Diagnosing infrequent X server crashes
in [UK Linux]
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From: Simon Brooke on 17 Jan 2008 14:24 I'm running Ubuntu 7.1 on a dual processor Athlon with a Radeon 9200 Pro graphics card. I'm running the xorg X server: ii xserver-xorg 1:7.2-5ubuntu1 the X.Org X server I'm getting infrequent crashes which lock up the X server completely. I can get in underneath by secure shell from other machines, and almost always find that X is consuming virtually all the available processor resource. Killing the X process usually (but not always) causes the screen to clear and the window manager (KDM) to relaunch. Sometimes, although I see KDM restart in 'top', the screen remains frozen and I have to hard reset the machine. I don't run a lot of graphics heavy programs, although I do play both Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Neverwinter Nights (both native Linux versions, and, yes, both legitimately paid for). At first I thought my intermittent crashes were related either to OpenGL (mesa) or else to SDL ii libgl1-mesa-dri 7.0.1-1ubuntu3 ii libgl1-mesa-glx 7.0.1-1ubuntu3 ii libglu1-mesa 7.0.1-1ubuntu3 ii libsdl-gfx1.2-4 2.0.13-3 However, the crashes happen even if I don't use any open gl or SDL based programs. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to when they occur. I've tried all of the 'ati', the 'radeon' and the 'fglrx' drivers. None of them are reliable, but none of them crash very often. Any suggestions as to how I might diagnose what's going on? I have an NVidia card I could use instead of the radeon, but I swapped it out because I was fed up with problems with the NVidia drivers. -- simon(a)jasmine.org.uk (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/ [ This .sig intentionally left blank ]
From: Pedro Inácio on 17 Jan 2008 15:39 Simon Brooke wrote: > I'm running Ubuntu 7.1 on a dual processor Athlon with a Radeon 9200 Pro > graphics card. I'm running the xorg X server: > > ii xserver-xorg 1:7.2-5ubuntu1 the X.Org X server > > I'm getting infrequent crashes which lock up the X server completely. I > can get in underneath by secure shell from other machines, and almost > always find that X is consuming virtually all the available processor > resource. Killing the X process usually (but not always) causes the screen > to clear and the window manager (KDM) to relaunch. Sometimes, although I > see KDM restart in 'top', the screen remains frozen and I have to hard > reset the machine. > > I don't run a lot of graphics heavy programs, although I do play both Sid > Meier's Alpha Centauri and Neverwinter Nights (both native Linux versions, > and, yes, both legitimately paid for). At first I thought my intermittent > crashes were related either to OpenGL (mesa) or else to SDL > > ii libgl1-mesa-dri 7.0.1-1ubuntu3 > ii libgl1-mesa-glx 7.0.1-1ubuntu3 > ii libglu1-mesa 7.0.1-1ubuntu3 > ii libsdl-gfx1.2-4 2.0.13-3 > > However, the crashes happen even if I don't use any open gl or SDL based > programs. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to when they occur. I've > tried all of the 'ati', the 'radeon' and the 'fglrx' drivers. None of them > are reliable, but none of them crash very often. > > Any suggestions as to how I might diagnose what's going on? I have an > NVidia card I could use instead of the radeon, but I swapped it out > because I was fed up with problems with the NVidia drivers. > Are you running SuperKaramba? I had a similar bug and it gone away after I remove a SuperKaramba widget that monitors system activity. When I was googling about the bug I learned that lot's of people had the same bug, and just closing superkaramba would fix it. Regards, Pedro
From: Geoffrey Clements on 17 Jan 2008 16:43 Simon Brooke wrote: > I'm running Ubuntu 7.1 on a dual processor Athlon with a Radeon 9200 Pro > graphics card. I'm running the xorg X server: > > ii xserver-xorg 1:7.2-5ubuntu1 the X.Org X server > > I'm getting infrequent crashes which lock up the X server completely. I > can get in underneath by secure shell from other machines, and almost > always find that X is consuming virtually all the available processor > resource. Killing the X process usually (but not always) causes the screen > to clear and the window manager (KDM) to relaunch. Sometimes, although I > see KDM restart in 'top', the screen remains frozen and I have to hard > reset the machine. > > I don't run a lot of graphics heavy programs, although I do play both Sid > Meier's Alpha Centauri and Neverwinter Nights (both native Linux versions, > and, yes, both legitimately paid for). At first I thought my intermittent > crashes were related either to OpenGL (mesa) or else to SDL > > ii libgl1-mesa-dri 7.0.1-1ubuntu3 > ii libgl1-mesa-glx 7.0.1-1ubuntu3 > ii libglu1-mesa 7.0.1-1ubuntu3 > ii libsdl-gfx1.2-4 2.0.13-3 > > However, the crashes happen even if I don't use any open gl or SDL based > programs. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to when they occur. I've > tried all of the 'ati', the 'radeon' and the 'fglrx' drivers. None of them > are reliable, but none of them crash very often. > > Any suggestions as to how I might diagnose what's going on? I have an > NVidia card I could use instead of the radeon, but I swapped it out > because I was fed up with problems with the NVidia drivers. > The thing that worked for me about six months ago was updating the BIOS on my motherboard to the latest version, don't know if it has anything to do with your problem but the symptoms look similar although I'm using an NVidia card. -- Geoff Registered Linux user 196308 Replace bitbucket with geoff to mail me.
From: alexd on 18 Jan 2008 08:20 On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:24:44 +0000, Simon Brooke wrote: > Any suggestions as to how I might diagnose what's going on? Anything in syslog about processes segfaulting? If there are, it might be worth running memtest86. > I have an > NVidia card I could use instead of the radeon, but I swapped it out > because I was fed up with problems with the NVidia drivers. Have a look at /var/log/kdm.log, or grep kdm /var/log*. Also, ~/.xsession- errors* may contain something useful. -- <http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpEaTm(a)ale.cx) 13:14:56 up 13 days, 3:39, 2 users, load average: 1.25, 1.32, 1.28 2x Broadband/IT/Telecoms support positions in Newcastle city centre. For more info call 0191 229 8870 and ask for Steve. No agencies.
From: Will Kemp on 18 Jan 2008 15:17 On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:24:44 +0000, Simon Brooke wrote: > I'm getting infrequent crashes which lock up the X server completely. I > can get in underneath by secure shell from other machines, Hmmm... I had this problem once - but it was quite a few years ago and i can't remember any details. > and almost > always find that X is consuming virtually all the available processor > resource. Killing the X process usually (but not always) causes the > screen to clear and the window manager (KDM) to relaunch. Sometimes, > although I see KDM restart in 'top', the screen remains frozen and I > have to hard reset the machine. Instead of killing X, try doing init 3 and then init 5 - assuming Ubuntu uses runlevel 3 for no X display and 5 for X (which seems to be pretty standard these days). This should do a bit more of a thorough job of restarting X than you can do by just killing X itself. With Linux, there should never be any reason to reboot if you've got a working command line interface.
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