LG LW70 Express laptop freezes intermittently with 8.04 and 8.10 and has no on-board sound.

[Ted Pritchard]

I've had major problems trying to get either 8.04 or 8.10 to work fault free on my daughter's laptop. Superficially it's a bog standard laptop with an Intel Pentium M 1.73Ghz processor, 1Gb of memory, an ATI X600 graphics card and 160 Gb hard drive. I've been working through various possibilities with Launchpad Help (see Question #66920) but besides being able to rule out possible causes, I haven't located the problem.

Initially I installed 8.04. The installation was uneventful but in operation 8.04 would intermittently freeze in a seemingly random fashion (holding down the "on" button or pulling the plug the only option to reboot).

Additionally I could get no sound from the onboard speaker (even during boot-up), but external speakers worked fine. I tried every suggestion in the Ubuntu official and community help pages without success.

Using Open Office Writer and text appearing on screen would suddenly (and randomly) differ from what was being typed. But delete the faulty text and it would again work as expected.

Initially I thought it could be due to: faulty install, overheating, a memory problem, a hard drive problem or something to do with the power management system as removing the battery and running off the charger seemed more stable (but alas not for more than 1 day). A 24hr memory check didn't reveal a problem and the hard drive check didn't throw up faulty sectors. The unit has been back to the technicians who have declared it in perfect working order, including the onboard speaker that worked perfectly when an alternative drive with XP loaded was connected.

As the PC is about 4 yrs old I thought maybe the issue was an intermittent fault with the hard drive, so a new one has been fitted.

A fresh install of 8.04 resulted in the same issues!

I then installed 8.10. It appeared to load normally but this time when the installation process reached the point where it says "installation finished - reboot" the system froze again. A second attempt to install 8.10 delivered the same result. I removing the installation disc and found that 8.10 had loaded and would boot satisfactorily off the hard drive. It appeared to work except - except this time the freezing was much more predicable.

System/shutdown/restart causes a freeze. Going to the red icon in the top RH corner however works perfectly!

I use Epiphany as a browser. Editing in Bookmarks intermittently causes the system to freeze. Within F-Spot, edit image will not show component toolbar or sidebar despite being selected.

And the inboard speaker continues not work.

Others suggested that maybe the problem resided with the CD/DVD player and that I should try a reinstall using 8.10's USB capability. This I did, but it didn't resolve the problems.

I then reformatted and installed XP Home without problem from the XP system disc. This was uneventful except that again I had no onboard sound until I ran the drivers disc. I noted that in the course of installing the sound driver, it loaded one then a sign came up saying it needed more MS software (unfortunately too quickly for me to note details), it loaded the software and on-board sound became available. XP Home works perfectly.

I then dual booted 8.10. It loaded OK and didn't freeze at the end of the installation process. XP Home continues to work without problem, but 8.10 continues to have the freezing problem, etc.

However this time it is repeatable and appears to be related to alerts and sound effects. For example Evolution loads OK but if mail is available on the server, it downloads the mail and then freezes. Holding down the delete button too long while editing often has the same effect.

Again System/Shutdown causes a freeze but clicking on the red "switch user or shut down" button (top RH corner) works satisfactorily.

Here are the details of my system:

suzi@suzi-laptop:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CMI9880 [CMI9880]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: CMI9880 Digital [CMI9880 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 6: Si3054 Modem [Si3054 Modem]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
suzi@suzi-laptop:~$ lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
 I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
 Memory behind bridge: b8100000-b81fffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: c8000000-cfffffff
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
 Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
 Memory at b8000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
 Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 04)
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
 I/O behind bridge: 00003000-00003fff
 Memory behind bridge: bc000000-bfffffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000d3ffffff
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
 Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 04)
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
 I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00004fff
 Memory behind bridge: c0000000-c3ffffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d4000000-00000000d7ffffff
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
 Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 04)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
 I/O ports at 1800 [size=32]
 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
 Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 04)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
 I/O ports at 1820 [size=32]
 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
 Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 04)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
 I/O ports at 1840 [size=32]
 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
 Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 04)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
 I/O ports at 1860 [size=32]
 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
 Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 04) (prog-if 20)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
 Memory at b8004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
 Kernel modules: ehci-hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d4) (prog-if 01)
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=06, subordinate=0a, sec-latency=216
 I/O behind bridge: 00005000-00005fff
 Memory behind bridge: c4000000-c40fffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000000050000000-0000000053ffffff
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 04)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
 Kernel modules: intel-rng, iTCO_wdt

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 04) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
 I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
 I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
 I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
 I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
 I/O ports at 1880 [size=16]
 Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
 Kernel modules: ata_piix

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 04)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
 I/O ports at 18e0 [size=32]
 Kernel modules: i2c-i801

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M24 1P [Radeon Mobility X600]
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
 Memory at c8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
 I/O ports at 2000 [size=256]
 Memory at b8100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
 [virtual] Expansion ROM at b8120000 [disabled] [size=128K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: fglrx_pci
 Kernel modules: fglrx, radeonfb

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 10)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 220
 Memory at bc000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 I/O ports at 3000 [size=256]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: sky2
 Kernel modules: sky2

06:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 16
 Memory at fedff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
 Bus: primary=06, secondary=07, subordinate=0a, sec-latency=176
 Memory window 0: 50000000-53fff000 (prefetchable)
 Memory window 1: 54000000-57fff000
 I/O window 0: 00005000-000050ff
 I/O window 1: 00005400-000054ff
 16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001
 Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
 Kernel modules: yenta_socket

06:00.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI7x20 1394a-2000 OHCI Two-Port PHY/Link-Layer Controller (prog-if 10)
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16
 Memory at c4004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
 Memory at c4000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: ohci1394
 Kernel modules: ohci1394

06:00.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCI7420/7620 Combo CardBus, 1394a-2000 OHCI and SD/MS-Pro Controller
 Subsystem: LG Electronics, Inc. Device 000e
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 57, IRQ 16
 Memory at c4005000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: tifm_7xx1
 Kernel modules: tifm_7xx1

06:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 1000
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 18
 Memory at c4006000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: ipw2200
 Kernel modules: ipw2200

suzi@suzi-laptop:~$

In view of what happened when loading the XP drivers it seems to me that Ubuntu might be finding the appropriate sound driver but is not locating a Ubuntu equivalent for that second bit of code that XP went looking for (my recollection was that it was something about the bus but I'm not certain).

The XP Home drivers are available in zip form from the LG download site http://au.lge.com/support/software.jsp.

Help with this would be much appreciated.

Ted

[Ted Pritchard (pritcharded)]

I have established that my freezing problem is definitely in some way connected to the sound alerts. If I turn off the sound alerts (via system/preferences/sound/play alerts & sound effects) then when Epiphany downloads mail, the system doesn't freeze. If I activate sound effects and Epiphany downloads, it immediately does freeze every time new mail is received.
Closing down via system/shutdown still causes the system to freeze.
I also note from the LG Manual the Audio Codec used for Windows is C-Media 9880L (Azalia). Could it be that C-Media 9880 (listed in my trace above) is an earlier and slightly different version to 9880L?

Ted

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.
Is this bug reproducible with the latest Lucid packages ?
Tanks in advance.

[Ted Pritchard (pritcharded)]

Fabio
This old PC is currently running 9.10 satisfactorily (except it still needs external speakers) but it's not mine and as its owner relies on it for work, she would prefer to leave this particular dog asleep (at least until she's next on holidays).
Regards, Ted

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

 Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage .

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport by using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs.

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

This bug report is being closed due to your last comment regarding this being fixed with an update. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.