hwclock /dev/rtc Device or resource busy

[Alex Filonov]

Binary package hint: linux-image

This is happening in Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. After latest kernel update, hwclock is not working anymore. Symptoms are quite similar to those reported in bug 59596. If timidity is running and you attempt to run hwclock:

 hwclock --debug
hwclock from util-linux-ng 2.13.1
hwclock: Open of /dev/rtc failed, errno=16: Device or resource busy.
No usable clock interface found.
Cannot access the Hardware Clock via any known method.

This is happening on three machines: System76 laptop, booting linux-image-generic, Dell 400sc desktop booting linux-image-386 and IBM Thinkpad t41 booting linux-image386.

All machines have all current updates.

Kernel version is 2.6.24-23.

hwclock works OK if you stop timidity or if you use --directisa switch.

System information:

uname -a
Linux gazelle 2.6.24-23-generic #1 SMP Mon Jan 26 00:13:11 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

cat /proc/version_signature
Ubuntu 2.6.24-23.48-generic

lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 8.04.2
Release: 8.04

[Antoine Amarilli (a3nm)]

Same symptoms here.

sudo hwclock --debug
hwclock from util-linux-ng 2.13.1
hwclock: Open of /dev/rtc failed, errno=16: Device or resource busy.
No usable clock interface found.
Cannot access the Hardware Clock via any known method.

uname -a
Linux delta 2.6.24-17-generic #1 SMP Thu May 1 13:57:17 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Ray W. Johnson (raywjohnson)]

Same here:

hwclock --show --directisa
Mon 13 Apr 2009 09:01:32 PM PDT -0.999237 seconds

hwclock --show --debug
hwclock from util-linux-ng 2.13.1
hwclock: Open of /dev/rtc failed, errno=16: Device or resource busy.
No usable clock interface found.
Cannot access the Hardware Clock via any known method.

System Info:
uname -a
Linux ubuntu_##### 2.6.24-23-generic #1 SMP Wed Apr 1 21:47:28 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

cat /proc/version_signature
Ubuntu 2.6.24-23.52-generic

lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 8.04.2
Release: 8.04

--RayJ

[Trackieman (ubuntu-trackies)]

Problem for me too on both my Ubuntu 9.04 workstation (with all Intel chipset) and my Ubuntu 8.04.2 Server (SiS chipset) from which the output below is shown:

~$ sudo hwclock --debug
hwclock from util-linux-ng 2.13.1
hwclock: Open of /dev/rtc failed, errno=16: Device or resource busy.
No usable clock interface found.
Cannot access the Hardware Clock via any known method.

~$ uname -a
Linux server 2.6.24-24-server #1 SMP Wed Apr 15 16:36:01 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661FX/M661FX/M661MX Host (rev 11)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS AGP Port (virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS964 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 36)
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Sound Controller (rev a0)
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:05.0 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] RAID bus controller 180 SATA/PATA [SiS] (rev 01)
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82541GI Gigabit Ethernet Controller
00:0b.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
00:0b.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661/741/760 PCI/AGP or 662/761Gx PCIE VGA Display Adapter

[Andy Whitcroft (apw)]

This is not a bug in the linux-meta package, moving to the linux package.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Alex,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/lucid.

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 325518

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Alex Filonov (alextcs)]

This is still an issue on fully updated 8.04:

hwclock
Cannot access the Hardware Clock via any known method.
Use the --debug option to see the details of our search for an access
method.

I don't know if I can try on the latest release.

On Sun, 2010-03-14 at 01:53 +0000, Jeremy Foshee wrote:
> Hi Alex,
>
> This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in
> it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try
> with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are
> available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/lucid.
>
> If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a
> Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically
> gather and attach updated debug information to this report.
>
> apport-collect -p linux 325518
>
> Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would
> be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the
> issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once
> you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-
> testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon
> next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and
> deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your
> results.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you
> inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]
>
>
> ** Tags added: needs-kernel-logs
>
> ** Tags added: needs-upstream-testing
>
> ** Tags added: kj-triage
>
> ** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
--
Alex Filonov

Work: [phone]
Cell: [phone]

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[John (john-jcoppens)]

This gentoo tracker issue reports the same problem and the solution:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-7336102.html