[i945] xserver crashes at random on Asus eeepc 901, user returned to login screen

[Jan Sundman]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-intel

output from lsb_release -rd:

Description: Ubuntu jaunty (development branch)
Release: 9.04

output from apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-video-intel:

xserver-xorg-video-intel:
  Installerad: 2:2.6.1-1ubuntu3
  Kandidat: 2:2.6.1-1ubuntu3
  Versionstabell:
 *** 2:2.6.1-1ubuntu3 0
        500 http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Expected result:
I can use my eeepc 901 witout being afraid data will get lost.

Actual result:

I find my Asus eeepc 901 crashing at seemingly random intervals, it can take a couple of minutes or a couple of hours and it happens even when I have no special gnome desktop appications running. What happens is that the screen suddenly just goes black and I find myself at the login screen.

I am using jaunty with the latest updates, but this problem also occurred when using ubuntu 8.10.

When I look at the logs (syslog) I can see the following entries at the exact time of the crash:

Mar 1 10:28:28 lappiz ntpdate[3955]: step time server 91.189.94.4 offset -2.675594 sec
Mar 1 10:28:45 lappiz kernel: [ 124.281258] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 14(14) BSS returned, data->length = 1597
Mar 1 10:29:25 lappiz kernel: [ 164.280260] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 12(12) BSS returned, data->length = 1391
Mar 1 10:29:57 lappiz kernel: [ 197.148901] [drm:i915_get_vblank_counter] *ERROR* trying to get vblank count for disabled pipe 0
Mar 1 10:29:57 lappiz gdm[3312]: WARNING: gdm_slave_xioerror_handler: Fatal X error - Restarting :0
Mar 1 10:29:58 lappiz NetworkManager: <info> (ra0): device state change: 8 -> 3
Mar 1 10:29:58 lappiz NetworkManager: <info> (ra0): deactivating device (reason: 38).
Mar 1 10:29:58 lappiz NetworkManager: <info> ra0: canceled DHCP transaction, dhcp client pid 3867
Mar 1 10:29:58 lappiz NetworkManager: <WARN> check_one_route(): (ra0) error -34 returned from rtnl_route_del(): Sucess
Mar 1 10:29:58 lappiz gdm[3312]: Mount of private directory return code [0]

What more information can I provide to ease solving this problem?

BR,

Jan

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.6.1-1ubuntu3
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=sv_FI.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersion: Linux version 2.6.28-8-generic (buildd@rothera) (gcc version 4.3.3 (Ubuntu 4.3.3-3ubuntu5) ) #26-Ubuntu SMP Wed Feb 25 04:28:54 UTC 2009
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-intel
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-8-generic i686

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub [8086:27ac] (rev 03)
     Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:830f]
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27ae] (rev 03)
     Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:830f]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi jan-sundman,

Could you please collect a full backtrace from when this crash occurs? Directions on collecting full backtraces are at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Backtracing

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Jan Sundman (jan-sundman)]

I haven't been able to get a backtrace when the problem occurs, but I provide the syslog and kern.log for a date when this occurred.

[Jan Sundman (jan-sundman)]

kern.log

[MrAuer (mr-auer)]

I can confirm this. Similar X crash has happened at least about ten times on my 901, running Ubuntu-Eee 8.04.1 with Array.org kernel. Does not matter if I run compiz or not. Usually I get back to login screen after the crash. A few times it has resulted in a total lockup, with sound repeating a short stutter as well - sometimes sound keeps playing normally but the whole machine freezes. Sometimes Ctrl-Alt-Sysctl-and commands to sync, unmount and boot do work, sometimes I need to hold the powerbutton to shutdown.

Ive looked at logs and only thing I could find was a message from GDM about a generic X crash, no other info. I cant get the logs now, I will post them the day after tomorrow when Im home. At first I suspected Pulseaudio, but Ive now removed it, and the crashes have since happened without any audio apps open too. Usually like above - when I click on something or refresh a page or open a new one in Firefox or Opera. Doesnt matter if the page has Flash elements or not. Sometimes the crash happens after several hours, sometimes sooner.

I spent quite a while looking for similar reports and seems that a few people have experienced this. Id also look into the video driver for possible causes - I read elsewhere that this same behaviour exists also with 8.10 and Ubuntu stock kernel, as well as Jaunty alphas. Kernel log had no entries at the time of the crashes.

I have had a couple similar crashes with Eee 701, same software setup, as well, but I havent yet looked at the 701s logs.

