[Solved] Assumed Kernel Panic in Live CD

[kmullins]

Summary:

This problem turned out to have nothing to do with the Live CD. I saw issues in multiple distributions of Linux but memory and cpu tests showed no errors. I pulled two memory sticks after realizing my Asus warranty wasn't doing me any good. Problem solved. (even though I wish I still had 8gb total).

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Hey,

I'm hoping this is the right place to put this question. While my problem occurs during installation -- I feel this is more of a hardware and/or kernel-related issue.

Background to my Problem

I've been having all sorts of issues with my computer as of lately. It's an Asus CG1330 with the AMD Phenom ii x6 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an ATI 5xxx Graphics Card. I have my internal graphics chipset disabled in the BIOS.

Anyways, I've come a long way. I started with Ubuntu since it was an easy install and I use this computer for work. After a messed up distribution upgrade, I figured that's okay, it's a great chance to jump to a better distribution. I went to Arch Linux but had probably 30 Kernel Panics. I decided there must be some hardware issues. Anyways, I ran Memtest86+ for 26 hours with no errors. After trying to push the system back to Asus for an inspection (assuming CPU issues), they said it passed their diagnostics and it's back in my possession.

I quickly re-installed Arch Linux and tried to run mprime to do some CPU Stress testing. I couldn't make it far enough to even install mprime. Too many kernel panics.

Anyways, I fell back to installing Windows 7 and ran Prime95 for a few hours to try and see a CPU issue. There were no errors. The system seemed incredibly stable (given I only installed and ran Prime95 and some Temperature monitoring software).

With this, I figured my system is miraculously stable again. I didn't want to try Arch again because I assumed there was some incompatibility with my hardware and their code base. I decided the next best thing would be Gentoo (no offense -- it's a great opportunity to harness my system's potential).

The Problem

I ran the Live CD, created my file system, and chrooted in my new environment.

Then, I ran "emerge --pretend --verbose gnome" to get an idea of the 'use' flags I should be looking at (I'm new to Gentoo, still trying to wrap my mind around how, and which, use flags I'll need to support everything I plan on running). The computer froze but there was no apparent Kernel Panic dump to the console. I was unable to switch virtual terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F2...). My only option was a hard reboot. I'm just assuming there was a Kernel panic but it just wasn't shown. The only output I saw was a few lines mentioning that the package wasn't identified, it gave me some recommendations on packages, and there was a line that was apparently going to do some sort of processing but the "spinner" stopped moving.

Does anybody have any ideas on how I can better debug this problem? I've tried googling various things from previous kernel panics in Arch Linux and didn't come up with much. From what I can tell, my CPU isn't that rare. I've tried looking at the hardware route and from everything I can see -- nothing is botched. I'm *guessing* that there's either an issue with the more recent kernels (it ran fine on Kubuntu 11.x for a few months) or that it could possibly be related to my network interface since this one popped up during an 'emerge'.

Unfortunately I can't copy and paste the 'lspci' output from the problematic computer at the moment but here's a couple of key components:

- Ethernet: RTL8111/8168B (Rev 3)
- Video: ATI Cedar Pro (Radeon HD 5450)

Thanks in advanced!

Update: I kept on trucking and setup my entire Gentoo install. I was able to successfully compile the kernel and have rebooted several times without any instability problems. I'm not sure where the issue is but all is looking better at the moment. I'm still up for ideas, if anyone has any -- but things are starting to look up!

Update 2 - Ran mprime for 9 hours to stress-test the CPU without error. Then it died while sitting idle. See my reply for more information.

Update 3 - I ended up opening my computer (against Warranty) and pulled out two of my memory sticks. That left me with 4gb. So far, Gentoo has been pretty stable. I've recompiled several kernels, gnome, kde, and a bunch of misc. apps. So far it all seems well. I'm not sure if it's the memory sticks themselves that are bad (like I said, 26 hours of memtest86+ ran on them) but I am very happy with the outcome -- Gentoo is awesome! I wish I would've jumped on it years ago

Update 4 - So my computer has been running steadily for a couple of days straight. I'm going to consider this solved. If anyone else experiences these sorts of issues -- and even if memtest86+ tells you your memory is good, try pulling out some memory chips and seeing how it runs. It may have been a voltage problem or even an issue with the motherboard. Regardless, it was a big problem and my only solution was to pull some sticks of memory.

[kmullins]

Hello again,

So last night I got mprime up and running (under Gentoo) and let it stress test the CPU for 9 hours. Everything was good; there were no errors.

I let the computer sit. The only thing I have done to the computer was attempted to SSH in (with a "Connection reset" error). I went down a bit later to see that my computer had crashed. I've taken a few pictures of the screen. Each picture shows the same thing but I was trying to make it as legible as possible.

If someone could look through the little bit of information dumped and give me an idea on what might be causing the issue, that would be great! I've got to start back at work tomorrow morning and it's not looking good so far.

I uploaded them to Picassa Web Albums: https://picasaweb.google.com/103826995419382984845/KernelPanics?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Thanks!