computer freeze, xorg at 100% CPU

[Dave Butcher]

Binary package hint: xorg

this is a repeat of Bug #435011, but now against Karmic

I upgraded from Jaunty to Karmic a week ago. Since that time, I have not had more than 5 hours of continuous uptime.
Please note that this is without running any applications. I just reboot the computer, log in to Gnome, and wait ...

I usually run an SSH session from another computer so I can capture top output, which I've attached to this report.

I've also tried running 'tail -f /var/log/syslog' from SSH to see exactly what's going on when the freeze occurs, but I haven't found anything conclusive. I will attach a couple of those outputs as well.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Oct 31 08:58:52 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
MachineType: Shuttle Inc SD30V10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=0bb90575-dc94-44a3-88be-abc045fab1c0 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0-1ubuntu4
 libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
SourcePackage: xorg
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic x86_64
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-panel:2408): GConf-WARNING **: Directory `/apps/panel/toplevels/bottom_panel_screen1/screen' was not being monitored by GConfClient 0x797b00
 (gnome-panel:2408): GConf-WARNING **: Directory `/apps/panel/toplevels/top_panel_screen1/screen' was not being monitored by GConfClient 0x797b00
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:2438): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:2420): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
dmi.bios.date: 11/30/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: FD30V10
dmi.board.vendor: Shuttle Inc
dmi.board.version: V10
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Shuttle Inc
dmi.chassis.version: G2
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd11/30/2007:svnShuttleInc:pnSD30V10:pvrV10:rvnShuttleInc:rnFD30V10:rvrV10:cvnShuttleInc:ct3:cvrG2:
dmi.product.name: SD30V10
dmi.product.version: V10
dmi.sys.vendor: Shuttle Inc
fglrx: Not loaded
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: x86_64kernel: 2.6.31-14-generic

[Dave Butcher (dbutcher)]

I think we can mark this as solved.

Based on this article: http://magazine.redhat.com/2007/11/20/tips-and-tricks-why-does-xorgs-cpu-usage-shoot-up-when-using-nvidias-driver/ I changed my xorg.conf file by adding to the "Device" section
   Option "UseEvents" "true"

I don't know what that option is defaulted to off. In other words, I don't know what the possible downside is to changing this option as I did, but since I made the change on the weekend I've had over 2 days uptime. I know that may not seem like much, but I never had anything over 4 hours before, so I'm pretty sure that my problem's fixed.

I've attached complete xorg.conf for reference. I suspect that this fix would have closed bug #435011 as well (and possibly Bug #434416 since it's so similar) but I haven't tested.

Cheers,
Dave

[Dave Butcher (dbutcher)]

Well, I spoke too soon.
After 3 days my gui is locked again. However, and this is a helpful improvement, I can still SSH into the machine.

"top" shows Xorg consuming 100% of CPU.

"sudo service gdm stop" just waits indefinitely, never returning me to the command line. Xorg remains at 100%. So I still haven't been able to recover my machine without a hard reboot.

After fighting this lockup for several months with Jaunty, and now with Karmic, I don't know what else to do or try. Please let me know of any suggestions or tests that I could run.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

This bug report was filed against an old version of Ubuntu.
Can you confirm whether this is still an issue in natty?

If you don't mind, it would be very helpful if you could update the bug
report in launchpad to 'Fix Released' if it is no longer an issue for
you, or if it is still occurring under natty, please tag the bug 'natty'
so it's easier for us to track.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.