[RV360] System crashes 50% of time on boot on 'Rage Theatre setting standard 0x0000

[tyrolian]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-driver-ati

Hardy crashes about 50% of the time at a certain point in the boot process. After the splash screen, the screen goes blank and the system just freezes. There is no mouse cursor and I can't get a console to come up. I usually have to hit reset to start over.

The other 50% of the time Hardy gets passed this point and works beautifully. All the features in Compiz-Fusion work and it seems to run with 3D acceleration enabled.

I spent a lot of time fooling around with BIOS settings and changing Xorg.conf before I realized the crashes were random. Nothing I changed made it crash less often.

This might be a hardware problem because it seems to crash more often when the system is cold. On the other hand, MS Windows starts without any problems.

I have been saving good and bad Xorg.0.log files. It always crashes on the same line "(II) RADEON(0): Rage Theatre setting standard 0x0000".

Motherboard: ASUS A8V-Deluxe
Video Card: ATI 9600XT
Monitor: NEC LCD Multisync 1810
Hardy 8.04 is installed from the alternate disk. I am currently running the non-proprietary drivers but (before I did a second clean install) I ran the proprietary drivers with pretty much the same behavior. It did run a little faster though.

Previously I had lots of problems with bad screen settings and boot problems using Gutsy and Hardy Beta on this system. See: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/19195 . Now it is actually a pleasure to use even with the random boot failures.
[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8T800Pro Host Bridge [1106:0282]
     Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:80a3]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 AR [Radeon 9600] [1002:4152]
     Subsystem: ATI Technologies Inc Device [1002:4772]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Thanks for reporting this bug and attaching necessary files. Can you try to collect a full backtrace on this issue? - see http://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Backtracing for directions on how to do this. It may be tricky to do since it occurs during boot, but if you can do it, it will be the _best_ way to narrow down what's wrong.

[tyrolian (dfyler)]

I finally got a backtrace of a crash but I am not sure it what you want. The attached file is the output from a remote computer. The sick computer was having a bad day and was crashing every time. I had to start it in recovery mode and drop to a root shell prompt. I then connected the remote computer using ssh and ran Xorg with gdb.

On a good day, running 'Xorg' results in a grey screen with a large X for a mouse cursor and nothing else. I assume this is normal. On a bad day (and when the backtrace was recorded) it results in a crash that looks the same as my normal boot crash.

I hope this is what you are looking for. Let me know if I should try anything else.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hmm, looks like it's just in an idle loop, so maybe the trace won't be of use, but I think enough's been done we can forward it upstream at least.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. In the development cycle for Intrepid there have been some vast improvements in the open source ati video driver and we could use your help testing them. Could you please download the latest Alpha CD image of Intrepid and test this particular bug just using the Live CD? You can find the latest image at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . Your testing can help make Ubuntu and the open source ati driver even better! Thanks in advance.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Based on the description of the symptoms, it sort of sounds like this might be caused by an incorrect AGPMode setting, which is relevant when DRI is enabled. You should test if changing this makes the issue go away. In your /etc/X11/xorg.conf set AGPMode to various values like this:

Section "Device"
   ...
   Option "AGPMode" "2"
EndSection

Possible values include 1, 2, 4, 8. You can see what it's currently set to by looking in /var/log/Xorg.0.log. It's worthwhile to test all four values even once you find one that works. If this takes care of it for you, we may be able to establish a quirk to set it for your hardware combo, if you can provide the following data:

  * AGPMode value(s) that work
  * Make/Model of laptop or motherboard
  * Output of lspci -vvnn
  * Is the system all factory hardware, or have any parts been replaced?
  * Is there an AGP Mode in the system BIOS?
    - If so, is it set to the factory default?

[tyrolian (dfyler)]

Sorry I did not get back sooner. My old e-mail address was not working.

I tried simply upgrading to the latest version on Intrepid (2.6.27-4 generic) and it will not boot. I get the following message:
{
The following error was encountered. You may need to update your configuration to solve this.
(EE) module ABI major version (0) doesnt match the servers version (1).
(EE) failed to load the module "dri" (module requirement mismatch,0).
}
It looks like some file is missing and I assume this is an unrelated problem.

I then tried booting from the Intrepid Live CD and I get about the same behavior as Hardy-Heron. If the computer is warmed up for several hours it boots up nicely with apparently full graphics. If it is cold, the computer locks up just before the login screen should appear.

AGP Settings:
 There are several AGP settings in the BIOS: AGP Mode (8 or 4), AGPFastWrite (on or off), Graphic Apeture Size, AGP 3.0 Calibration Cycle, DBI Output for AGP Trans, MPS Revision (1.1 or 1.4), and PCI Delay Transaction. I have tried many variations of these settings in the BIOS and have not seen any change in behavior. Right now they are all on default settings.

Motherboard:
 ASUS A8V Deluxe.

System:
 The computer was made up of separately purchased components about 3.5 years ago and is used mostly under windows without much problems. I added 1 GB of memory recently and tried running Hardy Heron with just the new memory but this did not fix the problem.

Included is the results of "lspci -vvnn" when running the Intrepid Live CD. I will try doing a clean install of Intrepid.

Let me know if I should test anything else. This seems like a good testbed since I can reliably make the crash happen or not.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=19946)
Xorg.0.log from a hung session

[Problem]
Occasional hang during X start on ATI 9600XT card, after line "(II) RADEON(0): Rage Theatre setting standard 0x0000".

This issue was reported initially against Hardy, but still occurs on Intrepid as of 9-27-2008 (-ati 1:6.9.0+git20080826.a3cc1d7a-2ubuntu3).

