Binary package hint: xorg
I have a rather old machine running a MythTV backend using a WinTV NOVA T USB2 (93000 Rev B8A2) and it seems that randomly the system will lock up completely. I have done my best to work out if the freeze occurs when recording or performing some function of the mythtv-backend but based on the logs it seems that it can occur during a recording, during a database update or when there is no activity at all.
I do have BOINC installed and running but disabling that so it does not run at startup didn't seem to stop the problem; as the freeze occurs randomly every few days I had to wait about a week but the system did lock up without BOINC running at all. My next fiddle was to change the priority of the mythtvbackend process to be -3; this seemed to reduce the frequency of the freeze occurring but it may have been psychological as the occurance rate is so drawn out anyway.
One thing which triggered a freeze was using the ubuntu-bug program, before the report that I am using to make this bug entry the system froze while ubuntu-bug was off collecting information about the problem. Again the mythtvbackend was running so I cannot discount this just being coincidence.
Another symptom, which may just be how the thing works, is that the NOVA T USB2 strays in "warm" mode during the crash and if I use the PC's reset button to restart the system. When the system comes up like this the NOVA T is unresponsive and the red light on the from of it remains lit. If I power down the machine or pull the USB cord out from the NOVA T then plug it back in after several seconds while the bios boot splash screen is going then the red LED extinguishes and the device works fine once Ubuntu has booted.
This is all a little scattered and probably unhelpful but I have tried to hunt down answers to this problem myself and have run out of ideas what to do next. Please do let me know if there are any further diagnostics that may be helpful.
lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS
Release: 10.04
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-28.55-generic 2.6.32.27+drm33.12
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-28-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: 5d0602330b5d44cd5ded7b4846756bb0
CheckboxSystem: daed2f3d6643b4a84b4520a2427f8c2b
Date: Sat Feb 5 08:45:59 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-28-generic root=UUID=f8cbb2f7-5b7c-46db-94bc-1802d312a175 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
LANG=en_GB.utf8
SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
Title: Xorg freeze
dmi.bios.date: 08/16/2004
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: MS-6570E
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd08/16/2004:svn:pn:pvr:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-6570E:rvr:cvn:ct3:cvr:
system:
distro: Ubuntu
codename: lucid
architecture: i686
kernel: 2.6.32-28-generic
---
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: 5d0602330b5d44cd5ded7b4846756bb0
CheckboxSystem: daed2f3d6643b4a84b4520a2427f8c2b
CurrentDmesg:
[ 26.607216] agpgart-nvidia 0000:00:00.0: AGP 3.0 bridge
[ 26.607241] agpgart-nvidia 0000:00:00.0: putting AGP V3 device into 8x mode
[ 26.607326] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: putting AGP V3 device into 8x mode
[ 29.232041] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
[ 104.758599] ondemand governor failed, too long transition latency of HW, fallback to performance governor
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: nvidia-graphics-drivers-173 (not installed)
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-28-generic root=UUID=f8cbb2f7-5b7c-46db-94bc-1802d312a175 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
LANG=en_GB.utf8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-28.55-generic 2.6.32.27+drm33.12
Tags: lucid lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-28-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin mythtv plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 08/16/2004
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: MS-6570E
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd08/16/2004:svn:pn:pvr:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-6570E:rvr:cvn:ct3:cvr:
system:
distro: Ubuntu
codename: lucid
architecture: i686
kernel: 2.6.32-28-generic
---
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: 5d0602330b5d44cd5ded7b4846756bb0
CheckboxSystem: daed2f3d6643b4a84b4520a2427f8c2b
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: nvidia-graphics-drivers-173 (not installed)
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-28-generic root=UUID=f8cbb2f7-5b7c-46db-94bc-1802d312a175 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
LANG=en_GB.utf8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-28.55-generic 2.6.32.27+drm33.12
Tags: lucid lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-28-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin mythtv plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 08/16/2004
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: MS-6570E
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd08/16/2004:svn:pn:pvr:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-6570E:rvr:cvn:ct3:cvr:
system:
distro: Ubuntu
codename: lucid
architecture: i686
kernel: 2.6.32-28-generic
Saying that it's a "rather old machine" and that the lockups are random could suggest that it's the dying hardware causing it, or overheating. Reassigning to the nvidia driver anyway.