Mint 8 Helena hangs (total freeze)

[rameshkarthik]

Hi,

I'm facing similiar problem for some time(around two weeks).

My config is as follows:
Processor: Intel P4 2.4 GHz
Motherboard: D845GEBV2
Graphics Card: Integrated (Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device)
Graphics Memory:
RAM : 1 GB DDR RAM
SWAP Memory: 500 MB
Linux Kernel: 2.6.31-14-generic
Dual Booting: Linux Mint 8 main edition and Windows XP SP2

Today during various times of operations like browing the net thro' FF or browsing directories thro' nautilus or while changing the desktop theme, etc.. system hanged. My mouse was working but nothing else was working. even I wasn't able to do shutdown thro' ALT+BACKSPACE. So, I was forced to shutdown the system thro' reset button on the CPU. This kind of forced shutdown happened 3 times today.

I loaded win xp and googled to find this post. One of my friends advised me that My swap memory was a concern so he insisted on reinstalling helena with 1 gb of swap memory (equal to my RAM Size).

I've just backed up the data and about to reinstall the system with helena. If still the problem persists I'll follow all the solutions given in this entire set of posts and will update this thread if some thing works out.

NOTE: LM 8 is a great os to work except for this system freezing problem. I almost forgot xp for the past two weeks and used it only to check my official mails alone.

[hinto]

The swap is fine...
Is this a laptop or desktop. My problem was loose cards in my desktop. It was causing interrupt problems as well as making it overheat.
-Hinto

[rameshkarthik]

Hi Hinto,

Thanks for the reply.
Its a desktop.

I've re-installed it with 1 gb of swap just half-an-hour back . Currently testing it.
As of now there are no freezes. Will post back and try out all the solutions provided in this set of posts.

[rameshkarthik]

Hi,

I've just started my system after a forced shutdown within a day of my re-installation.
I was running rythmbox and browsing in firefox (I opened around 6 or 7 tabs in it) when my system hanged. As usual only mouse was working.

Hinto is right that system hang is not due to swap memory.

I'm going to try acpi = off as the first solution

[rameshkarthik]

Hi,

I've tried both acpi=off as well as noacpi in the grub file of /etc/default.
For the past two hours there was not this issue of system freezing but the system has definitely slowed down and using acpi=off was worse. currently using the set noacpi as per the post: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=37971

I also intend to try with the updated kernel after a couple of days if this noacpi solution works

[rameshkarthik]

Hi,

Even the noacpi solution doesn't solve the problem.

Today I gave a bulk download of a torrent and left my system and when I checked it back after few hours I found that the blank screen saver is running (eventhough I've set the monitor to turnoff after 10 mintes in the power management) and as usual only mose was working, keyboard wasn't working and even when I moved the mouse I wasn't able to get back to my desktop. Hence, I was forced to do press the reset button of my cpu

I'm going to try the kernel update now and keep you posted.

[hinto]

At one time (Mint 6) I had to use:

-acpi=off -noapic

as grub options for my HP Pavillion. More and more manufactures are delegating BIOS work to Microsoft.....

-Hinto

[rameshkarthik]

Hi Hinto,

Thanks for the reply.

Yet again my system freezes when opened another instance of firefox and browsed in that second window.
Currently I'm using both acpi=off and noacpi. But I don't want to use the option acpi=off as it retards the opening, closing and manipulation of different windows.

[hinto]

Are all your cards firmly seated and you cpu running at a comfortable temperature?
-Hinto

[rameshkarthik]

I'm certain they are. During this freeze only I checked them and made all possible tightening of the loose ends.

[rameshkarthik]

Just completed installation of kernel 2.6.32-020632. Will let you know about the freezes in it if there are any.
For instructions on the installation of this kernel I followed the below url:
http://www.ramoonus.nl/2009/12/03/linux ... ntu-linux/

I've removed both noapic and apci=off.

This week the system hangs for around 5-6 times and most of the times the system hangs when firefox is running and secondly when i force restart the system for the first time it again freezes and then when the second time I force restart the system it works normally.

