hard freeze after 10 minutes of uptime when no screen is attached

[Jouke]

This is a headless server that ran 9.10 fine from november till early january, when I got a new kernel through and apt-get upgrade. The server runs fine when a monitor is attached, but when the monitor is not attached is freezes after 10 minutes of uptime.

This is a typical ubuntu server installation (lamp).

Other haver reported same problem :
here:
http://serverfault.com/questions/80520/ubuntu-server-9-10-freezes-up-after-10-minutes
and here:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=703223

It is supposedly related to power saving modes (apm/acpi?) and the screen. Different work around have been suggested, but I had no success yet, other than attaching a screen permanently.

ProblemType: Bug
AplayDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/snd/by-path', '/dev/snd/controlC0', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D3c', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D4p', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0c', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D1c', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D2c', '/dev/snd/timer'] failed with exit code 1:
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.values: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Date: Sat Feb 6 22:30:41 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=97d5de47-53fa-44c7-ad8a-ceb07d30ef2a
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
Lsusb:
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 005 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 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: HP Pavilion 061 DQ034A-ABA A282N
Package: linux-image-2.6.31-19-generic-pae 2.6.31-19.56
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-19-generic-pae root=UUID=0a8e5e5c-a0d7-4943-bd4c-b350bfd94322 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-19.56-generic-pae
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-19-generic-pae N/A
 linux-firmware 1.25
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-19-generic-pae i686
dmi.bios.date: 07/18/2003
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 3.11
dmi.board.name: 'P4SD-LA'
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev 1.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr3.11:bd07/18/2003:svnHPPavilion061:pnDQ034A-ABAA282N:pvr05/1211RE101STING10:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rn'P4SD-LA':rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: DQ034A-ABA A282N
dmi.product.version: 05/1211RE101STING10
dmi.sys.vendor: HP Pavilion 061

[Jouke (digigram)]

Forgot to mention, I did check temperatures of cpu & harddrives and ran memtest. Everything seems fine.

[Jouke (digigram)]

Ok the following work around works for me:

Put following lines in an executable script file in /etc/init.d/freezingfixwhennoscreenisattached.sh
#========cut================
#!/bin/bash
for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6
do
setterm -blank 0 -powersave off -powerdown 0 > /dev/tty$i
done
#=========paste===================

make script run at boot by running
sudo update-rc.d freezingfixwhennoscreenisattached.sh defaults

[Jouke (digigram)]

ps, if you try to run the above script from an ssh session, it will give you the error message:

[Jouke (digigram)]

....
error message: cannot (un)set powersave mode
but the script will run at boot or from any tty session

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Jouke,

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/ .

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 518265

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.]

[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.]