Ill try to get back to this soon and post any relevant logs. Do ask if theres anything more I can clarify. This is a pretty annoying issue :/

Thanks and regards.

[MrAuer (mr-auer)]

Okay, here is the kern.log from my latest crash.
I havent had time to do backtrace or install it on this computer yet, Ill see if I can do that later.
Could this bug at least be marked important? It is rather severe - X can fail at any arbitrary time, and its happened about a dozen times at least now. Disrupts workflow nastily :/

I included the time and date (european format) in the filename for easy finding.

Also discussed in this topic on Eee Forums (they link to this bug report in the last messages) -
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=54055

[MrAuer (mr-auer)]

"Kernel log had no entries at the time of the crashes." I was referring to the hard locks with this, when X simply crashes and restarts, in my kern.log there is something odd going on at the time mentioned.

Heres the syslog entries at that same time, 11th of 3. 2009.

Mar 11 10:56:35 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 2075.671671] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 4(4) BSS returned, data->length = 431
Mar 11 10:56:40 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 2079.407443] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 4(4) BSS returned, data->length = 431
Mar 11 10:58:45 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 2173.022740] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 6(6) BSS returned, data->length = 655
Mar 11 10:58:50 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 2176.761597] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 6(6) BSS returned, data->length = 655
Mar 11 10:59:02 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 2185.860393] compiz.real[5783]: segfault at 03870287 eip 08055a80 esp bfa60bc0 error 4
Mar 11 10:59:02 Nokkalaama gdm[5411]: WARNING: gdm_slave_xioerror_handler: Fatal X error - Restarting :0

Attached the whole log file syslog.0

[MrAuer (mr-auer)]

Seems Compiz segfaulted there too?

[MrAuer (mr-auer)]

I now installed Xubuntu Jaunty on my Eee pc 901 after having had crashes described in bug linked above.
At first I thought everything was ok, but today X has crashed twice, screen goes black, gdm restarts and Im back at the login screen. Seemingly at random.

Snippet from syslog:

Apr 27 23:59:44 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 4370.303321] [drm:i915_get_vblank_counter] *ERROR* trying to get vblank count for disabled pipe 0
Apr 27 23:59:44 Nokkalaama gdm[3011]: WARNING: gdm_slave_xioerror_handler: Fatal X error - Restarting :0
Apr 27 23:59:46 Nokkalaama acpid: client connected from 7350[0:0]
Apr 27 23:59:47 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 4373.932997] [drm:i915_setparam] *ERROR* unknown parameter 4
Apr 27 23:59:47 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 4373.934549] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
Apr 27 23:59:49 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 4375.319637] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6

kern.log:
Apr 27 23:12:24 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 1530.143499] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
Apr 27 23:34:13 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 2839.118634] EXT2-fs warning: mounting unchecked fs, running e2fsck is recommended
Apr 27 23:59:44 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 4370.303321] [drm:i915_get_vblank_counter] *ERROR* trying to get vblank count for disabled pipe 0
Apr 27 23:59:47 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 4373.932997] [drm:i915_setparam] *ERROR* unknown parameter 4
Apr 27 23:59:47 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 4373.934549] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
Apr 27 23:59:49 Nokkalaama kernel: [ 4375.319637] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6

Ill see about doing a backtrace tomorrow. I havent done that before and dont have the programs installed.

[PLDaniels (pldaniels)]

Same problems here on my wife's Asus B202 (Atom, intel 945GME). Problems didn't start until a couple of days ago when she ran the "updates". Completely intermittent, sometimes hours between events, sometimes seconds.

Running Ubuntu 8.10 with the default desktop setup.

Conversely, my own B202 running 8.10 and now 9.04 with Fluxbox (instead of GNOME/Metacity) is running fine.

[MrAuer (mr-auer)]

Yesterday I downgraded the Intel driver package only to Intrepids version xserver-xorg-video-intel-2.4 , howto here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReinhardTartler/X/RevertingIntelDriverTo2.4

I have now had the eee pc 901 running for 18 hours, and it hasnt yet crashed the X. I even installed Compiz to try it out and it worked too, albeit a little slow (Hardy with Compiz was lots smoother). Uninstalled it after trying, XFCE with its built in compositing is enough - have that on now. Ill see if the crashes happen again later or if the older driver helps.

[nop (010101b)]

I have the same issue on Ubuntu 9.04 with array.org kernel and xserver-xorg-video-intel-2.4