Ubuntu 8.04 Freezes

Bug #228633 reported by S.R.Parda
44
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

I'm having total system hangs. No Mouse moves. No keyboard response. No errors. No logs. This is critical, becasuse system is unusable.

My system is a Sony VGN-A117S, with Ubuntu 8.04. (Pentium M 735, i855 chipset, 2GB DDR, ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 and integrated wifi card of centrino platform)

I have frequently freezes in the liveCD, in a upgrade to 8.04 from 7.10 (using KDE) and in a totally clean install (with all formatted filesystems including /home).

My hang is usually occuring (and only) at a moment of interactive use of the mouse (the system can be running hours without freeze otherwise). Usually using a browser but not only at that case, not only a problem of Firefox, because Konqueror hung too, and other applications without network (having some browser opened possibly).

In the last install, only default packages was installed, with default gnome desktop, no desktop effects, default ATI drivers (no propietary).

As I have read in some forums, I tried disabling wireless controller switch, and use instead the wired card. I'm writing this message and I was probing internet without freezes during more than one hour. So I thing is possible this could be a "wireless network" related problem.

I had no problems of freezes or hangs before with Ubuntu 5.04, 6.10, nor 7.04.

I had no freeze problems with 8.04 in desktop computer at home P4 with ATI 9800 pro AGP, with a wired card, with KDE4, KDE3 and gnome.

Hope this help to find the problem.

Revision history for this message
S.R.Parda (linux-qbox) wrote :

lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82855PM Processor to I/O Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82855PM Processor to AGP Controller (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 83)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10]
02:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
02:01.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI7x20 1394a-2000 OHCI Two-Port PHY/Link-Layer Controller
02:01.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCI7420/7620 Combo CardBus, 1394a-2000 OHCI and SD/MS-Pro Controller
02:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection (rev 05)
02:03.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82541GI Gigabit Ethernet Controller
02:04.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
02:04.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
02:04.2 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 04)

lsusb output:

Bus 007 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c046 Logitech, Inc.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Revision history for this message
S.R.Parda (linux-qbox) wrote :

No hangs, after 2 days If I don't use the wireless card.

Revision history for this message
S.R.Parda (linux-qbox) wrote :

After enable the wireless adapter, and when restoring backups from USB hard disk to my computer. Ubuntu hang without mouse cursor nor keyboard input response.

So the wifi adapter is always working when hang, otherwise no hangs.

But it seems that at more USB activity is more likely that Ubuntu hangs.

Revision history for this message
cgabbadon (cgabbadon) wrote :

I am also having the same/similar issue. I have an Edimax EW-7128G PCI wireless card in my machine. When I am not using it, the system doesn't freeze. If I use it, randomly when accessing the Internet, or especially when downloading large files, the system will completely freeze and the Caps lock Scroll lock lights on the keyboard blink.

Here are my system specs in case it helps:

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron 64-bit
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Asus EN8400GS
Edimax EW-7128G
Evga 680i Motherboard

I have heard this may be related to the generic kernel and possibly any wireless card with a RT61 chipset. Anyone with helpful information?

Revision history for this message
S.R.Parda (linux-qbox) wrote :

Another hang.

I had been working withou problems. Using the wireless network adapter. And the mouse connected to the left side USB port of my notebook.

Laptop hung Trying to copy a file to an USB flash memory connected in one of the rear USB ports. (with the wifi enabled)

So it seems something related to the USB controler in the rear of the laptop.

Revision history for this message
lych (greendalf) wrote :

I had upgraded to Kubuntu 8.04 from 7.10 on my laptop LG LW40 and started experiencing very strange system freezes. First times I was unable to understand what is causing such freezes and each time I was doing different things on my laptop.

But later I found the way how to reproduce freeze 100%.

1. I open some URL in Firefox (tried 2.x and 3.x versions).
2.1. Copy some text on the screen by selecting it with mouse and simultaneously press few keyboard buttons. It is enough to repeat these two actions chaotically couple of times to get system freeze.
2.2. Also freeze is reproduced if I press Ctrl+F in Firefox (search toolbar) when having some text selected and start typing in the search field.

Actually freezes randomly (but less frequently) occur when I do not even have Firefox running, but I pointed out the Firefox just because in this way I am reproducing the hangs in 100% of cases.

