wvdial upgrade causes system crash with ltmodem

[Jim Dunlap]

Binary package hint: wvdial

I upgraded initially using aptitude which led to a complete freeze while upgrading wvdial. I rebooted and tried the same (update by aptitude then dpkg --configure -a) from console which led once more to a locked up system.

[Jim Dunlap (syedburns)]

upgraded severity due to system lockup

[wilderness wanderer (jdmfilter-spam)]

<aol> ME TOO! </aol>

[SteveGotthardt (gotthardt)]

Just tossing in that I hard lock on initial synaptic update and also configure -a on A22p thinkpad. Had to hold power button to reboot.

[Diego Cortassa (diego-cortassa)]

Same here on a Dell Inspiron 8000 with Dapper with last updates.

Did some debug:

the problem arise wen dpkg configures the package running "/var/lib/dpkg/info/wvdial.postinst" this script runs "wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf".

Running a "sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf" manually locks the compuer again:

---------------------------------------
[999] diego@caladan ~> sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

Editing '/etc/wvdial.conf'.

Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

Modem Port Scan<*1>: Scanning ttyLTM0 first, /dev/modem is a link to it.

---------------------------------------
and the computer freezes again.... LT modem dirver seems to be the problem...

Bye
Diego.

[Wolfgang (wt-lists)]

Upgrade on my installation does not lead to "freeze", but the update process idles 'till I kill the "wvdialconf" process.

A manual start of "wvdial /etc/wvdial.conf" brings the following output:
root@kisterl:~# wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf
Editing `/etc/wvdial.conf'.

Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 2400 baud, next try: 9600 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 9600 baud, next try: 115200 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- and failed too at 115200, giving up.
ttyS1<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 2400 baud, next try: 9600 baud
ttyS1<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 9600 baud, next try: 115200 baud
ttyS1<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- and failed too at 115200, giving up.
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S10 S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S18 S19 S20 S21 S22 S23 S24 S25
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S26 S27 S28 S29 S30 S31 S32 S33
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S34 S35 S36 S37 S38 S39 S40 S41
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S42 S43 S44 S45 S46 S47
WvModem<*1>: Cannot get information for serial port.

The process sits there and eats up CPU untill I kill the process... This is the output of "ps -ef"
root 8490 8227 87 13:03 pts/1 00:23:41 wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

[Fabian Köster (maestro-alubia)]

Same problem here.

[Kurt (e-mail-elmar-boos)]

Dell Ispirion 8100 - same Problem

[Casey Greene (casey-s-greene)]

Inspiron 8000, same issue.

[Fabian Köster (maestro-alubia)]

Oh, can it be a dell problem? I am using a Dimension 8300

It has a lot of Intel-standard components. I think it is a Intel 875P mainboard with Intel ICH5 Chipset. I do not really know what wvdial does but it seems to search for modems, doesn't it? As far as I know my mainboard does not have any modem-chips on it...

[dresnu (dresnu)]

I had the same issue on a Compaq Evo n610c. I solved it(temporarily?) by running "sudo dpkg -r wvdial".

[Macknal (mark-mcnally)]

Not that it matters, but experienced the exact same problem as the original poster. except that it successfully installed after dpkg --configure -a. Also if the ltserial module is not loaded, wvdial simply displays errors relating to a modem not existing. If ltserial is loaded, wvdial and wvdialconf both cause my system to freeze. I'm forced to cold boot.

[Macknal (mark-mcnally)]

I failed to mention in my earlier report that I'm not using a DELL. I have an AMD Athlon 900 MHz on an ASUS mobo with 704 MB.

[gnomnain (gnomnain)]

I had the same issue on a Compaq Evo n610c too and I solved it the same way. But I needed to remove ubuntu-desktop.

[Simon Law (sfllaw)]

Hello people!

Can you run the following command in a terminal and write down the
output for this bug?

$ sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

It really sounds like a driver that doesn't like what WvDial is sending to
it.

Also, a copy of /var/log/udev attached to this bug would be superb!
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bug/46685/+addattachment

Thanks!

[gnomnain (gnomnain)]

I had the same issue on a Compaq Evo n610c too and I solved it the same way. But I needed to remove ubuntu-desktop.

[gnomnain (gnomnain)]

oups sorry for my last comment. I don't know what I did.

Sorry, I can't run wvdialconf because I removed this package.