Yet to check these anomalies in the new kernel.

Some questions regarding the new kernel
1. When I did a normal restart after installing the new kernel, I'm having both the new and old kernels in the boot screen. Result after running update-grub is given below:

Generating grub.cfg ...
Found Debian background: linuxmint.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-020632-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-020632-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Microsoft Windows XP Professional on /dev/sda1
done

I can see that there are both the kernels present in the system. I want to remove the old kernel properly from the system after some days(after checking the crash/system freeze) not just from grub alone. Can anyone advise me on that.

2. While booting the system with new kernel I saw 3 lines of errors which says some thing about renderer error and masking (since it is shown only a couple of seconds I don't have the full details of it) but there is no such error appearing in case of old kernel. But I think I didn't see any notable difference in the working of both kernels (since it is now only few minutes after the installation of the new kernel). But please can some one let me know whether these three error while booting will affect the system in its long run.

[hinto]

Try running X with VESA, instead of the intel driver and see if you still get freezes.
I assume you have an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. Set the driver to vesa. You'll lose all the visual effects, but it will let you know if it's your video driver that's crashing, instead of hardware.
-Hinto

[rameshkarthik]

Just returned to Linux after some official work on windows this week.

On the new kernel itself I've got two freezes with chrome and rythmbox running on both the occasions. This time I used ALT+SysReq + RE then used to login into the tty1 terminal and ran reboot command to restart the system instead of force restart. Please note that I used RE and not entire REISUB. I hope this doesn't cause any damage.

Hinto - Thanks for your reply. I don't have the xorg.conf file in the location you mentioned. If there is any other way to set this up, could you please let me know.

[rameshkarthik]

Yet another freeze just after few minutes of my previous post.

[rameshkarthik]

I've found some more freezes in the past two weeks and mos of these freezes happen when I had either firefox or chrome running. Are these two browsers a resource hog? I'm yet to find a freeze while using opera.

One more thing for me ALT+SysRq+REISUB is working. For the past two freezes I'm proceeding as follows after the freeze:
1. Pressing ALT+SysRq+RE
2. After this, terminal-1's command user interface is displayed
3. From there I'm giving the following command to restast the system instead of forced restart
sudo reboot

I don't know the entire consequnce of this REISUB. Any help regarding this and the freeze issue is appreciated

[acsey]

@rameshkarthik,

I have the same chipset and the following combo was the only solution (I tried everything!!!!!!....twice!!!!). This has been working fine for me since April.

You need to downgrade the xorg intel driver to 2.4 also (see my post on page 3).

"and downgraded xorg:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReinhardTartler ... riverTo2.4"

I have noticed a xserver-common update, but I've avoided it for the time being (not enough time to mess with it if there are problems).

EDIT:
Also, I don't think it has anything to do with apps you're using. Using nothing would freeze me up, but I was mostly using opera/exaile/torrent

[pokemoncatdog]

Update form old post:

Hi,

I upgraded to Linux Mint 9 (FULL INSTALL) and I still get the freeze if I don't use "acpi=off" in grub.
Using "acpi=off" make he system halt on shutdown and will not power down the system and I have to click the power button to power off.

On Linux Mint 8 all I had to do was add "apm power_off=1" to "sudo gedit /etc/modules".

Now on Linux Mint 9 this module is not working. With or without the module the system will not power down on shutdown. Using the default kernel or the newest kernel update.

Why is this not working on Linux Mint 9 but working on Linux Mint 8? Whats the difference? How can I get it working?

p.s. My kernel is 2.6.32-24-generic (x86), if that help.

[rameshkarthik]

@acsey

Just reverted the Jaunty Xorg intel driver to 2.4 as per your post. Will keep you posted about the status of the system freezes.

[pokemoncatdog]

Hi all.

Just a note - I had the hanging / freezing thing as well going on. On a tip from a friend, I upgraded my kernel to 2.6.33, and it's been stable for 2 hours now, the best it's been since I upgraded to Mint 9 a few days ago.

