Random and frequent hang in Karmic - console freeze

[John McCreesh]

Since installing Karmic, my Dell Dimension 4500S suffers from random and frequent console freezes. I can still move the mouse cursor on the screen, but nothing else works, including <Alt>F1 etc. I can ssh into the PC from another machine, and everything appears to be normal - no runaway processes in 'top', nothing odd in syslog, etc.

There doesn't appear to be a link to any particular app - I have this happen while using Firefox, OpenOffice.org, etc - but at the moment I'm lucky to get an hour's work before a freeze.

Any clues or suggestions for further diagnostics please?

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: john 1894 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'I82801DBICH4'/'Intel 82801DB-ICH4 with AD1981A at irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981A'
   Components : 'AC97a:41445372'
   Controls : 25
   Simple ctrls : 17
Date: Mon Nov 30 16:14:26 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=444e483f-1943-4bfb-9932-2286d1ced709
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 4500S
Package: linux-image-2.6.31-15-generic 2.6.31-15.50
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic root=UUID=fcb78a7c-d651-47ed-8be7-aee9a64570b3 ro nosplash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-15.50-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-15-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.25
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-15-generic i686
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1907): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1907): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1956): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:1949): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
dmi.bios.date: 05/21/2002
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.bios.version: A01
dmi.board.name: Dimension 4500S
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellComputerCorporation:bvrA01:bd05/21/2002:svnDellComputerCorporation:pnDimension4500S:pvr:rvnDellComputerCorporation:rnDimension4500S:rvr:cvnDellComputerCorporation:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Dimension 4500S
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation

[John McCreesh (jpmcc)]

I noticed this in the log when the system hung just now: INFO: task i915/0:245 blocked for more than 120 seconds.

Is this a clue?