In the above way the hangs are repeated when running on live CD with Ubuntu 8.04. And before the upgrade I have never faced such problems. So I think this is something wrong in our new Kubuntu.

Interestingly, but in my case disabling the wireless card does no help out. In the above way my laptop freezes regardless of using the WiFi card or not.

To S.R.Parda:
Could you please check out the above steps and let know does it freeze in that way?

Revision history for this message
lych (greendalf) wrote :

=============================================================
# uname -a
Linux psycholab 2.6.24-19-generic #1 SMP Wed Jun 4 16:35:01 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux
=============================================================
# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 04)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 04)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 04)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 04)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 04)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 04)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d4)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 04)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M24 1P [Radeon Mobility X600]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 10)
06:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
06:00.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
06:00.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
06:00.4 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCI6411/6421/6611/6621/7411/7421/7611/7621 Secure Digital Controller
06:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection (rev 05)
=============================================================

Revision history for this message
Adrianus (adrianus-kurnadi) wrote :

I have just install Ubuntu 8.04 on Acer Travelmate 6292 and experiences the same thing.
I was connected to the network using ethernet cable, and was downloading update using update manager.
The hangs also happened when I just leave the notebook for several hours for a meeting.
After all the update finishes it still happens. This is a very annoying bug, and one of my colleague also has experience this using Lenovo notebook. He has stopped using Ubuntu and goes back using Windows until this problem is fixed.

Revision history for this message
mark (mark-fink1) wrote :

Hi there,

I experience the same thing on the Acer TravelMate 4500. With "Fn F7" I can switch off the touchpad and it does not happen again. I use an external mouse instead of the touchpad.

Cheers,
Mark Fink

Revision history for this message
S.R.Parda (linux-qbox) wrote :

Hang again when a 2.5" USB hard disk was connencted to make a backup (in the left side USB port, while mouse was in one of the rear ports).

Hard disk had various partitions (NTFS and EXT3).

I disabled wireless card in the laptop switch and I could reformat the disk (one partition Ext3), and make the backup, no mer hangs.

So its like something about wifi card or/and USB ports (i don't know if the rear USB controller).

When I connect a flash or hard disk, I usually suffer hangs. But not when I discconnet wireless card.

I have the touchpad disabled in bios at every moment.

Help, please. This is really a bug. No problems in five previous ubuntu versions.

Revision history for this message
cement_head (andorjkiss) wrote :

I've had random freezes as well - will try 8.04.1 soon.... and report back

Revision history for this message
ed12348 (ed12348-googlemail) wrote :

same problem. whenever a large file activity over usb or a large amount of activity over wireless occurs the pc freezes. also some of my usb ports will no longer recognise external storage devices. I am using a AMD 64 3000+ with nvidia 5200 graphics edimax pci wi-fi card.

Also occurs at seemingly random intervals, pc can run anywhere between 5mins and 2days after login. commonly only runs for 30mins to an hour.

Not only is the usability of the system impaired but also seemingly the stability. This issue has been posted here now for 2 months yet i do not see any decisions made over the bug with the importance 'undecided'. This bug is obviously a serious one as anything which leads to system instability can have major implications. Whether it affects one person, or from what i have found on the internet, many, this is an issue which needs addressing and what is more the users need to be made aware of these issues and what is being done to try and source the cause of the issue and at what stage they are in developing a solution. This is not just a small problem, this is something which is rendering many machines unreliable and unusable.

I moved from windows to ubuntu 6.06 without problems, yet when i upgrade from 7.10 to latest release and find that it is proving more unstable than the Vista installation on my siblings laptop something is desperately wrong. I fear it may be time to move distros.

Revision history for this message
cement_head (andorjkiss) wrote :

did you disable (blacklist) bcm43xx and bc43 if not used?

Revision history for this message
journeyman (journeyman4321) wrote :

Upgraded to 64-bit Hardy from 64-bit Gutsy last week, and experiencing the same (or similar) problem - machine hangs, no input or output, and a hard reboot required to get up and running again.
Machine is Fujitsu Siemens Amilo A1630 (AMD 64-bit CPU), with ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (like the first poster - wonder if this is an issue), and built-in Ralink RT2500 Wi-Fi card.
The system logs seem to offer no clue as to the problem. The issue usually occurs after about an hour, but sometimes even sooner.

