dorfelite)]

same issure here. Thinkpad T60 using 2.6.24-19-generic kernel. It's kinda random when the system freezes, but nearly every time when the ethernet device is under heavy load e.g. copying large files in LAN (1gb at 4mb/s++) but it freezes too if I just use another system as internet gateway but is takes much longer then (2-5 hours).

[bugmenot (bugmenot)]

Same issue here for me (i386 2.6.24-19-generic) and a colleague of mine (x86_64 2.6.24-19-generic), both using a Thinkpad X60 Tablet and Ubuntu Hardy. Usually happens under heavy network load. Nmap scans crash the machines fairly reliably.

[bugmenot (bugmenot)]

Using the latest e1000e driver from http://e1000.sourceforge.net/doku.php appears to fix the issue for both me and my colleague.

[David Jansen (bw-dorfelite)]

I can confirm "bugmenot" suggestion, using the latest e1000e (e1000e-0.2.9.5) driver does fix the issue.
(btw the e1000e driver shipped with Hardy didn't work for me, it didn't accept my NIC)

[Alexander Hunziker (alex-hunziker)]

Confirm that upstream e1000e works, also the one recently released. Can you consider releasing that as an update to Hardy - hardlocking is not what an LTS release should do.

[claus (claus2)]

I use this nic:
lspic -nn
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller [8086:109a]

The e1000 driver from Hardy freezes my notebook after some time. Can be triggered with network load.

I can confirm that the e1000e driver from Hardy does not work for my card: The module can be loaded but there is no eth0 after loading.

I am currently using the e1000e driver from sourceforge which works fine.

[Henning Sprang (henning)]

Same issue here - since I started to migrate from Debian Etch to Ubuntu , I have these freezes on a regular(say: daily, 8-hourly) basis.
Makes me go back to Debian soon.

As reported here that the same effects are happening on Debian: yes, I vaguely remember, when I tried to use a newer (> 2.6.2X) kernel on Debian, I had similar problems - one, if not the main reason why I migrated to Ubuntu was I thought I'd be able to use newer kernels (and therefore things like KVM virtualization).

[claus (claus2)]

Package seems to be "linux"
apt-file search /lib/modules/2.6.24-19-generic/kernel/drivers/net/e1000/e1000.ko
linux-image-2.6.24-19-generic: /lib/modules/2.6.24-19-generic/kernel/drivers/net/e1000/e1000.ko

[Henning Sprang (henning)]

Hmm, so the e1000e from sourceforge solves the crashing problems.
It's easily installed with an make install when I have the right header files.

But since I'm running it, Suspend to RAM seems not to work anymore.

Which means: the systems goes to sleep, but when trying to wake it up, it shows a black screen, with a blinking text cursors in the top left corner, and nothing else ever happens again (the longest time I did wait was about 15 minutes).

[Alexander Hunziker (alex-hunziker)]

Henning, which version of the driver are you using (successfully suspending and resuming here with the 0.4.1.7 version)

Try to add e1000e to the MODULES variable in /etc/default/acpi-support to unload it before suspend.

[Henning Sprang (henning)]

On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 8:46 AM, Alexander Hunziker
<email address hidden> wrote:
> Henning, which version of the driver are you using (successfully
> suspending and resuming here with the 0.4.1.7 version)

Same here

> Try to add e1000e to the MODULES variable in /etc/default/acpi-support
> to unload it before suspend.

Hmm, seems to work! Thanks for the hint!

Henning

--
Henning Sprang
http://www.sprang.de | http://lazyb0y.blogspot.com/

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Juha Tiensyrjä (juha-tiensyrja)]

This bug seems to be fixed with 2.6.26 and 2.6.27 kernels. At least I haven't had a hard lock since I upgraded to Intrepid.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm tentatively marking this "Fix Released" for Intrepid. Alexander, since you are the original bug reporter, if this is not resolved for you with the newer kernel for Intrepid, feel free to flip the status back to "New". Thanks.

[Jonas Clemen Larsen (jclemen)]

I can confirm this bug on Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) with the latest updates installed (as of today). Reproduced on a IBM Thinkpad X60s (model 1704-3DU, BIOS version 2.17).

Doing network transfers of >5GB data seems to be a reliable way of triggering the lockup.

Manually building the latest e1000e module, using source from http://e1000.sf.net/ , and loading that instead of the Ubuntu shipped e1000 and e1000e modules resolved the issue on this system (used e1000e-0.4.1.7.tar.gz ).

[Jonas Clemen Larsen (jclemen)]

Changed status from 'Fix Released' to 'Confirmed', as this bug is not fixed in Hardy (please correct me if this is not the proper way of doing it).

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi All,

There is a serious bug which may affect some people subscribed to this report so I wanted to pass along the information. Due to an unresolved bug in the e1000e driver in the 2.6.27 Linux kernel, this driver/kernel should not be used on Intel ethernet hardware supported by the e1000e driver (Intel GigE). Doing so may render your network hardware permanently inoperable.

Older Intel ethernet hardware which uses the e1000 driver is not affected by this; however, some hardware which used the e1000 driver in previous Ubuntu releases, such as hardware that uses a PCI Express bus, has been moved from e1000 to e1000e in the latest kernel releases. If in doubt, do not use this driver/kernel and subscribe to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/263555 to be notified when the bug is fixed.

Thanks.

[schmolch (saschaheid)]

Why is there no fix for Hardy?
I cannot update to Intrepid because of other serious bugs there (intel-video this time).

[BeigeGenius (beigegenius)]

This is similar to problem I encounter in hardy using e1000e. However I only experience a hard lock up when my laptop changes power source.

[BeigeGenius (beigegenius)]

Bugs #304428 and #306737 marked as duplicates as appear to be a re-appearance of this bug in ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex). A self made patch which reloads the e1000e module when the power source is changed has temporarily fixed this bug for me. However the side effect of this patch is that it disconnects the computer from the network briefly which will disrupt any downloads.

[Josh Hill (ingenium)]

I'm still having this issue on Jaunty (9.04). Under a heavier network load, the system hangs within a few minutes. Wireless is fine.

[Julian Wiedmann (jwiedmann)]

This release has reached end-of-life [0].

[0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases