The X.Org X server on my Dell Precision 490 Workstation freezes consistently and permanently each time I load the Web page at the following address on my Ubuntu 11.10 "oneiric" system running Unity 2D:
http://www.google.ca/nexus
I never encountered such freezes in the previous release of Ubuntu (11.04 "natty"). The freeze happens with both Mozilla Firefox 8.0 and Chromium 15.0.874.106 (Developer Build 107270 Linux). No updates to the screen occur (no clock updates, for example), but I can SSH into the system to gather information and reboot. There is usually no CPU activity, but one out of the four freezes yesterday had X using over 50 percent CPU usage during the freeze.
I followed the instructions here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/Freeze
to capture the dmesg output and Xorg.0.log file for each of the four freezes yesterday. Below are the answers to the questions recommended on that page.
Q: When did you upgrade to this version of Ubuntu? When did you first notice the freezes occurring?
A: I upgraded about 3 weeks ago and first noticed the freezes about 2 weeks ago while using the Web browser.
Q: How frequently do the freezes occur? How many per day would you say you experience?
A: They occur about once per week, but yesterday I found a Web site (www.google.ca/nexus) that can cause the freeze each and every time it loads in a Web browser (Firefox and Chromium).
Q: List the applications you typically have open at the time of the freeze.
A: I usually have open at least the Web browser (Firefox or Chromium) and the Terminal. I may also have open GnuCash, a VirtualBox guest running Windows, NetBeans, and Thunderbird.
Q: Think back to the last few times it froze. What activities were you doing in each of those times?
A: The last four times it froze, I simply clicked a link to go to the site www.google.ca/nexus or loaded it directly from the address bar.
Q: Do you have compiz enabled? Does the issue go away if you disable it?
A: I am running Unity 2D, the Unity interface for non-accelerated graphics cards. I see compositing effects, so perhaps I'm running compiz. I'll look into disabling it.
Q: If your system is a laptop, do you suspend/resume it? Had you resumed at some point prior to the freezes?
A: My system is a Dell Precision 490 Workstation. I suspend it at night, but this freeze occurs even right after a fresh reboot after visiting the Google Nexus page.
Additional information:
$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 11.10
Release: 11.10
$ apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau:
Installed: 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1
Candidate: 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1
Version table:
*** 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1 0
500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
---
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,resize,imgpng,gnomecompat,place,snap,regex,grid,move,session,vpswitch,unitymtgrabhandles,mousepoll,animation,wall,expo,ezoom,workarounds,fade,scale,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: None
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-11-22 22:41:56.988316
DistroCodename: oneiric
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
virtualbox, 4.1.2, 3.0.0-13-generic, x86_64: installed
virtualbox, 4.1.2, 3.0.0-14-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, whatever it takes to get this fixed in Ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
nVidia Corporation NV43GL [Quadro FX 550] [10de:014d] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0349]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110426)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Precision WorkStation 490
Package: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_CA:en
PATH=(custom, user)
LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.0.0-14-generic root=/dev/mapper/hostname-root ro quiet
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-14.23-generic 3.0.9
Tags: oneiric running-unity ubuntu
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-14-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-11-23 (19 days ago)
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 04/25/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A08
dmi.board.name: 0F9382
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 7
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA08:bd04/25/2008:svnDellInc.:pnPrecisionWorkStation490:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0F9382:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct7:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Precision WorkStation 490
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.6+bzr20110929-0ubuntu6
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.26-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu7
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.6.0-1ubuntu13
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20110811.g93fc084-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.15.901-1ubuntu2.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1
Could you please attach the dmesg and xorg.0.log files that you captured? Also, couldn't hurt to run
apport-collect 901793
in a terminal, to attach some general system information.