I've tried disabling wi-fi (using plain vanilla ethernet instead), but the issue still occurs. Next, I'll remove the relevant modules, just in case the driver is being loaded.

Very disappointing, as have generally had great experiences with Ubuntu Edgy and Gutsy (after moving from SuSE), and had heard good things about Hardy. My guess is I'm just unlucky with my hardware configuration, and will have to keep disabling things until the system stays up (though this will be tricky, as I can't reliably trigger the problem). If I can't get to the bottom of the issue in the next few days, I'll have to downgrade back to Gutsy.

journeyman.

Revision history for this message
journeyman (journeyman4321) wrote :

An update:

Unfortunately, still seeing the problem.

Removing the wi-fi (rt2500) modules has no effect - the problem still occurs. So, this does not seem to be the issue
As an aside, there is another issue with the rt2500 drivers included in Hardy, which makes the wi-fi conneciton very slow (Bug #190515).

What with all of these issues, really wish I had stuck with Gutsy. Especially as there doesn't seem to be any straightforward downgrade path for Ubuntu
The end result is that I'm typing this on Windows !
Anyway, next time I upgrade, I'll try with the live cd first, as some users seem to have done.

Anyway, last step before downgrading (via a new install) will be to turn off Compiz and the native ATI drivers, and see if this improve matters.

Has anyone else had any success in getting over this issue ?

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

having same problem on an ibm t60. It only happens when i transfer a lot of data over network. The easiest way to reproduce the bug is starting a transfer of many small files (8000 or so) over ftp - and eventually it will hang. Nothing in the log files or anything. It does seem to happen with large files too - just takes a bit longer. It's almost like there is a set amount of data it will transfer, and when you exceed that amount it locks up.

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

it crashed again - this time without wifi enabled. Kill switch was set to off. Again transferring a 740mb large file over the network. If i transfer the 740mb to my lan it is not a problem, but transferring over the internet with app. 1 hour transfertime makes it freeze every time.

Revision history for this message
FFrenette (francois-frenette) wrote :

Same here as corep105. With Ubuntu 8.04 64 bits. It seems to crash everytime I started a big download from the internet...or even from ma local network. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T60.

Everything was allright with 7.10 32 bits...But, since 8.04 32 bits or 64 bits (I tried both), I have this annoying bug...

Glad to know that I'm not alone with this issue....

Hope that a fix will up fast....Or I will have to downgrade to 7.10....and wait for Ubuntu 8.10...

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

i have been testing a bit more - and it happens more often/quicker when i upload. I can download 1gb from the internet, but if i upload the same 1gb to another server it freezes after 300/400/500 mb app. It doesnt matter if i use http or ftp upload or any other protocol. Same result - it freezes.

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

It does not seem to be a problem on my desktop - Shuttle amd64 running 32bit ubuntu 8.04. Only on my laptop T60 (running 32bit).

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

it just happened again - this time no big files, only a vnc connection over the internet (the vnc only ran for 5-10 min before freezing completely). It must be some kind of timeout/latency problem, because it is occurring a lot more often over the internet.

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

forgot to mention this crash i had the wifi killswitch set to on - usually i have it set to off when using a network cable - so i don't know if wifi has anything to do with it, but it does seem to freeze quicker when wifi killswitch is on.

Revision history for this message
cement_head (andorjkiss) wrote :

if you have an INTEL chip, try:

$sudo apt-get install powertop

sudo powertop

Then see what is polling your kernel. I believe it's an interrupt problem. Are you using b43 module? If not, blacklist it at sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

- CH

Revision history for this message
UbunG (geoubun) wrote :

Hi, I've been having continuous freeze problems and installed powertop, but I don't understand the suggestions and what to do with this information. I'm attaching a screenshot, and maybe someone can explain it to me.

Revision history for this message
cement_head (andorjkiss) wrote :

powertop is a program that figures out what is polling the kernel and causes a high amount of interupts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerTOP).

It will also figure out what (if any) processes are hogging the CPU by polling it (asking it) ALL THE TIME and tieing up the CPU.

You can manually execute the commands, or choose the automated option. In the screenshot that you've attached, choosing "A" would cause the AC97 (your sound subsystem) to be shutdown when it isn't being used. In other words, you get to control your running programs, not the creator of the entity.

