1002:4b4b Intermittent crashes of Xserver due to video driver

[James Lownie]

The initial symptoms are that Ubuntu will suddenly log me out of the session. This happens when using Thunderbird Mail and TrueCombat Elite. Looking at ~/.xsession-errors shows the error message "XIO: fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server" just before the crash. Running Glxgears will also cause this error message to be displayed.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-15.25-generic 3.11.10
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-15-generic i686
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,resize,regex,snap,animation,imgpng,unitymtgrabhandles,vpswitch,mousepoll,gnomecompat,place,grid,move,expo,workarounds,ezoom,wall,session,fade,scale,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: None
Date: Mon Feb 17 08:08:23 2014
DistUpgraded: 2014-02-08 17:38:59,393 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: saucy
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] R481 [Radeon X850 PRO AGP] [1002:4b4b] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device [1002:0312]
   Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device [1002:0313]
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_AU.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: root=/dev/sdb1 ro rootdelay=90 nosplash quiet
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2014-02-08 (8 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 01/18/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: SiS-661
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd01/18/2006:svn:pn:pvr:rvn:rnSiS-661:rvr:cvn:ct3:cvr:
drirc:
 <driconf>
 </driconf>
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.46-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.2.1-1ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.2.1-1ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.14.5-1ubuntu2~saucy1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.2.0-0ubuntu10
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.904-0ubuntu2.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau N/A
xserver.bootTime: Mon Feb 17 07:39:20 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:
 Failed to load module "modesetting" (module does not exist, 0)
 Failed to load module "modesetting" (module does not exist, 0)
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.14.5-1ubuntu2~saucy1
xserver.video_driver: radeon

[penalvch (penalvch)]

James Lownie, could you please capture the xorg backtrace following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DebuggingSystemCrash ? The log must contain the word "backtrace" in order to be helpful.

[James Lownie (jlownie)]

Hi Christopher, I'm having difficulties getting a backtrace. I reproduced the problem, but Apport wasn't on, and it didn't leave anything in /etc/X11/core or /var/log/Xorg.x.log. I switched Apport on and now I'm having trouble reproducing the problem.

Also I'm not sure if the Xorg server will trap the crash and log it, or create a dump file and pass it on to Apport. I found instructions to force it to trigger apport, but they require editing Xorg.conf, which doesn't exist and I wasn't able to create it.

[James Lownie (jlownie)]

Hi Christopher,

The crash happened again and this time Apport captured the crash data, but it didn't finish the process, it didn't open up the web browser to create a new bug. So I have a file /var/crash/_usr_bin_Xorg.0.crash, but I don't know what to do with it. Can you help?

- James

[James Lownie (jlownie)]

I got the backtrace, here it is. I also have the Apport report file if you want it.

[James Lownie (jlownie)]

I forgot to mention that this time the crash was caused by Thunderbird, not Truecombat elite. Same symptoms though.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

James Lownie, regarding https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1280892/comments/4 :
>"The crash happened again and this time Apport captured the crash data, but it didn't finish the process, it didn't open up the web browser to create a new bug. So I have a file /var/crash/_usr_bin_Xorg.0.crash..."

The reason when you ran in a terminal:
ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_usr_bin_Xorg.0.crash

that when you clicked yes to report this it didn't open a new browser window is because of a known issue you would need to address as outlined in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Reporting_an_application_crash .

[James Lownie (jlownie)]

Thanks for that. I had to create a new bug because I couldn't get the apport web app to associate the error report with this bug number. The new bug is 1283593 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/1283593).