Kernel Oops (NULL Pointer) in 2.6.28-12 (sysfs problem?)

[Aaron Roydhouse]

A range of kernel 'Oops' and eventually file system-failure crashes that seem to involve 'sysfs'.

One symptom was the 'CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor' quitting, and when re-started, quitting again immediately.

Looking at dmesg there is a kernel NULL pointer dereference 'Oops' for every time 'CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor' died.

Linux shim 2.6.28-12-generic #43-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 1 19:31:32 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I upgraded to the 'Ubuntu Proposed' 2.6.28-12 kernel from the standard 2.6.28-11 after experiencing daily GPU lock-ups, file system errors (auto remount read-only), and similar kernel Oops. This laptop was a rock-solid experience with Intrepid 8.10 but is sadly an unstable mess since upgrading to the Jaunty kernel and Jaunty Intel video driver. Wish there was an easy way to go back to 8.10!

---------------
[10292.832256] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000000
[10292.832269] IP: [<0000000000000000>] 0x0
[10292.832283] PGD 0
[10292.832288] Oops: 0010 [#1] SMP
[10292.832294] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
[...]
-----------------

Aaron.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
HibernationDevice: RESUME=/dev/mapper/shim-swap
MachineType: LENOVO 2776T8M
Package: linux-image-2.6.28-12-generic 2.6.28-12.43
ProcCmdLine: root=/dev/mapper/hostname-root ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-12.43-generic
SourcePackage: linux

[Aaron Roydhouse (aaron-roydhouse)]

In the last six hours had two more 'Oops's followed by wedges.

One time I inserted a USB stick, there was another 'Oops' and about 2 minutes last the entire system began wedging. Didn't seem to be able to write to the file system. Apps in memory and not writing to disk remain responsive. The 'Oops' is a attached, but I don't get much evidence from the wedge since the system can't write anything to the logs.

What appears to be in common is all the 'Oops' seem to related to 'sysfs'. From the info collected here could it be 'sysfs' causing all this grief? All of this grief appears to have arrive with Jaunty kernel, never seen anything like this with Intrepid.

---------------
[25352.636072] usb 2-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
[...]
[25357.816725] sdb: sdb1
[25357.927293] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[25357.927543] sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[25358.551129] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000010
[25358.551135] IP: [<ffffffff8041be4b>] rb_insert_color+0x3b/0x140
[25358.551146] PGD 7a5b9067 PUD 2509b067 PMD 0
[25358.551150] Oops: 0000 [#5] SMP
[25358.551154] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb2/2-4/2-4:1.7/net/usb0/statistics/collisions
----------------

[Aaron Roydhouse (aaron-roydhouse)]

I checked back through all the kernel logs in /var/log and found a total of 20 'Oops' starting from the day I upgraded from 8.10 to 9.04. Every ones of them mentions 'sysfs'. It that expected anyway, or is that an interesting coincidence?

May 3 17:26:03 shim kernel: [ 3517.858836] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 4 00:24:34 shim kernel: [24363.552407] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 4 00:49:23 shim kernel: [25852.333643] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 6 22:48:28 shim kernel: [108520.336274] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1:1.0/0003:045E:00E1.0003/uevent
May 8 10:16:32 shim kernel: [24259.582055] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 9 22:32:49 shim kernel: [ 8958.487213] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 9 22:33:30 shim kernel: [ 8999.842492] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/virtual/net/vmnet8/statistics/collisions
May 9 22:33:30 shim kernel: [ 8999.843124] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/virtual/net/vmnet8/statistics/collisions
May 9 22:33:30 shim kernel: [ 8999.843585] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/virtual/net/vmnet8/statistics/collisions
May 9 22:33:30 shim kernel: [ 8999.892928] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/virtual/net/vmnet8/statistics/collisions
May 9 23:45:04 shim kernel: [13293.296298] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 9 23:45:04 shim kernel: [13293.296520] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 9 23:45:04 shim kernel: [13293.296816] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 10 03:02:55 shim kernel: [ 953.060322] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 10 13:55:33 shim kernel: [10292.832294] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
May 10 13:55:34 shim kernel: [10294.471740] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
May 10 14:43:23 shim kernel: [13163.469951] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
May 10 14:45:16 shim kernel: [13276.470053] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
May 10 18:06:39 shim kernel: [25358.551154] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb2/2-4/2-4:1.7/net/usb0/statistics/collisions

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

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. I have classified this bug as a bug in linux.
For future reference you might be interested to know that a lot of applications have bug reporting functionality built in to them. This can be accessed via the Report a Problem option in the Help menu for the application with which you are having an issue. You can learn more about this feature at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Aaron Roydhouse (aaron-roydhouse)]

Brian, this bug was associated with the 'linux' package which the FindRightPackage said was the right package for kernel bugs.

I looked for a more specific package, like 'sysfs' but couldn't find one. I did find 'sysfsutils' but that appeared to be a userland rather than kernel package.

If anyone can point to be a more appropriate package than 'linux' for a kernel/sysfs bug please do let me know.

Aaron.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

"linux" is the appropriate package for this and similar bugs.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Triaged a while ago but has not had any updated comments for quite some time. Please let us know if this issue remains in the current Ubuntu release, http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . If the issue remains, 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.]