- CH

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

it looks like powertop does definitely do something right :-) I downloaded a 400mb file via ftp and my computer froze. Then i loaded powertop with "sudo powertop" and left it running. Then i downloaded the 400mb file and it did not freeze on me. don't know why, but it seemed to help. I did accept all the suggestions powertop gave me - like disable bluetooth, sata polling interval and something else. All 3 things i accepted just by pressing the corresponding letter showing up in the bottom of powertop. Even though it seems to keep the system from freezing it does not tell me why it freezes when powertop is not running. Any suggestions?? (would prefer to have it working without running powertop all the time, or as an alternative i can live with run powertop as a service when the computer boots). thanks for the help so far cement_head :-)

Revision history for this message
cement_head (andorjkiss) wrote :

hmmm...you shouldn't have to have powertop running - it should be a "one time deal". Is there something that is constantly polling (interrupting) the kernel, like the USB or the WIFI?

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

powertop gives me 4 suggestions - and i accept all of them. After accepting the suggestions and closing down powertop i have not had any freezes. So my guess is that one of those 4 things makes it freeze in default configuration. But which one? - i don't know enough about powertop and kernel to guess. I will over the next couple of days try to disable one by one and see if i can figure it out.

Suggestion: increase the VM dirty writeback time from 5,00 to 15 seconds with:
  echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
This wakes the disk up less frequenty for background VM activity
 Q - Quit R - Refresh W - Increase Writeback time

Suggestion: Enable SATA ALPM link power management via:
  echo min_power > /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy
or press the S key.
 Q - Quit R - Refresh S - SATA Link Power Management

Suggestion: Disable 'hal' from polling your cdrom with:
hal-disable-polling --device /dev/cdrom 'hal' is the component that auto-opens a
window if you plug in a CD but disables SATA power saving from kicking in.
 Q - Quit R - Refresh K - kill hald-addon-storage

Suggestion: Disable the unused bluetooth interface with the following command:
  hciconfig hci0 down ; rmmod hci_usb
Bluetooth is a radio and consumes quite some power, and keeps USB busy as well.
 Q - Quit R - Refresh B - Turn Bluetooth off

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

lspci gives me the following - i tried comparing it to the first posters lspci, but not anything interesting (from what i can see - no common components):

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility X1400
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
15:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller

Revision history for this message
Janne (jjohanss) wrote :

Instead of USB problem this might actually be a general I/O problem. I'm experiencing this freeze also but for me the freeze has happened while moving a gigloads of stuff from a hdd to another or more recently, when ripping CDs to flac format.

On my computer it has nothing to do with X or the desktop environment. The machine freezed always when ripping a certain CD (I did freeze randomly with other CDs as well but this really did it) and back then I thought the cause might be flash plugin or something so I booted the machine to command line and tried to rip the CD there using abcde. Same result, computer freezes.

Fresh install of 64-bit Hardy.

Revision history for this message
lych (greendalf) wrote :

Hi all!

Tried what powertop suggested (the same as corep105 wrote) but it still hangs..

btw, I deem it has something to do to GTK applications.. I am using almost pure KDE, almost due to firefox, linuxdcpp and few other packages. So, it seems that hangs do not happen to me when I am not using the above gtk-based packages.

So I stop using gtk programs. And start doing Opera :)

Revision history for this message
corep105 (corep.dk) wrote :

froze again - this time from within a virtual machine (virtualbox) running XP and updating a lot of documents with data. Powertop is not the solution. I think more like a general I/O issue too....only thing i can say for certain is that it happens when large amounts of data are transferred on the nic, and i think it only happens when i am on networks with high latency (but only a hunch to back this up unfortunately). What annoys me the most is that the logfiles gives you nothing at all :-(

Revision history for this message
lych (greendalf) wrote :

What is surprising me most is that the bug was created at 09 May 08, and still no one from Ubuntu team have said something about this.

I subscribed Jonathan Thomas ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/~echidnaman ) to this bug. He initially marked another bug #228629 as duplicate to this one and looking on what he writes here he seems to be from Ubuntu.