[Jim Dunlap (syedburns)]

As requested

[Jim Dunlap (syedburns)]

wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf
Editing `/etc/wvdial.conf'.

Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

Modem Port Scan<*1>: Scanning ttyLTM0 first, /dev/modem has a link to it.

...and there is where it hangs. I had to write down the output and manually reset from there.

I've included a copy of /var/log/udev.

[Simon Law (sfllaw)]

Jim,

Could you please also run:

$ sudo strace wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

And write out the last five lines of output?

I'm sorry to have you copy things by hand.

Thanks.

[Diego Cortassa (diego-cortassa)]

Hi Simon,

Running "sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf" freezes the computer after outputting this:
---------------------------------------
[999] diego@caladan ~> sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

Editing '/etc/wvdial.conf'.

Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

Modem Port Scan<*1>: Scanning ttyLTM0 first, /dev/modem is a link to it.

---------------------------------------

here is my /var/log/udev attached !

Bye
Diego.

[Jim Dunlap (syedburns)]

wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf
Editing `/etc/wvdial.conf'.

Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

Modem Port Scan<*1>: Scanning ttyLTM0 first, /dev/modem has a link to it.

...and there is where it hangs. I had to write down the output and manually reset from there.

I've included a copy of /var/log/udev.

[Simon Law (sfllaw)]

This bug is almost certainly related to bug 41991.

WvDial is tickling something in that driver. We need to
isolate what that would be.

[Jim Dunlap (syedburns)]

I don't know what the deal is with the multiple posting. I apologize.

As for the handwriting, no worries: it's just a disclaimer if I get something wrong in the transcription.

$ sudo strace wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

open("/var/lock/LCK.. ttyLTM0", O_RDWR | O_NONBLOCK | O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_LARGEFILE, 0644)=4
fcntl64(4, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0
getpid() = 5548
write(4, 5548\n", 11) = 11
close(4) = 0
open("/dev/tty/LTM0", O_RDWR | O_NONBLOCK | O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_LARGEFILE

...and there it hangs.

[Diego Cortassa (diego-cortassa)]

On my laptops keeps printing the same sequence many times and hangs:
------------------------------------------------------
$ sudo strace wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf
[..... Scrolled out content.....]
nanosleep({0, 1000000}, NULL) = 0

waitpid(6235, 0xbf914d94, WNOHANG) = 0

read(4, 0xbf914e24, 1) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)

nanosleep({0, 1000000}, NULL) = 0

waitpid(6235, 0xbf914d94, WNOHANG) = 0

read(4, 0xbf914e24, 1) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)

nanosleep({0, 1000000}, NULL) = 0

waitpid(6235, 0xbf914d94, WNOHANG) = 0

read(4, 0xbf914e24, 1) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)

nanosleep({0, 1000000},
[HANGS]
------------------------------------------------------

I googled for the problem, seems like it is known :

http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/archive-fifth/msg04918.html

[wilderness wanderer (jdmfilter-spam)]

Simon,

   I had previously uninstalled wvdial (and ubuntu-desktop which depends on it). When I tried to reinstall wvdial (via apt-get install) so that I could give you the output of wvdialconf, it hangs on the line:

  Setting up wvdial (1.55-1ubuntu3)...

and I have to power-cycle the machine. This is on a Thinkpad T23. The modem is listed as ttyLTM0, so ltmodem.

I'll attach a copy of /var/log/udev.

[wilderness wanderer (jdmfilter-spam)]

Here is my /var/log/udev.

[Simon Law (sfllaw)]

Jim,

That strace is very interesting. It points to the driver crashing on
an ioctl().

We might be able to work around this inside WvDial, but I'm not
sure. Have you had any experience compiling custom packages?

Thanks.

[Simon Law (sfllaw)]

Also, could somebody follow the steps in
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSystemCrash
so that our kernel people have something to work off of?

[Anders Olsson (anders-anderso)]

I had the same problem on a Thinkpad X23. I solved it by removing ltserial and ltmodem modules, then did dpkg --configure -a. I unfortunately can't follow the steps in DebuggingSystemCrash because my text console doesn't work.

[gnomnain (gnomnain)]

I can't use the Magic SysRq when the crash happen.

It seems to crash even if you are not root.
It hangs the same way as Jim Dunlap :
open("/dev/tty/LTM0", O_RDWR | O_NONBLOCK | O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_LARGEFILE

[Jim Dunlap (syedburns)]

Simon,

Not too much I'm sorry to say. Still, I'd be happy to help with what I can.

