nouveau driver hangs system

[Mike Hayward]

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

May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369025] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at (null)

I have 13 identical systems. I've upgraded to 10.04 LTS Server and it now loads the nouveau driver by default. There is roughly a 10% chance that a system will fail to boot properly, and frequently I find that the problem is related to the nouveau driver and so I have black listed it since these are server machines and I don't even use the video. Not sure why this driver is even selected to load by default for a server config. Typically it locks up the system so hard it can't log to the filesystem, but today one system caught a null pointer dereference.

May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369058] PGD d8e83067 PUD d7ad8067 PMD 0
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369085] CPU 2
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369089] Modules linked in: fbcon(+) tileblit font bitblit softcursor vga16fb vgastate arc4 snd_hda_intel(+) snd_hda_codec snd_hwdep snd_pcm nouveau snd_timer ttm ath9k drm_kms_helper snd drm i2c_algo_bit soundcore psmouse serio_raw mac80211 snd_page_alloc ath cfg80211 led_class i2c_nforce2 shpchp lp parport ahci forcedeth
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369149] Pid: 661, comm: modprobe Not tainted 2.6.32-21-server #32-Ubuntu To Be Filled By O.E.M.
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369157] RIP: 0010:[<ffffffffa0305690>] [<ffffffffa0305690>] save_vga_text+0x290/0xa10 [vgastate]
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369173] RSP: 0018:ffff8800d8b51d38 EFLAGS: 00010283
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369180] RAX: 0000000000000500 RBX: ffff8800d4493c38 RCX: ffff8800000a8000
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369187] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff8800000a0000 RDI: ffff8800d4493c38
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369196] RBP: ffff8800d8b51d88 R08: ffff8800d7af1900 R09: ffff8800d8b51c84
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369203] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff8800d9f8f900
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369210] R13: ffff8800000a0000 R14: ffff8800000a0001 R15: 0000000000000000
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369220] FS: 00007fbdf3588700(0000) GS:ffff880001d00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369228] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369235] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 00000000d75a4000 CR4: 00000000000006e0
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369242] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369250] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369259] Process modprobe (pid: 661, threadinfo ffff8800d8b50000, task ffff8800379496f0)
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369269] ffff8800d8b51d78 ffffffff8111fb22 00000000000000d2 0002030e10005f75
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369281] <0> ffff8800d4493c38 ffff8800d4493c38 ffff8800d919db40 ffff8800000a0000
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369292] <0> 0000000000000000 ffffc90006090000 ffff8800d8b51dd8 ffffffffa0305f8a
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369321] [<ffffffff8111fb22>] ? __vmalloc_node+0xa2/0xb0
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369334] [<ffffffffa0305f8a>] save_vga+0x17a/0x320 [vgastate]
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369349] [<ffffffffa030cd8c>] vga16fb_open+0x3c/0x50 [vga16fb]
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369365] [<ffffffffa03325c3>] fbcon_startup+0xf3/0x360 [fbcon]
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369379] [<ffffffff81089e3e>] ? down+0x2e/0x50
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369392] [<ffffffff8133df9f>] register_con_driver+0xdf/0x1d0
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369405] [<ffffffff8133e962>] take_over_console+0x32/0x70
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369420] [<ffffffffa0331ea6>] fbcon_takeover+0x66/0xb0 [fbcon]
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369434] [<ffffffffa033c11a>] fb_console_init+0x11a/0x121 [fbcon]
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369448] [<ffffffffa033c000>] ? fb_console_init+0x0/0x121 [fbcon]
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369462] [<ffffffff8100a04c>] do_one_initcall+0x3c/0x1a0
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369476] [<ffffffff810a12af>] sys_init_module+0xdf/0x260
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369489] [<ffffffff810131b2>] system_call_fastpath+0x16/0x1b
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369588] RSP <ffff8800d8b51d38>
May 16 12:13:01 atom40 kernel: [ 4.369601] ---[ end trace c5c05019b12420ee ]---

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Mike,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 581549

Also, if you could 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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[flashydave (dave-opensourcesolutions)]

I have a series of HP machines all using the Vidia Corporation NV6 [Vanta/Vanta LT] (rev 15) as the video controller

These all hang X after a random period of time after start up whether or not X is being used actively but if you do something that manipulates the screen then it is more likely to happen within a few seconds. If you dont log in or use console VTX (ctrl-alt-f2 etc) then the PC stays running.
In some instances you can ssh into the machine after X has locked up.
syslog shows many repeats (several per second) of
nouveau 0000:01:00.0: PFIFO_DMA_PUSHER - Ch 1

These machines were fine on Karmic but fail on fails on Lucid and Maverick Alpha2 (when nouveau is the default) and is worse when using XFCE. It is irrespective of upgrade or fresh install. It is marginally more reliable if using Gnome (These are low spec machines so xubuntu/xfce is my prime choice for these machines.

Dropping back to VESA (setting nouveau.modeset=0) (Not sure why it didnt drop to nv instead but thats a different issue) the machines are stable.

[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 development release http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ . 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.

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