[Original Reoprt]
Hardy crashes about 50% of the time at a certain point in the boot process. After the splash screen, the screen goes blank and the system just freezes. There is no mouse cursor and I can't get a console to come up. I usually have to hit reset to start over.

The other 50% of the time Hardy gets passed this point and works beautifully. All the features in Compiz-Fusion work and it seems to run with 3D acceleration enabled.

I spent a lot of time fooling around with BIOS settings and changing Xorg.conf before I realized the crashes were random. Nothing I changed made it crash less often.

This might be a hardware problem because it seems to crash more often when the system is cold. On the other hand, MS Windows starts without any problems.

I have been saving good and bad Xorg.0.log files. It always crashes on the same line "(II) RADEON(0): Rage Theatre setting standard 0x0000".

Motherboard: ASUS A8V-Deluxe
Video Card: ATI 9600XT
Monitor: NEC LCD Multisync 1810
Hardy 8.04 is installed from the alternate disk. I am currently running the non-proprietary drivers but (before I did a second clean install) I ran the proprietary drivers with pretty much the same behavior. It did run a little faster though.

Previously I had lots of problems with bad screen settings and boot problems using Gutsy and Hardy Beta on this system. See: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/19195 . Now it is actually a pleasure to use even with the random boot failures.

[lspci]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 AR [Radeon 9600] [1002:4152]
 Subsystem: ATI Technologies Inc Device [1002:4772]
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 64 (2000ns min), Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
 Region 0: Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
 Region 1: I/O ports at e000 [size=256]
 Region 2: Memory at fbe00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
 Expansion ROM at fbd00000 [disabled] [size=128K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel modules: radeonfb

[Discussion]
We had the user experiment with some different AGP settings in BIOS and xorg.conf but none of the changes tested produced a change in behavior.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Created an attachment (id=19947)
gdb output during hang

We also had the user collect a backtrace, although it looks like it's just stuck in a wait loop (no surprise given the issue is a hang). I'm including it anyway just in case it might be of some use.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi tyrolian,

I've gone ahead and forwarded this issue upstream to https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18299. Could you please subscribe to that bug in case upstream wishes additional information or has something for you to test? Thanks ahead of time.

[agd5f (agd5f)]

Created an attachment (id=19962)
disable gatos code

It looks like this card has a tv tuner on it. Can you confirm? The tuner setup is idling the drawing engine which is failing sometimes for some reason (maybe an ordering issue). If you don't use the tuner, this patch will disable it and should avoid the problematic case. Unfortunately, the gatos video in code is unmaintained at the moment.

[tyrolian (dfyler)]

Hi, I posted the original bug. Yes, this card does have a TV tuner. I will try disabling gatos. It never worked anyway.

I have since updated to the release version of Intrepid. It now refuses to start the fglrx driver and gives the error "Failed to allocate CMM buffer". It is able to recover, however, and boots up in the generic driver. Several other people are getting this error:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fglrx-installer/+bug/287413

Interestingly this person has an Asus K8V Deluxe motherboard and an ATI 9800XT AGP video card. I have an Asus A8V Deluxe motherboard and an ATI 9600XT AGP video card. Maybe gatos is causing both these problems.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Don, please note that -fglrx bugs are not handled in this bug tracker. We must only focus on the -ati issue in this report.

[tyrolian (dfyler)]

Sorry, I got my drivers confused. The first time Intrepid fails it defaults to the vesa driver and there is no obvious way to get back to the ati driver. I had to add 'Driver "ati"' to xorg.conf. It now hangs just like it did in Hardy except now it fails most of the time instead of half the time.

I was able to apply the patch in comment #2 but I cannot get xf86_video_ati to build and install. Is there instructions for doing this somewhere? Thanks.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi tyrolian, are you still experiencing this bug on Jaunty? Any luck with the patch from upstream so far?

[Von (daaxix)]

I am seeing this in Jaunty with various xorg configurations, but only when I have my TV plugged in through S-Video out instead of a monitor, or concurrent with the monitor. If it is not plugged in the theatre module is not loaded. Whenever the theatre module is loaded it crashes (from the xorg.0.log) at the "(II) RADEON(0): Rage Theatre setting standard 0x0000" line.

I am trying the AGPMode settings now.

Please request info if you would like more.

This is with a Radeon 7200 with video in/out.

[tyrolian (dfyler)]

I upgraded this system to Karmic 9.10 and it has not crashed at all for the last month. The ATI driver seems to be working because Compiz works with the extras turned on. It still picks some crazy screen mode that my monitor can barely display during the boot cycle but it comes up fine when it is finished.

 This system with Ubuntu is very usable now. I would consider this bug resolved.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notification.]

Hi tyrolian,

This bug was reported against an earlier version of Ubuntu, can you
test if it still occurs on Lucid?

Please note we also provide technical support for older versions of
Ubuntu, but not in the bug tracker. Instead, to raise the issue through
normal support channels, please see:

    http://www.ubuntu.com/support

If you are the original reporter and can still reproduce the issue on
Lucid, please run the following command to refresh the report:

  apport-collect 229799

If you are not the original reporter, please file a new bug report, so
we can work with you as the original reporter instead (you can reference
bug 229799 in your report if you think it may be related):

  ubuntu-bug xorg

If by chance you can no longer reproduce the issue on Lucid or if you
feel it is no longer relevant, please mark the bug report 'Fix Released'
or 'Invalid' as appropriate, at the following URL:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/229799

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

closing as fixed, thanks.