Generating image turns off computer

[Brian Peschel]

I have created around 10 different images based on ubuntu-18.04-live-server-amd64.iso. All basically the same steps in the chroot window. When cubic goes to create the iso my computer powers off (not shutdown, instant off). This is occurring during the 'compress custom linux file system' step and has occurred with at least the last three releases.

dpkg --list | grep cubic
ii cubic 2018.07-37-release~201807140832~ubuntu18.04.1 all Wizard to create a customized Ubuntu Live CD image.
uname -r
4.15.0-24-generic
uname -a
Linux brian 4.15.0-24-generic #26-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 13 08:44:47 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic

Running the Xubuntu desktop for my display. Occurs with no programs running or with some (for example terminals, chrome, gmusicbrowser).

Here are the last few messages in the cubic window (cubic 2>&1 | tee cubic.out) before the shutdown:
 Create vmlinuz version details list
    Get vmlinuz versions from directory.... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/squashf
                                            s-root/boot
    Get vmlinuz version from file type..... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/squashf
                                            s-
                                            root/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-20-generic
    Execute synchronously.................. file "/home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/s
                                            quashfs-
                                            root/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-20-generic"
    Set a new process for thread id........ 140662963496704
    The new process id is.................. 9526
    No mount points were found in.......... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/squashf
                                            s-root
    Finished running thread with id........ 140662963496704
    Found version.......................... 4.15.0-20
    Get vmlinuz version from file type..... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/squashf
                                            s-
                                            root/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-23-generic
    Execute synchronously.................. file "/home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/s
                                            quashfs-
                                            root/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-23-generic"
    Found version.......................... 4.15.0-23
    Get vmlinuz versions from directory.... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/origina
                                            l-iso-mount/casper
    Get vmlinuz version from file type..... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/origina
                                            l-iso-mount/casper/vmlinuz
    Execute synchronously.................. file "/home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/o
                                            riginal-iso-mount/casper/vmlinuz"
    Found version.......................... 4.15.0-20
    Version name........................... 4.15.0-20
    • Vmlinuz filename..................... vmlinuz
    • Initrd filename...................... initrd.gz
    • Directory............................ /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/origina
                                            l-iso-mount/casper
    • Note................................. This is kernel 4.15.0-20, used to
                                            boot the original ISO image
                                            (ubuntu-18.04-live-server-
                                            amd64.iso).
    Version name........................... 4.15.0-20
    • Vmlinuz filename..................... vmlinuz-4.15.0-20-generic
    • Initrd filename...................... initrd.img-4.15.0-20-generic
    • Directory............................ /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/squashf
                                            s-root/boot
    Version name........................... 4.15.0-23
    • Vmlinuz filename..................... vmlinuz-4.15.0-23-generic
    • Initrd filename...................... initrd.img-4.15.0-23-generic
    • Directory............................ /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/squashf
                                            s-root/boot
    The default vmlinuz version is......... vmlinuz
  Create list of installed packages
    Execute synchronously.................. chroot "/home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2
                                            /squashfs-root" dpkg-query --show
    Set a new process for thread id........ 140662726559488
    The new process id is.................. 9532
    Total number of installed packages..... 770
  Create new filesystem manifest file
    Write filesystem manifest to........... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/custom-
                                            live-iso/casper/filesystem.manifest
    filesystem.manifest-remove found in.... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/custom-
                                            live-iso/casper
    Show tab for........................... filesystem.manifest-remove
    Read list of packages to remove from... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/custom-
                                            live-iso/casper/filesystem.manifest-
                                            remove
  Create package details list
    Total number of installed packages..... 770
    Number of packages to be removed....... 18
    Number of packages to be retained...... 752
    filesystem.manifest-minimal-remove
    not found in........................... /home/webadmin/images/v0.0.2/custom-
                                            live-iso/casper
    Hiding old page........................ terminal_page
    Showing new page....................... manage_options_page
    The current page name is............... manage_options_page
    Finished running thread with id........ 140662726559488
    Button clicked......................... Next

Created new thread
    Current page........................... manage_options_page
    New page............................... repackage_iso_page
    Running thread with id................. 140662726559488

[MangoCats (mangocats)]

I don't know if this applies to your particular hardware or not, but back around 2000 I had a big graphics card in the days before they started routing extra power connectors to the graphics cards (just powered through the bus connections.) I was running a new 3D CAD program and everything was great most of the time, but certain rotation operations of certain objects would reliably make my computer cold-boot restart right when I did them - reload drawing, go back to same view, do same manipulation and BOOM, every time. I eventually decided that it was a power draw spike from the graphics card that was resetting the machine.

