kernel general protection fault when copying a lot of files over Samba

[Martijn Brinkers]

My Ubuntu Feisty always crashes (kernel general protection fault) when I copy a large number of files from Windows XP machine to a shared directory on Ubuntu over Samba.

uname -a:
Linux ubuntu 2.6.20-16-generic #2 SMP Sun Sep 23 18:31:23 UTC 2007
x86_64 GNU/Linux

CPU:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU

Ubuntu Feisty.

Motherboard P5K

The relevant part of kern.org:

Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742552] general protection fault:
0000 [1] SMP
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742558] CPU 0
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742560] Modules linked in:
nls_iso8859_1 nls_cp437 vfat fat ipaq usbserial battery ac thermal fan
button atl1 mii binfmt_misc ipv6 vmnet(P) vmmon(P) ppdev af_p
acket acpi_cpufreq cpufreq_userspace cpufreq_powersave
cpufreq_conservative cpufreq_stats cpufreq_ondemand freq_table
tc1100_wmi sony_acpi dev_acpi pcc_acpi video sbs asus_acpi container
dock backl
ight i2c_ec sbp2 parport_pc lp parport snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_pcm snd_seq_dummy snd_seq_oss nvidia(P)
xpad i2c_core snd_seq_midi snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event sn
d_seq snd_timer snd_seq_device snd shpchp intel_agp psmouse pci_hotplug
pcspkr soundcore snd_page_alloc serio_raw evdev tsdev sr_mod cdrom ext3
jbd mbcache sg usb_storage libusual usbhid hid sd_mod
 pata_jmicron ata_generic ahci floppy ata_piix ehci_hcd uhci_hcd
ohci1394 ieee1394 libata scsi_mod generic usbcore raid1 md_mod processor
fbcon tileblit font bitblit softcursor vesafb cfbcopyarea c
fbimgblt cfbfillrect capability commoncap
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742634] Pid: 221, comm: pdflush
Tainted: P 2.6.20-16-generic #2
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742637] RIP: 0010:[_end
[phone]/2130485360] [_end
[phone]/2130485360] :ext3:walk_page_buffers+0x34/0xa0
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742652] RSP: 0018:ffff81012a4d3bb0
EFLAGS: 00010202
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742654] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX:
0000000023e0f40d RCX: 0000000000001000
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742658] RDX: 0000000023e0f40d RSI:
1988fa1076a5e042 RDI: ffff8100c4fbdc60
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742661] RBP: 0000000047c1e81a R08:
0000000000000000 R09: ffffffff881dea10
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742663] R10: 0000000000000000 R11:
0000000000000001 R12: 0000000023e0f40d
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742666] R13: 1988fa1076a5e042 R14:
ffff81002179d5a8 R15: 0000000000000000
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742670] FS:
0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffffffff8054e000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742673] CS: 0010 DS: 0018 ES:
0018 CR0: 000000008005003b
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742676] CR2: 00002ba39cf68000 CR3:
00000000c4d1b000 CR4: 00000000000006e0
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742679] Process pdflush (pid: 221,
threadinfo ffff81012a4d2000, task ffff810129937860)
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742682] Stack: ffffffff881dea10
0000000000001000 ffff8100c4fbdc60 ffff81012c4d3120
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742688] ffff8100c4fbdc60
00000000c4fbdc60 ffff81002179d5a8 ffff81012a4d3e40
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742693] 000000000000000e
ffffffff881e1de3 ffff81012c4d3120 000000000000000d
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742697] Call Trace:
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742708] [_end
[phone]/2130485360] :ext3:bget_one+0x0/0x10
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742725] [_end
[phone]/2130485360] :ext3:ext3_ordered_writepage+0xd3/0x190
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742737] [generic_writepages
+442/800] generic_writepages+0x1ba/0x320
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742750] [_end
[phone]/2130485360] :ext3:ext3_ordered_writepage+0x0/0x190
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742778] [do_writepages+39/64]
do_writepages+0x27/0x40
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742784] [__writeback_single_inode
+470/912] __writeback_single_inode+0x1d6/0x390
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742803] [sync_sb_inodes+478/704]
sync_sb_inodes+0x1de/0x2c0
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742814] [writeback_inodes
+152/240] writeback_inodes+0x98/0xf0
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742821] [pdflush+0/512] pdflush
+0x0/0x200
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742825] [background_writeout
+146/208] background_writeout+0x92/0xd0
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742840] [pdflush+0/512] pdflush
+0x0/0x200
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742844] [keventd_create_kthread
+0/144] keventd_create_kthread+0x0/0x90
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742849] [pdflush+340/512] pdflush
+0x154/0x200
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742854] [background_writeout
+0/208] background_writeout+0x0/0xd0
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742862] [kthread+217/288] kthread
+0xd9/0x120
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742873] [child_rip+10/18]
child_rip+0xa/0x12
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742879] [keventd_create_kthread
+0/144] keventd_create_kthread+0x0/0x90
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742893] [kthread+0/288] kthread
+0x0/0x120
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742898] [child_rip+0/18]
child_rip+0x0/0x12
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742903]
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742905]
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742906] Code: 4c 8b 6e 08 41 8d 1c
14 76 0b 89 d8 44 29 e0 3b 44 24 08 72
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742918] RIP [_end
[phone]/2130485360] :ext3:walk_page_buffers+0x34/0xa0
Oct 1 20:00:10 ubuntu kernel: [ 5882.742928] RSP <ffff81012a4d3bb0>

[Martijn Brinkers (m-brinkers)]

The crash seems related to a network driver and 4 GB of memory.

See http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/6/25/356

Seems to be 'fixed' in newer kernels

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Beginning with the Hardy Heron 8.04 development cycle, all open Ubuntu kernel bugs need to be reported against the "linux" kernel package. We are automatically migrating this bug to the new "linux" package. However, development has already began for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. It would be helpful if you could test the upcoming release and verify if this is still an issue - http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . If the issue still exists, please update this report by changing the Status of the "linux" task from "Incomplete" to "New". We appreciate your patience and understanding as we make this transition. Thanks!