Revision history for this message
journeyman (journeyman4321) wrote :

Another update:

Still experiencing the "freeze" problem. Steps taken since last time I posted an update:

1. Applied fix for slow Wi-Fi problem (Bug #190515). At least this makes machine usable with Wi-Fi connections. Did not fix the freeze problem, though.
2. Installed powertop (which worked even though I have an AMD CPU), and applied all suggestions:

Suggestion: increase the VM dirty writeback time from 5.00 to 15 seconds with:
  echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
This wakes the disk up less frequenty for background VM activity

Suggestion: enable AC97 powersave mode by executing the following command:
   echo 1 > /sys/module/snd_ac97_codec/parameters/power_save
or by passing power_save=1 as module parameter.

Suggestion: Disable 'hal' from polling your cdrom with:
hal-disable-polling --device /dev/cdrom 'hal' is the component that auto-opens a
window if you plug in a CD but disables SATA power saving from kicking in.

However, no luck - machine still freezes up after an hour or so of usage. In fact, occasionally, the freezes are so bad that holding down the "power off" button to switch off the machine doesn't work. I have to disconnect mains power, and remove the laptop battery to get it to power down!
Note that the machine did not experience these issues under Gutsy Gibbon and does not experience them under Windows, so am pretty sure that they are Hardy Heron related.

My final attempt to fix this will be to move away from proprietary ATI drivers and compiz. If this doesn't work, no choice but to re-install Gutsy.

With regard to fixes from the Ubuntu team, suspect that only a few unlucky people have hardware configurations that trigger this problem, so, unfortunately for us, it's not a priority to fix.

Revision history for this message
Eycks (plmemail) wrote :

I have been having this problem since June 2007. During that time I upgraded and installed all the patches recommended by Ubuntu. I am now at 8.04. The crashes occure totally randomly. I usually get about 30 minutes before the crash. If I restart from XP the boot into Ubuntu fails sometimes. Powering off and then back on allows me to get into Ubuntu. It also fails when I am using FireFox to surf the net. Sometimes when I leave my computer on and the screen saver is up it happens. I have to power down and reboot to recover. I have looked in some log files but since I am a novice I have not seen anything that looks like it could be a cause. This is a dual boot machine and XP works fine so I think it is a software problem. This is an AMD machine. Any troubleshoot tactics would be appreciated.

Revision history for this message
Eduardo Durany Fernández (edurany) wrote :

Same problem with an Acer Travelmate 632. The only solution i have found is to boot with "acpi=off" or "acpi=ht", but with these options I lose battery status reporting and fan is making a terrible noise.

I tried all boot options of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingACPI without success.

Ubuntu Hardy. I have no problems with Gutsy or Feisty.

Revision history for this message
Eycks (plmemail) wrote :

I booted up 8.04 in 2.6.24-19 generic recovery mode. Looked around a little and when to lunch for 20 minutes. When I came back I had a blank screen and could not get a prompt. Since I had tried to use a ping earlier and found I did not have network access this seems to point at something very basic.

Revision history for this message
lych (greendalf) wrote :

Disabling acpi did help for me. So the problem might be related to acpi module...

Revision history for this message
pcm_man (pcm-man) wrote :

I have a Solo1450 Gateway laptop and I was having the exact same random freezes on this machine with NO LOG FILES showing anything! I tried the Powertop. I simply let to run for maybe 15 minutes and I accepted the four solutions it suggested. My laptop to running beautifully now with Ubuntu 8.04.1 Absolutely no hangups and lower CPU usage.

Give this solution a try!

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jumpertrekker (janko-carina) wrote :

I think in this bug report there are some different causes that generate similar problems. But I'm sure about one of those.
Starting my Ubuntu 8.04 with a usb mouse connected makes it work perfectly. If I start it without a usb mouse, so that I use only the touchpad, after a couple of seconds everything freezes. Any ideas?

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journeyman (journeyman4321) wrote :

A final update from me:

I've upgraded to Intrepid Ibex (Ubuntu 8.10), and, thankfully, the issue has disappeared. One other change that was made at the same time was to move from proprietary "fglrx" ATI driver to the open source "ati" ATI driver, so this may also be a factor.

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Eduardo Durany Fernández (edurany) wrote :

Problem fixed for me too with Intrepid. I can boot with acpi and the system is not freezing.

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Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman) wrote :

Reported fixed from various sources, so marking as such.

Changed in linux:
status: New → Fix Released
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