[GMA X4500HD] Video mode changes freeze system

[Nikolaus Rath]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-intel

On average every second video mode change completely freezes my system. The screen just stays blank and the system is completely unresponsive. The keyboard leds are not changing when pressing Caps or NumLock and ssh access into the system times out. A soft power down does not work either, the only way to shut down the computer is to press the power button for several seconds.

The behaviour can be triggered by starting X11, resuming from hibernation, switching to a text console, or switching to a different user in X11.

I'm using Intrepid on a Dell Vostro 220s with GMA X4500HD onboard graphics.

[Nikolaus Rath (nikratio)]

This is the log for a sucessfull startup. The failed ones do not produce any logfiles.

[Nikolaus Rath (nikratio)]

This is the log for a sucessfull startup. The failed ones do not produce any logfiles.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

This is sounding more like a kernel freeze than X, since ssh is unavailable.

If you still suspect X for some reason, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/Freeze

[Nikolaus Rath (nikratio)]

Well, it certainly only happens when X11 is started, but on the other hand it clearly freezes the kernel too. So I don't know if this is better filed as a kernel or X11 bug.

[Nikolaus Rath (nikratio)]

I just found out that I can also reproduce the problem by switching users.

[Nikolaus Rath (nikratio)]

Architecture: i386
Dependencies:

DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
Package: linux None [modified: /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux.list]
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
Uname: Linux 2.6.27-11-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin audio cdrom dialout dip floppy fuse lpadmin plugdev sambashare video

[Jeppester (jeppester1)]

I'm having the same issue with the following mainboard: Asus p5q-vm, using the G45-ICH10 chipset, and X4500HD integrated graphics.

The freeze occurs both in 9.04 and 9.10, and it renders the system completely unrespondable.

The behaevior in 9.04 follows the patterns below:

The system freezes about 7 out of 10 times when booting. The freeze always happens while the system is loading the hardware drivers.

If I get past "Loading hardware drivers" the system is stable, and can be used for days without freezes.

Recovery mode works fine, and it's possible to log in as root to check the logfiles. The only thing I get from them though, is that the system crashes while "Loading hardware drivers", I can get the same output at boot by removing usplash.

In 9.10 I'm unable to even make it to the login prompt. Either the system crashes under the splash screen, or it crashes when starting gdm. Recovery mode doesn't work neither, so I'm pretty much unable to get any output.

In both 9.10 and 9.04 the filesystem gets corrupted after a couple of freezes. In 9.04 I can fix this by running fsck in recovery mode and reboot (untill the corruption happens again after a couple of freezes). In 9.10 I'm unable to fix the corruption since I can't boot in recovery mode.

Both the live-CD for 9.10 and for 9.04 boot without any problems.

Since the freeze makes the computer completely unusuable, buying the mainboard was a complete wast of money.

[Ivan Jekic (the-edge)]

I experienced the same symptoms as the original poster, but it was the BIOS setting that caused Ubuntu to freeze/behave odd! In BIOS there's a setting about onboard graphic card initialization. Change it from "always onboard" to "PCI", even though you don't have another graphic card!

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Nikolaus,

Please be sure to confirm this issue exists with the latest development release of Ubuntu. ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/lucid . If the issue remains, please run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 355743

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

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

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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