Karmic kernel crashes when connecting WIRED or WiFi to WZR-HP-G300NH

[Ehud Gavron]

Karmic running months on a Dell XPS M1330 fresh install. Connected eth0 to new buffalo N router. DID NOT get a DHCP address. TX count 8 RX count 0. Gave it manual address and after one ping to the gateway kernel panic and flashing num/capslock. Problem existed with test kernels 2.6.31-19 all the way down to release kernel 2.6.31-14.

That same router connected to eth0 of a Gateway laptop delivered DHCP, pinged, etc.
....configured router using the Gateway... disabled WPS and AOSS.

Connected via WiFi to the Buffalo and the machine AGAIN flashing num/capslock.

Booted off USB stick with original distribution (9.10 x86_64). Problem did not appear so did fresh install. Problem did NOT immediately appear. Did full update. Upon reboot problem was immediately evident. Switching back to original kernel did not change this.

Tried new non-previously existing user. No change. As soon as the ESSID is selected and the WAP/PSK entered the flashing lights and dead kernel.

Booted without NVIDIA module (license taints kernel and pisses of LKML guys...) and on text console 1 watched. Hooked up the wired net. Set address (ifconfig eth0 192.168.11.2 netmask 255.255.255.0) no problem. Pinged 192.168.11.1 and got one ICMP response and a stackdump. I am not familiar with how to get that saved nor am I familiar with gdb. It looked like a pagefault in net...stuff. I should have taken a picture but admittedly it was now 0700 after a full night thrashing with it.

INSTALLED AGAIN. Note that when I say "install", my partitions are /boot (wiped), / (wiped) and /home (kept)... and I mention swap for completeness... So I blew away /boot and / yet again and reinstalled from scratch... only to have the EXACT same behavior.

SOLUTION: powered off the Buffalo router, poured a stiff Macallan 12 on rocks, cursed up a storm, wrote an email to coworkers explaining why I was up all night, and left it powered off.

I can reproduce this at will ONLY on the Dell XPS M1330 and not on the Gateway laptop. Dell:
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection (rev 61)

Note: I have not been able to get a vanilla kernel built and working since 2.6.32, so I only use the Karmic kernels. PRIOR to this issue I also used proposed updates... now on the last few installs only the mainline Ubuntu Karmic kernels.

Hopefully someone can shed light on this. I've *never* seen a kernel bug out from a simple Ethernet connection! Oh, let me also add that the gateway was tested (fine) with the same cable, same port on the buffalo, and without rebooting the buffalo. It was fine. Rebooting the buffalo did not fix things.

I can't think of anything else. If there are questions I'm happy to answer.

Ehud Gavron
<email address hidden>
Tucson AZ

Linux egxps 2.6.31-14-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:05:01 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
[dmesg has nothing I would consider relevant]
09:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1713] (rev 02)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0209]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx+
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 31
 Region 0: Memory at f1bf0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
 Expansion ROM at <ignored> [disabled]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: tg3
 Kernel modules: tg3

0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection [8086:4229] (rev 61)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1120]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 30
 Region 0: Memory at f1ffe000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: iwlagn
 Kernel modules: iwlagn

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: gavron 2589 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf6ffc000 irq 21'
   Mixer name : 'SigmaTel STAC9228'
   Components : 'HDA:83847616,10280209,00100402'
   Controls : 29
   Simple ctrls : 19
Date: Tue Mar 2 14:07:47 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=50481eac-f687-4606-a981-d369de72f2e1
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS M1330
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: linux-image (not installed)
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=198621c1-37ea-47c5-b549-8e387e808ea5 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-14-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.24
SourcePackage: linux-meta
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic x86_64
dmi.bios.date: 12/26/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A15
dmi.board.name: 0U8042
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA15:bd12/26/2008:svnDellInc.:pnXPSM1330:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0U8042:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: XPS M1330
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[kernel-janitor (kernel-janitor)]

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately.]

This bug was reported against the linux-meta package when it likely should have been reported against the linux package instead. We are automatically transitioning this to the linux kernel package so that the appropriate teams are notified and made aware of this issue.

If this bug really is a bug in the linux-meta package you can move it back to linux-meta and tag it kj-linux-meta, or contact us on the #ubuntu-kernel channel on the FreeNode IRC server. Thanks.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.