Desperate, system hard locks,INTEL [WORKAROUND]

BenderBendingRodriguez · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 101

Hello fine gentoo users.

Since couple of days i have problem with the system hard locking (even Sys Rq doesn't work). Now could someone point me on how could i troubleshoot it?? I already ruled out some stuff like hardware (memory is fine, even CAS latency for the same supported speed on that chipset is better than the previous stick). I didn't compile any staging drivers (i suspected them so i rebuilt my kernel (2.6.34) without them). I have nothing in my logs (or should i set it up for such things to be logged? ). My system is on a btrfs file system but it was locking up the same on ext4. Also the temperatures stay just fine under 50C (when under heavy load under 70C)

Please help, i don't know how to get rid of it since it strikes me at most inconvenient moments...

DONAHUE · Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 12:30 am Post subject:

sounds like hardware problem.

BenderBendingRodriguez · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 101

madchaz · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 5:11 pm Post subject:

what exactly are you doing when it locks up?
If you are messing around with system config, it could well be you that's causing the problem.
_________________
Someone asked me once if I suffered from mental illness. I told him I enjoyed every second of it.

BenderBendingRodriguez · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 101

I guess i found out but it would be useless to post a bug. The intel driver is to blame. For example when i log out Xorg locks up completely and i can't do anything beside Magic Sys Rq. It doesn't lock up anymore since i turned off desktop effects but i would really love to use it...

P.S. It was locking up at various times, sometimes all by itself when doing nothing (not moving the mouse pinter but compiling), switching windows when desktop effects were turned on.

madchaz · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 5:19 pm Post subject:

intel cards aren't really ment to fun fancy visual effects. That's probably what causes the issue.
_________________
Someone asked me once if I suffered from mental illness. I told him I enjoyed every second of it.

BenderBendingRodriguez · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 101

Well yeah but with the earlier xorg i had no problems. Or maybe it is that i got the whole system compiled with gcc 4.5.0

madchaz · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 5:28 pm Post subject:

I just had an idea. Did you check if your CPU's heatsink is properly secured?

If it moves a bit of the termal paste is gone, overheating could cause the kind of behavior you describe and might be resolved by the time you can look at the temperature in the bios.
_________________
Someone asked me once if I suffered from mental illness. I told him I enjoyed every second of it.

BenderBendingRodriguez · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 101

Not really, it is a netbook so i can't practically mess with the heatsink. It still locks up if i activate desktop effects, if not i can work 20 days without a hard lock up.

MotivatedTea · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:55 pm Post subject:

If you're using kernel mode setting (which I think is now mandatory on newer kernels?), try getting rid of any framebuffer in your kernel options. I have a desktop with an old Intel graphics card, and until I did that, I got a hard lockup every time I tried to enable desktop effects. Getting rid of the framebuffer made the problem go away for me. Also see if any of the settings on these pages helps:
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Intel_GMA
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Kernel_Mode_Setting

BenderBendingRodriguez · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 101

Well the weird thing is that i DO have all the framebuffer options disabled (which can be found in Xorg.0.log)

cach0rr0 · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:09 pm Post subject:

checked to make sure drm/dri is working as expected?

BenderBendingRodriguez · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 101