[Aaron Roydhouse (aaron-roydhouse)]

I haven't been getting this problem with the later Ubuntu 9.04 releases.

Currently using this kernel with the latest sysfs:
Linux shim 2.6.28-18-generic #59-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 28 01:40:19 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[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.]

[Whit Blauvelt (whit-launchpad)]

Just saw this on a 10.04 system, but with a vanilla kernel 2.6.35.2 from source. So it may still be an upstream kernel bug. Looked like this:

Aug 25 17:13:30 xxx kernel: [159044.622651] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000048
Aug 25 17:13:30 xxx kernel: [159044.622662] IP: [<ffffffffa0467369>] cifs_show_options+0xf9/0x480 [cifs]
Aug 25 17:13:30 xxx kernel: [159044.622685] PGD 10e54f067 PUD 110f6b067 PMD 0
Aug 25 17:13:30 xxx kernel: [159044.622693] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP
Aug 25 17:13:30 xxx kernel: [159044.622699] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
Aug 25 17:13:30 xxx kernel: [159044.622707] CPU 0
Aug 25 17:13:30 xxx kernel: [159044.622710] Modules linked in: nls_cp437 cifs binfmt_misc ipt_MASQUERADE iptable_nat nf_nat bridge stp kvm_amd kvm x
Aug 25 17:13:30 xxx kernel: i e1000e ieee1394 pata_via sata_via tulip

... and then everything went unstable

[ciiccii (theguns)]

I got this 2 times today after upgrade to 2.6.35.4 on a vanilla kernel and on a latest zen kernel.

Sep 5 02:31:28 xxx kernel: [102492.076461] BUG: unable to handle kernel paging request at 000000090002020c
Sep 5 02:31:28 xxx kernel: [102492.076469] IP: [<ffffffffa05e76a3>] _nv020283rm+0xa/0x3e [nvidia]
Sep 5 02:31:28 xxx kernel: [102492.076739] PGD 10884d067 PUD 0
Sep 5 02:31:28 xxx kernel: [102492.076743] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
Sep 5 02:31:28 xxx kernel: [102492.076748] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
Sep 5 02:31:28 xxx kernel: [102492.076752] CPU 1
Sep 5 02:31:28 xxx kernel: [102492.076753] Modules linked in: nls_iso8859_1 nls_cp437 vfat fat hidp binfmt_misc rfcomm ipt_MASQUERADE iptable_nat nf_nat sco nf_conntrack_ipv4 nf_defrag_ipv4 bnep xt_state nf_conntrack l2cap ipt_REJECT xt_tcpudp iptable_filter ip_tables x_tables bridge stp kvm_intel kvm deflate twofish twofish_common aes_x86_64 aes_generic cast5 des_generic sha256_generic pata_jmicron af_key ipv6 nvidia(P) snd_hda_codec_realtek snd_emu10k1_synth snd_emux_synth snd_seq_virmidi snd_seq_midi_emul snd_hda_intel snd_emu10k1 snd_ac97_codec snd_hda_codec ac97_bus snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_pcm snd_page_alloc snd_util_mem snd_hwdep usbhid snd_seq_dummy snd_seq_oss usb_storage snd_seq_midi snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event psmouse snd_seq snd_timer snd_seq_device snd btusb hid serio_raw jmicron soundcore bluetooth i2c_core intel_agp r8169 mii
Sep 5 02:31:28 xxx kernel: [102492.076824]

and

Sep 6 00:54:01 xxx kernel: [80454.012801] ------------[ cut here ]------------
Sep 6 00:54:01 xxx kernel: [80454.012807] kernel BUG at fs/jbd2/checkpoint.c:771!
Sep 6 00:54:01 xxx kernel: [80454.012810] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
Sep 6 00:54:01 xxx kernel: [80454.012815] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
Sep 6 00:54:01 xxx kernel: [80454.012818] CPU 1
Sep 6 00:54:01 xxx kernel: [80454.012820] Modules linked in: nls_iso8859_1 nls_cp437 vfat fat hidp binfmt_misc rfcomm ipt_MASQUERADE iptable_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack_ipv4 nf_defrag_ipv4 xt_state nf_conntrack ipt_REJECT sco bnep xt_tcpudp iptable_filter l2cap ip_tables x_tables bridge stp kvm_intel kvm deflate twofish twofish_common aes_x86_64 aes_generic cast5 des_generic sha256_generic af_key ipv6 nvidia(P) pata_jmicron snd_hda_codec_realtek snd_hda_intel btusb snd_emu10k1_synth snd_emux_synth snd_seq_virmidi snd_seq_midi_emul snd_hda_codec bluetooth snd_seq_dummy snd_seq_oss snd_emu10k1 snd_seq_midi snd_ac97_codec ac97_bus snd_rawmidi snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_seq_midi_event snd_pcm snd_seq snd_seq_device usbhid hid usb_storage psmouse serio_raw snd_timer snd_util_mem snd_hwdep snd i2c_core jmicron intel_agp soundcore snd_page_alloc r8169 mii
Sep 6 00:54:01 xxx kernel: [80454.012893]