Graphics freeze

[Robert Perce]

I have a HP Pavilion dm1-4010us; after upgrading to Ubunu 12.04 from 10.04 I began experiencing freezes. In such a freeze, the mouse is completely unresponsive, the keyboard almost so: Ctrl+Alt+F1 has no effect (both with and without the Fn key, which I never have to use to get to framebuffer console anyways), but I am able to Alt+PrintScrn+REISUB to reboot. They happen more often when my laptop is under a high load, but not always -- I have had a freeze completely idle. I believe ability to REISUB means there's no kernel panic, so I suspect the problem is in graphics drivers or something of the like; the freezes persist through both generic ubuntu drivers and proprietary ati drivers.

Attempts to recreate the freezes are rarely successful; there's no one program opening that causes them or something. They occur most often (besides during high load) when a program is opening, closing, or changing state.

Again, I'm running Ubuntu 12.04; my xorg is version 1:7.6+12ubuntu1, as reported by apt-cace policy xorg.

EDIT: Not xorg. As changed by... someone... it's gotta be the graphics drivers: I experience these freezes even after 'sudo service lightdm stop' -- i.e. no X at all. Also, I can't seem to REISUB when the freeze occurs from a virtual console.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: xorg 1:7.6+12ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic-pae 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: wl fglrx
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
Date: Sun Jun 10 15:33:46 2012
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: precise
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 bcmwl, 5.100.82.38+bdcom, 3.2.0-24-generic-pae, i686: installed
 fglrx-updates, 8.960, 3.2.0-24-generic-pae, i686: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, whatever it takes to get this fixed in Ubuntu
GpuHangFrequency: Several times a week
GpuHangReproducibility: Occurs more often under certain circumstances
GpuHangStarted: Immediately after installing this version of Ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6320] [1002:9806] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3387]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release i386 (20120423)
JockeyStatus:
 xorg:fglrx_updates - ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver (post-release updates) (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
 kmod:wl - Broadcom STA wireless driver (Proprietary, Enabled, In use) [auto-install]
 xorg:fglrx - ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion dm1 Notebook PC
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=linux
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-24-generic-pae root=UUID=fc98791f-ecb4-4fd1-b389-580357b25629 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
Title: Xorg freeze
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 12/13/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: F.13
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: 3387
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.board.version: 36.15
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvrF.13:bd12/13/2011:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPPaviliondm1NotebookPC:pvr0697100000204600000320100:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn3387:rvr36.15:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct10:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: HP Pavilion dm1 Notebook PC
dmi.product.version: 0697100000204600000320100
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1
version.fglrx-installer: fglrx-installer N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.32-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 8.0.2-0ubuntu3.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 8.0.2-0ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.11.4-0ubuntu10.2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20111219.aacbd629-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20111201+b5534a1-1build2

[Tim Taylor (drtimt)]

Have a look at https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=133541
There are some suggested fixes there (which worked on my HP Pavilion dm1), involving blacklisting the sp5100_tco driver and disabling the thermal module. However, it appears that a more recent update to the driver has introduced further problems for some people (although not me) - so the fixes may or may not solve you problem.

[Robert Perce (robert-perce)]

That worked! Or at least it certainly seems to have. Putting it as an option for the kernel (modprobe.blacklist='sp5100_tco') appears to be more reliable than just blacklist it in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. I'll be sure to not update sp5100_tco as well, thank you!

[Robert Perce (robert-perce)]

Also, note that since reporting the bug I switched from Ubuntu to Arch Linux; the freezing bug actually happened with more frequency but that blacklist still fixed it.