You can get the updated kernel at http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/ma ... 3.4-lucid/.

Upgraded to Mint 9 and that did not stop the freeze. I am now using this kernel.(Thank you BrianV.) It is working for now. I have been using this kernel for about 2 hours now. No freeze, Oh and I have ACPI ON.
Which is very good. Before installing this kernel I HAD to turn acpi off in grub with "acpi=off' to stop the freeze.

Will post update if PC freezes with this kernel.

UPDATE: I speak to quick. My PC locked up just after posting this. I hate this freezing. it needs to be fix and acpi=off works but is only fixes the symptom and not a fix to the real problem. I going to try a new PSU when I can get one. I think for me when I put in a new video card I did not upgrade the PSU and now the PC is not getting the power it needs.

Will update again, after getting new PSU.

It's not all down to the software

The hardest problems to diagnose are those that occur apparently randomly, especially if they lock up or crash the computer without warning. When the crash occurs at the same time, or using the same software, you have an idea who to blame, but if it is truly random it may well be hardware. The most common hardware causes of such problems are overheating, faulty memory or poor power.

It's no use thinking "this doesn't happen in my other OS, so it must be Linux's fault" because different systems work the hardware differently. For instance, Linux uses memory more aggressively and will experience instability due to faulty memory before Windows starts to show symptoms. Fans and heatsinks become gradually blocked with dust and other crud during a computer's lifetime. Try blowing it clear with a can of compressed air. Installing lm_sensors (your distro should have it) will let you monitor CPU and case temperatures, and a system monitor like GKrellM will display the temperatures on your desktop.

Laptops don't lend themselves to being opened up for a good blow, but you should check the various vents for any blockage. One area where laptops are fairly safe is power, since the battery ensures a clean steady supply. Desktop power supplies are another matter, especially the cheap, unnamed ones that are included with lower-priced cases.

Built down to a price, some barely meet their specs when new, so try a different PSU in your computer – you may be surprised by the difference it makes. Dirty power can damage your hardware and data, so saving money here can be a false economy whereas good-quality PSUs can go on for years. If you live in an area with unreliable or dirty power, a UPS (Uninteruptible Power Supply) may be a worthwhile investment. Surge protectors don't protect against power reductions, only surges.

Testing memory is easy, if time consuming. Most Live CDs include Memtest86, which does exactly what it says. You need to boot into Memtest86, because it can only test memory that isn't in use, so you don't want a full OS running. Let it run through its full set of tests at least twice, preferably overnight. The longer you can leave it running, the more certain you can be that your memory is OK. If you see any errors, at least one of your memory sticks will need to be replaced.
http://www.tuxradar.com/content/how-fix-most-common-linux-problems

[ho0ver]

Just wanted to add my voice to the choir of lost souls here. I'm a long-time Linux user (ca. 1994), and suffered the freeze / crash problems on lucid while 9.04 and 9.10 all ran fine on the same machine.

Not being able to fix the problem in lucid (refer to this thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... ost9272173 for details, it's over 90 pages already), I installed Linux Mint 9 yesterday evening which was fine at first, but this morning I got a freeze with the system running for two minutes. Mouse movement got slower and slower, and in top I could see cpu load creep up to 2.0 (two cores, dual athlon xp 4200+ on msi k8t neo2, nvidia 6200, nouveau driver), with no process eating up any specific amount of cpu.

I was stil able to shutdown -r the machine cleanly, but apparently it's the same problem that crept up in 10.04, sorry to see Mint suffering from the same symptoms.

So you're saying the problem exists in debian, too? I was going to try vanilla debian next in the search for a stable distro, but that would be bad news indeed, esp. in the light of Mint switching back to plain debian in the future. FWIW the machine has had uptimes of a few months before upgrading to lucid, I've also tried running 2.6.35rc1 mainline kernels, but the problem persists.

All the best, Uwe