[Simon Law (sfllaw)]

Jim,

One thing to try, then, would be using the -386 kernel instead of the
-686. Does that crash your system?

Thanks.

[wilderness wanderer (jdmfilter-spam)]

     I produced the crash from the console and tried Alt+SysRq+1 followed by Alt+SysRq+t to get a trace, but nothing happened.

   However, when I booted a 386 kernel, it does not crash.

[Jim Dunlap (syedburns)]

Ok, I was using the -k7 kernel. I apt-get removed wvdial so that I could install -386. Once done, I was able to install wvdial using -386.

[Roner (ron-regev)]

Bad news on a Toshiba Satellite A45-S151: the configuration process hangs on both the 686 and the 386 kernels; ltserial and ltmodem modules are not loaded at all. The machine does not freeze; the process can be stopped with Ctrl-C. I tried running a trace, and after a while I got this loop:

select(5, [4], [], [], {0, 500000}) = 1 (in [4], left {0, 341000})
read(4, "\377", 1023) = 1
select(5, [4], [], [], {0, 500000}) = 1 (in [4], left {0, 435000})
read(4, "\377", 1022) = 1
select(5, [4], [], [], {0, 500000}) = 1 (in [4], left {0, 250000})
read(4, "\377", 1021) = 1
select(5, [4], [], [], {0, 500000}) = 1 (in [4], left {0, 249000})
read(4, "\377", 1020) = 1
select(5, [4], [], [], {0, 500000}) = 1 (in [4], left {0, 250000})
read(4, "\377", 1019) = 1
select(5, [4], [], [], {0, 500000}) = 1 (in [4], left {0, 250000})
read(4, "\377", 1018) = 1
select(5, [4], [], [], {0, 500000}) = 1 (in [4], left {0, 249000})
read(4, "\377", 1017) = 1
select(5, [4], [], [], {0, 500000}) = 1 (in [4], left {0, 0})
read(4, "\377", 1016) = 1
select(5, [4], [], [], {0, 500000}) = 0 (Timeout)

It continued counting down all the way to 0, and then continued looping without counting down. Do you need any other info?

[Roner (ron-regev)]

UPDATE: I managed to finish the setup on the 386 kernel, without any modems being detected (which is not too great, since my Toshiba has an internal modem). The culprit was my Socket Bluetooth CF Card; this card requires a patch to 8250.co which is based on the 2.4 kernel, and I was running an unpatched 2.6.15 kernel.

[Fabian Köster (maestro-alubia)]

Attaching my /var/log/udev of Dell Dimension 8300

[Fabian Köster (maestro-alubia)]

My output of 'sudo strace wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf' has this loop:

gettimeofday({1148725270, 178236}, NULL) = 0
write(3, "\r\r\r\r\r", 5) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
read(3, 0xbfc6db50, 1024) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
select(4, [3], [3], [], {0, 0}) = 1 (out [3], left {0, 0})
gettimeofday({1148725270, 178336}, NULL) = 0

[gnomnain (gnomnain)]

I think a piece of line is missing in the strace :
I tried a little C program that call open("/dev/tty/LTM0", O_RDWR | O_NONBLOCK | O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_LARGEFILE); and nothing happened.

[Adam Conrad (adconrad)]

Can any (or all) of the people who are experiencing this bug try installing the linux-restricted-modules package for your kernel from here:

http://people.ubuntu.com/~adconrad/ltmodem-test/

And tell me if that helps in any way with being able to run the wvdialconf tests above? (would also be nice to know if the modem works with these modules)

[gnomnain (gnomnain)]

Adam Conrad's patch doesn't work for me. I rebooted before trying wvdialconf but it crashed again.

[gnomnain (gnomnain)]

Oops, I forgot to say i havent installed the others packages from http://people.ubuntu.com/~adconrad/ltmodem-test/ .

[Macknal (mark-mcnally)]

I downloaded ltmodem source (ltmodem-2.6-8alk) and compiled against the kernel headers for the image I have installed (linux-headers-2.6.15-23-k7). Loading the module and then running wvdialconf caused my system to hang.

I then rebuilt and installed a new kernel image (kernel-source-2.6.15) for K7, without SMP support (since I have only one CPU). Rebuilding ltmodem modules against this new kernel allowed me to load ltmodem modules and run wvdialconf without hanging my system.

