Linux Mint Constantly freezing on Dell XPS L502X

[jtombs]

I recently partitioned my hard drive to dual boot the existing Windows 7 with Linux Mint because I am tired of using Windows, especially the lack of terminal. I want to eventually remove Windows 7 and just run it from a VM within Linux Mint, but I want to make sure that I like the Mint before going all in.

I ran Linux Mint on a VM inside Windows for a while, enjoyed it, and never had any issues with it. Since installing on my hard drive it has started freezing every 5-10 minutes, and the only way to get it back is to either power down, or close the lid and reopen once it sleeps. I've also tried running Ubuntu on dual boot in the past, and while it never froze, the battery life was terrible, and the fan was constantly running. I'm experiencing the same battery/fan problem with Mint, which doesn't make sense to me, as Linux should be lighter on the CPU than windows.

If I had to guess I'd say it's probably a driver thing, with my video card or fan or something. My battery life in Windows is ~2 hours and its about 40 minutes in Linux. At this point, that is even if my laptop doesn't freeze before then.

On a less important note, I also have an intel Centrino 6150 WiMax card that I'd like to be able to use, but that won't register on the Linux system either. I have tried downloading drivers for both of these, but neither have solved my problems.

I'm definitely getting frustrated and am getting close to giving up on Linux even though I dread working on a Windows machine.

[xenopeek]

There are many variations of the Dell XPS L502X, so it would be helpful if you could gather some information about your hardware and share it here. Suggest to run these commands to gather some basic information. Share the output here (you can copy text from terminal; see it's Edit menu—if you don't see a menu first right-click and enable the menubar).

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inxi -Fxz
lspci
lsusb

Next time it freezes, try a couple of things;
- Can you go to a virtual terminal with Ctrl+Alt+F1? (you can go back to graphical desktop with Ctrl+Alt+F7)
- If not, can you restart X with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace?
- If not, can you reboot the computer with Alt+SysRq+REISUB (type the letters R E I S U B while holding down Alt+SysRq).

After the next freeze, regardless of how you restore it, investigate your system log. Either from the system log application, or by reading the /var/log/syslog file. Scroll to the time of the freeze and look for ERROR or warning messages. Seeing as you were able to recover from a freeze by forcing sleep and wake, I think the chance is good the kernel will have written some ERRORs to your log.

With a quick search for "dell xps l502x ubuntu 14.04 freeze" (14.04 being the base for Linux Mint 17) I've found several other posts about freezes, but nothing giving a solution. Have you installed Bumblebee for NVIDIA Optimus support? There are reports about using Nvidia as prime will cause Firefox to freeze your system, while it working fine with Intel as prime.

[jtombs]

Okay I will post the output to those commands later on tonight.

I have done a pretty extensive google search for this problem and have run several of the suggested solutions but my problem hasnt been fixed yet. The post in particular that I thought looked similar was
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 8&t=172826

The output to the inxi -Fxz command was almost identical to that posted in the third post on the first page, but to make sure I will post the output of mine a little later on today. Thanks!

[jtombs]

Okay so first the output of

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inxi -Fxz

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$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: josh-XPS Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana
Machine:   System: Dell product: Dell System XPS L502X
           Mobo: Dell model: 0NJT03 version: A00 Bios: Dell version: A10 date: 02/20/2012
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-2670QM CPU (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 17560.9 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 800.00 MHz 2: 2201.00 MHz 3: 800.00 MHz 4: 800.00 MHz 5: 800.00 MHz 6: 900.00 MHz 7: 800.00 MHz 8: 900.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF108M [GeForce GT 540M] bus-ID: 01:00.0 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller 
           driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 2000 bus-ID: 06:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Centrino Wireless-N + WiMAX 6150 driver: iwlwifi ver: in-tree: bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (0.6% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10JPVT size: 1000.2GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 234G used: 5.2G (3%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 8.48GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0C mobo: 45.0C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 211 Uptime: 2 min Memory: 675.4/7878.8MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 

Then the output of lspci

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$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev b5)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM67 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF108M [GeForce GT 540M] (rev ff)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N + WiMAX 6150 (rev 5f)
04:00.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 04)
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)

And lastly the output of lsusb

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$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 8087:07d9 Intel Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1b96:0006 N-Trig 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0408:2fb1 Quanta Computer, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

[WharfRat]

jtombs,

Since you and the other poster have two graphics cards in common, try an xorg.conf specifying the graphics bus. You're currently using the intel graphics so try

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sudo -i

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mkdir /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d

Copy this in its entirety and paste it in the terminal and hit enter

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cat >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf  << "EOF"
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier             "Monitor0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier             "Device0"
    BusID                  "PCI:0:2:0"
    Driver                 "intel" 
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier             "Screen0"  
    Device                 "Device0"
    Monitor                "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth           24 
    SubSection             "Display"
        Depth              24
        Modes              "1366x768_60.00" 
    EndSubSection
EndSection
EOF

Then reboot

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reboot

To make sure it took effect run

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inxi -Fxz 

You should not see unloaded in this line: X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa).

Good luck

[jtombs]

Okay I ran all of that and you are right, I don't see that unloaded line anymore.
If you don't mind me asking, what did that do for me? Were drivers not installed properly or something? Is this hopefully going to fix my freezing issues?

Also,
Thanks!

[WharfRat]

Okay I ran all of that and you are right, I don't see that unloaded line anymore.
If you don't mind me asking, what did that do for me? Were drivers not installed properly or something? Is this hopefully going to fix my freezing issues?

Also,
Thanks!

I can't guarantee anything here, but it certainly won't hurt anything.

Your driver was OK, intel is a generic driver for numerous versions of intel graphic cards. What this did was to 'cement' the screen layout to intel graphics driver in xorg by specifying the bus id.

Is the intel graphics onboard

[jtombs]

Yes the intel graphics is onboard. And I have noticed a pretty significant increase in my battery time, as well as the freezing has pretty much stopped. Occassionally it will freeze for a split second but I can live with that. So thanks!

Now, one of the last things that's not working is the WiMAX card, when in Windows, I can choose to diasble wifi to turn on wimax, and vise versa, but in linux it doenst appear to me that the wimax is working correctly. I have an Intel Centrino Wireless -N + Wimax 6150 card, and I even went to their website and downloaded the latest firmware and dropped that file in /lib/firmware.

When I run rfkill list I get the following

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$ rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: i2400m-usb:2-1.5:1.0: WiMAX
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: no 

And lastly, I went through the entire i8kutils process the other day, and I am pretty sure it is working, because my fan is no longer constantly on, it seems to be going on and off properly. However when I run inxi -Fxz it still says

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Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 79.0C mobo: 47.0C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 

is this somehting I should be concerned about? Shouldnt it know the an speeds??

[WharfRat]

There seems to be a disconnect with i8k and inxi. Mine doesn't show either and i8k's fan off/on doesn't toggle either

If you monitor the output of i8kctl for a few minutes you should see the temp and fan speed change.

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watch -d i8kctl

1.0 A05 JJL2MT1 43 0 0 -1 88110 -1 -1

If you installed lm-sensors then you can

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watch -d sensors

As far as the wifi goes, WiMAX is soft blocked so

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sudo rfkill unblock all 

should unlock it. You will probably have to disconnect and setup the new device with connection manager.