"NMI watchdog: BUG: soft lockup" and "page allocation stalls" errors

[MegaBrutal]

My computer running Ubuntu Yakkety with 32 bit 4.8.0-41-generic kernel often locks up. Error messages like this appear in syslog:

Mar 10 09:49:22 ReThinkCentre kernel: [47896.075600] NMI watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#0 stuck for 23s! [kswapd0:38]

In later mainline kernels (4.10.0, or maybe even 4.9.0), the error message changes to this:

Mar 4 22:07:04 ReThinkCentre kernel: [ 2815.183424] kthreadd: page allocation stalls for 11600ms, order:1, mode:0x17000c0(GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT|__GFP_NOTRACK)

I believe the root cause is the same behind the two kinds of error messages, the latter being more specific. One kernel version never shows these messages mixed, they either log "NMI watchdog" or "page allocation stalls", there is no kernel version which logs both.

With kernel bisection, I found that the following commit solves the problem in the mainline kernel:

71ab6cfe88dcf9f6e6a65eb85cf2bda20a257682 mm, vmscan: consider eligible zones in get_scan_count

However, this patch doesn't easily apply to 4.8.0. I tried to backport it with git cherry-pick, but it run into conflicts.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.10
Package: linux-image-4.8.0-41-generic 4.8.0-41.44
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-41.44-generic 4.8.17
Uname: Linux 4.8.0-41-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.20.3-0ubuntu8.2
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: kutya 18471 F.... pulseaudio
Date: Fri Mar 10 09:53:23 2017
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=e0ebed7b-f012-4399-a6d9-584b8c64950b
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-08-16 (936 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release i386 (20140417)
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard HP Compaq dc5800 Small Form Factor
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=hu_HU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.8.0-41-generic root=/dev/mapper/centrevg-rootlv ro rootflags=subvol=@ rootdelay=300
PulseList: Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.8.0-41-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.8.0-41-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.161.1
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to yakkety on 2017-01-22 (47 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 02/13/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: 786F2 v01.55
dmi.board.asset.tag: CZC8428PV6
dmi.board.name: 2820h
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: CZC8428PV6
dmi.chassis.type: 4
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvr786F2v01.55:bd02/13/2009:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPCompaqdc5800SmallFormFactor:pvr:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn2820h:rvr:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct4:cvr:
dmi.product.name: HP Compaq dc5800 Small Form Factor
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Andy Whitcroft (apw)]

This bug was nominated against a series that is no longer supported, ie yakkety. The bug task representing the yakkety nomination is being closed as Won't Fix.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.