Seems ... unlikely that the disk compression would do that, but, I hear my CPU fans spin up and run hard when I make the compressed image, it is a significant load.

[Cubic PPA (cubic-wizard)]

MangoCats, that is an interesting theory.

Brian, what are your hardware specs?

Does it power off before or after you see the "Copy the live ISO boot files to the new disk" progress-bar? (Your output seems to indicate that you never even get to the "Compress the customized Linux file system" progress-bar0.

[Brian Peschel (brianpez)]

Running all integrated hardware, no addon cards. I believe I have 2 basically identical PCs which this occurs on and a different integrated which this doesn't occur on.

The power off is occurring during the "Compress the customized Linux file system", usually between 30% and 70% (unfortunetly, I wasn't always looking directly at the screen when it occurs).

Here are the specs for the PC I was constantly using until I gave up and found a spare PC just to run cubic on.

lspci -nnk
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Skylake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [8086:191f] (rev 07)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [8086:2015]
 Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 [8086:1912] (rev 06)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 [8086:2212]
 Kernel driver in use: i915
 Kernel modules: i915
00:08.0 System peripheral [0880]: Intel Corporation Skylake Gaussian Mixture Model [8086:1911]
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/v6 / E3-1500 v5 / 6th/7th Gen Core Processor Gaussian Mixture Model [8086:2015]
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller [8086:a12f] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller [8086:7270]
 Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:14.2 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem [8086:a131] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem [8086:7270]
 Kernel driver in use: intel_pch_thermal
 Kernel modules: intel_pch_thermal
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1 [8086:a13a] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI [8086:1999]
 Kernel driver in use: mei_me
 Kernel modules: mei_me
00:17.0 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SATA controller [AHCI mode] [8086:a102] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SATA controller [AHCI mode] [8086:7270]
 Kernel driver in use: ahci
 Kernel modules: ahci
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #8 [8086:a117] (rev f1)
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport
 Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller [8086:a143] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller [8086:7270]
00:1f.2 Memory controller [0580]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC [8086:a121] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC [8086:7270]
00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio [8086:a170] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio [8086:7270]
 Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
 Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
00:1f.4 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus [8086:a123] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus [8086:7270]
 Kernel modules: i2c_i801
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V [8086:15b8] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V ...

[Cubic PPA (cubic-wizard)]

Brian,

---[1]---

I've **temporarily** changed the compression algorithm to gzip in the *Development* branch, revision # 159.

Since this is happening during the compression (squashfs) step, gzip should use less CPU resources and finish a little faster.

However, the compression will be less (so you may not be able to fit as much software) on your custom ISO.

Please test this and let me know your results?

    # Remove Cubic
    $ sudo apt autoremove --purge cubic

    # Remove the *Release* repository
    $ sudo apt-add-repository --remove ppa:cubic-wizard/release

    # Add the *Development* repository
    $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cubic-wizard/development

    # Install the *Development* version of Cubic
    $ sudo apt update
    $ sudo apt install cubic

Note: This is only for testing, and I will not enable gzip in the release branch.

---[2]---

Following MangoCats line of thought, do you think you computer is heating up, and automatically turning off when it hits the temperature threshold (usually set in the BIOS)?

If two of your computers have the same hardware / CPU / specs, then it would make sense they both hit the thermal limit under similar load.

While running Cubic, try monitoring your computer's temperature using the `sensors` command (install using `apt install lm-sensors`).

[Brian Peschel (brianpez)]

I think you are on the correct track with the temp of my PC. Amusingly, neither the development branch nor the release branch caused my PC to shutdown yesterday. As MangoCats noticed, the fan on my PC does crank up while generating an image (I can't normally hear it) on both branches. I did watch the temps via 'sensors' and the PC temp was about 10 degrees higher on the release version than the development version.

So, this maybe a one off issue just for me.....

[Cubic PPA (cubic-wizard)]

Ambient temperatures and airflow around your computer will affect how it cools, so this could explain why it works sometimes.

In the future I may add the ability for the user to select the compression Cubic uses.

In the mean time, for the release version you can "hack" Cubic to reduce the compression (and use less CPU resources)...

    $ sudo sed -i 's|comp xz|comp gzip|g' /usr/share/cubic/utilities.py

To undo-this "hack"...

    $ sudo sed -i 's|comp gzip|comp xz|g' /usr/share/cubic/utilities.py

[Cubic PPA (cubic-wizard)]

Closing this bug report.