From this, I conclude that either ltmodem doesn't play nice with SMP kernels or something went amiss with the lastest kernel build (which was updated earlier this week if I'm not mistaken). I have not yet tried Adam Conrads packages from above just yet.

[Francis (ubuntu-bugzilla-fdnet)]

Crashed for me too... the crash blocked all my upgrades to be done, so I was not able to start a new gnome session after a reboot (once I type my login/pass, I only see the red background and my mouse on the screen) ...

I had to remove the package wvdial and continue my system upgrade to be able to open a new gnome session.

My system is running on the kernel -686 and my config is:
CPU: Intel Pentium IV 3.0E Ghz
Motherboard: Asus P4S800D-X
Memory: 2x512 DDR400 AZENRAM + 2x512 DDR400 Samsung = 2Go
CPU fan: Zalman CNPS7000B
Hard drives: Western Digital 160 Go with 8 Mo cache and Western Digital 120 Go with 8 Mo cache
Video card: Asus V9520 GeForce FX5200
Sound card: Creative Sound Blaster Live!
TV Tuner: ATI TV Wonder & ATI Remote Wonder
Power Supply: Thermaltake 420W
CD-R: LG CDR/DVD 52/24/52
DVD-R: LiteOn DVD-RW 8/4/12
LAN: Integrated (dead) and U.S. Robotics 7900

I removed the package, so I cannot test the wvdialconf thing.

[Fabian Köster (maestro-alubia)]

For me the restricted-modules-packages from http://people.ubuntu.com/~adconrad/ltmodem-test/ does not work.

[Fabian Köster (maestro-alubia)]

For me the restricted-modules-packages from http://people.ubuntu.com/~adconrad/ltmodem-test/ do not work.

[Adam Conrad (adconrad)]

Okay, my packages were mainly just based on a hunch from some upstream notes about SMP support. Obviously, they didn't help one bit, so we're back to square 1.

[Eric Johnson (eric-el-studio)]

The restricted-modules-packages from http://people.ubuntu.com/~adconrad/ltmodem-test/ don't work for me either: IBM Thinkpad X22.

This is clearly a problem with the ltmodem modules -- wvdial works fine with i386 kernel. It just hangs with the i686 one.

(Here's the original bug report: https://launchpad.net/bugs/41991)

Standard kernel (Alt-SysRq) debugging tips show nothing. What next?

[mstuehrenberg (maik-stuehrenberg)]

I had the same problem here on a Dell Inspiron 8100 (using a -686 kernel -- upgraded today via agt-get update/upgrade). By now I can boot the system but cannot remove the wvdial package or install the -386 kernel without running dpkg --configure -a, resulting in a lock. So what to do to motivate dpkg to omit the wvdial configuration?

[Fabian Köster (maestro-alubia)]

For me wvdial does not work with the -386-kernel either.

[Fabian Köster (maestro-alubia)]

... but I do not have a system crash as well. Configuring the wvdial-package just leeds to a interruptable loop. Can it be a different bug?

Maybe I will install the dapper rc later when I am at the affected machine and try reproducing the bug in a fresh environment.

[wilderness wanderer (jdmfilter-spam)]

mstuehrenberg,

   What worked for me as a temporary work-around is to remove wvdial with Synaptic (and let it mark ubuntu-desktop which depends on it), then reboot selecting the 386 kernel in the Grub menu and reinstall ubuntu-desktop (also marking wvdial). It then went through its configuration without crashing. I then switched back to the 686 kernel and further updates have applied without problem.

[mstuehrenberg (maik-stuehrenberg)]

wilderness wanderer,

thanks, it worked. I installed the -386-kernel and removed wvdial for the time being.

[Simon Law (sfllaw)]

maestro_alubia,

It looks like you have bug 46790.

[Fabian Köster (maestro-alubia)]

Yes, Simon. I think you are right.

Thanks

[Walter Banks (banksw)]

Not sure if it is a ltmodem problem but sys crashes with a Dell Optiplex gx400. did mem chk and attempted several upgrade/new installs with no luck. Newbie to breezy/dapper.

[Aryding (aryding)]

This also occurred when upgrade from gutsy to hardy (alpha 4). Killing wvdial.conf file will fix the problem, by using ps -ef to find the process.