kernel crashes ``out of the blue''

[Thomas Schwinge]

Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic

On my T42, with linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic 2.6.32-21.31, I've seen the
kernel crash two times within one day, ``out of the blue'' while doing
``normal work''. Only the [A] LED was blinking, otherwise the system was
completey frozen. Magic SysRQ did work for syncing, unmounting,
rebooting. What I noticed is that the WLAN activity LED was lit when
crashing, so it may be a problem in the WLAN driver (but that is just a
random guess).

Yesterday, I have upgraded to 2.6.32-21.32. Just now, the system crashed
once more in exactly the same way.

As for all other packages, this is an up-to-date Ubuntu (pre-)lucid
system.

I'll try to build a mainline kernel,
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/MainlineBuilds>. Anything else I can
do? How to see a kernel crash message, for example? (This system
doesn't have a serial console.)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic 2.6.32-21.32
Regression: Yes
Reproducible: No
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: thomas 1528 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'I82801DBICH4'/'Intel 82801DB-ICH4 with AD1981B at irq 11'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981B'
   Components : 'AC97a:41445374'
   Controls : 26
   Simple ctrls : 18
Card29.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw 1RHT71WW-3.04'
   Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC 1RHT71WW-3.04'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 2
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card29.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'Console',0
   Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Limits: Playback 0 - 14
   Mono: Playback 14 [100%] [off]
Date: Sun Apr 18 23:12:49 2010
Frequency: Once a day.
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=b8332f71-7051-423b-9839-246fdb375027
Lsusb:
 Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0483:2016 SGS Thomson Microelectronics Fingerprint Reader
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: IBM 2373K9G
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=/dev/mapper/vg0-hostname--root ro quiet splash
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.34
SourcePackage: linux
WpaSupplicantLog:

dmi.bios.date: 06/18/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
dmi.bios.version: 1RETDRWW (3.23 )
dmi.board.name: 2373K9G
dmi.board.vendor: IBM
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1RETDRWW(3.23):bd06/18/2007:svnIBM:pn2373K9G:pvrThinkPadT42:rvnIBM:rn2373K9G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 2373K9G
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T42
dmi.sys.vendor: IBM
---
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: thomas 1536 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'I82801DBICH4'/'Intel 82801DB-ICH4 with AD1981B at irq 11'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981B'
   Components : 'AC97a:41445374'
   Controls : 26
   Simple ctrls : 18
Card29.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw 1RHT71WW-3.04'
   Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC 1RHT71WW-3.04'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 2
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card29.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'Console',0
   Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Limits: Playback 0 - 14
   Mono: Playback 2 [14%] [on]
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=b8332f71-7051-423b-9839-246fdb375027
Lsusb:
 Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0483:2016 SGS Thomson Microelectronics Fingerprint Reader
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: IBM 2373K9G
Package: linux (not installed)
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.32-23-generic root=/dev/mapper/vg0-hostname--root ro crashkernel=384M-2G:64M,2G-:128M quiet splash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-23.37-generic 2.6.32.15+drm33.5
Regression: Yes
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.34.1
Reproducible: Yes
Tags: lucid networking regression-release needs-upstream-testing
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-23-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout fuse lpadmin netdev plugdev sambashare vboxusers video
WpaSupplicantLog:

dmi.bios.date: 06/18/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
dmi.bios.version: 1RETDRWW (3.23 )
dmi.board.name: 2373K9G
dmi.board.vendor: IBM
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1RETDRWW(3.23):bd06/18/2007:svnIBM:pn2373K9G:pvrThinkPadT42:rvnIBM:rn2373K9G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 2373K9G
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T42
dmi.sys.vendor: IBM

[Thomas Schwinge (tschwinge)]

To be more specific: this is a regression as I have not seen such crashes with the previous Ubuntu jaunty installation, using linux-image-2.6.28-18-generic, and earlier kernel packages.

Both the Linux mainline images, linux-image-2.6.34-020634rc4-generic_2.6.34-020634rc4_i386.deb and linux-image-2.6.34-999-generic_2.6.34-999.201004132352_i386.deb crash early in the boot process. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera here, so can't provide a dump.

I installed the kerneloops packages, rebooted using the linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic 2.6.32-21.32 kernel, and hope to provide further data after the next crash.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Thomas,

If you could also please test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

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[Thomas Schwinge (tschwinge)]

First, it is difficult to reproduce this bug -- I don't know yet what exactly triggers it. The last few days, I've been using the LAN network instead of WLAN, and the crash has not shown up anymore. Now, I switched to the mainline kernel linux-image-2.6.34-999-generic 2.6.34-999.201004261005 (that one boots correctly), and also enabled the netconsole logging, and switched back to using WLAN -- let's see whether the crash happens again.

[Thomas Schwinge (tschwinge)]

The system just crashed once again with the 2.6.32-22-generic (linux-image-2.6.32-22-generic 2.6.32-22.33) kernel.

When the kernel crashes, the system is rebooted (kexec? -- probably due to the kerneloops stuff I installed), but then only has 64 MiB of RAM, which is probably due to what kerneloops did to grub.cfg:

        linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=/dev/mapper/vg0-dirichlet--root ro crashkernel=384M-2G:64M,2G-:128M quiet splash

What am I supposed to be doing when this happens? Logging into the Gnome UI with 64 MiB of RAM took me some hours (...) a week ago, and then nothing was submitted automatically. Running kerneloops / kerneloops-applet / kerneloops-submit manually, and letting it run for some minutes didn't have any observable effect either.

I'm now switching to the mainline kernel build linux-image-2.6.34-020634-generic 2.6.34-020634 and will report back if I'm still seeing this -- which is difficult, of course, as the crash only happens every few days / weeks.

[Thomas Schwinge (tschwinge)]

I have just reproduced a crash with the aforementioned mainline kernel. Unfortunately, I didn't have netconsole logging running. Now I do. I'll post the log as soon as it happens again (assuming that netconsole logging still works in this case).

[Thomas Schwinge (tschwinge)]

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[Thomas Schwinge (tschwinge)]

Interesting is probably this file:

$ file VmCore
VmCore: ELF 32-bit LSB core file Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), SVR4-style
$ ls -l VmCore
-rw-r--r-- 1 thomas thomas 528356116 2010-06-28 15:42 VmCore

... which I apport-unpacked out of /var/crash/linux-image-2.6.32-23-generic.0.crash -- but it's bigger than 500 MiB. Shall I upload it here?

[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.]