Good day to all.
a weak ago i’ve installed 11.1 opensuse to replace my old opensuse 10.2
and problems begins from installing process (hangs). but this wasn’t critical.
And for now it’s almost impossible to use this OS because it completely and frequently hangs (on my thoughts during intensive hdd usage, not sure)
Don’t knew where to start “digging”
hardware:
nforce2+athlon xp
radeon x1950pro(agp 512mb)+radeonhd.1.2.4(driver)
2 gb ram ( and PAE “?” kernel installed by default)
3 hdd (200gb_ide_root_part+200gb_sata_winXP+500gb_sata all samsung)
1 dvdrw asus (ide)
clean installation except some user apps/libs (video codecs etc)
using kde4 (probably a bad choice. it doesn’t looks stable but very impressive)
HELP PLEASE
Do you have desktop effects enabled? If so, then this could be a possible cause:
EXA + Composite causes GLX apps to hang [freedesktop.org]. The fix? I guess
you could try another driver or disable the desktop effects and wait for radeonhd to fix the issue…
Another thing you should do (if you haven’t already) is check your installation DVD. Just insert it, boot onto it and select the “Check Media” option. You may have had a bad install. I suspect that because of your problems during installation.
If the DVD doesn’t check out OK, you know what to do: download, reburn and re-install! 
Composite and all desktop effects are disabled. AIGLX disabled
Don’t think they are problem i’ve used them for 3 days from install, but kde doesn’t feel good with them enabled: disappearing window borders and plasma crashes but no hangs
Acceleration method XAA (EXA with radeonhd driver is too slow)
DVD is ok (checked it before installation). md5 sum of burned image is correct. also checked (near 24 hours memtest86) memory after installation hangs, and no errors.
thought “dog” was a problem, killed it (even firefox beagle plugin).
It looks now less hangs but still present.
Easily checked by running ktorrent’s “data check” 12 gb total and xine+2gb avi from same hd where downloaded by torrent files stored. after 30 minutes system hangup. also during copying large amount of “Gb” happens
fs types:
root partition - reiserfs (jornal)
others - ext3
tried to separate ide’s hdd and dvdrw (have 2 ide connectors on motherboard) - no result. and opensuse 10.2 has no problems (looks like no ide conflicts)
if need additional info just write. i haven’t found errors in logs.
Magic keys doesn’t work. haven’t checked if system responding to remote (ssh, ping etc) calls in this grave state (it’s behind router).
One curious idea:
During installation, I had to fiddle about with the bowels of the pc. For some reason the power connection assembly to one hard disk did not fit properly. Occasionally the disk stalled and started again. The system stopped immediately without any log entries. It often occurred after severe hd actions such as logrotate. I hope, that your PC is very carefully assembled, still.
No good. winXP have no problems like this.
i’ve running now in fallsafe mode, and everything seems to be okay.
i’ll try to play with boot options and drivers.
Found that system dies not completely: some process may still be working while others not responding.
Remote ssh may bring some usable info.
No good. winXP have no problems like this.
i’m running now in fallsafe mode, and everything seems to be okay.
i’ll try to play with boot options and drivers.
Found that system dies not completely: some process may still be working while others not responding.
Remote ssh may bring some usable info.
When the system lock up does it respond to any input? If no, does the capslock led blink while its frozen or not? Also, does the system lock up except for the mouse cursor (moves but system does not respond to mouse clicks)?
What’s your network interface?
Sometimes it responding to keyboard input (1-2 times noticed) while mouse dead, but not for long (trying to input something locking keyboard)
Usually keyboard and mouse completely dead (no move, no reaction to anything). Numlock Capslock also dead
motherboard: msi k7n2 delta2 platinum with “gigabit mcp”,
module: forcedeth
configured as eth0
up/down with network manager
hardware adress: 00:04:4B:80:80:03
fallsafe mode dies also (but not as frequent as usual)
OK, symptoms you describe are just enough different that I conclude my hunch was off. Sorry I couldn’t help. Good luck.
Sometimes it responding to keyboard input (1-2 times noticed) while mouse completely dead, but not for long (trying to input something locking keyboard) and one time keyboard with gui was completely dead while mouse cursor moving
Usually keyboard and mouse completely dead (no move, no reaction to anything). Numlock Capslock also dead
motherboard: msi k7n2 delta2 platinum with “gigabit mcp”,
module: forcedeth
configured as eth0
up/down with network manager
hardware adress: 00:04:4B:80:80:03
fallsafe mode dies also (but not as frequent as usual)
I’ve actually had two freeze up problems with slightly different symptoms. One I’ve solved with a lot of help from this forum. That one was caused by wireless network card drivers, and that’s the one I first thought you were describing (freeze up problem, may be related to 4965 card (?) - openSUSE Forums), but the symptoms of that problem are so specific that I’m confident you’re not having the same problem.
My second problem is very similar to yours, but only occurs every couple of days and, like the first one, doesn’t leave any clues in any log files. I’m pretty sure it’s a simple problem with video drivers and/or compositing. Again, only similar to your situation, but not identical, as I’ve got nvidia 8700 card and you have an ATI. I’ve been trying a trial and error approach by disabling various effects one at a time and waiting to see what happens, but it’s going to take a long time to be sure if and when I’ve found the answer since the lockups happen so seldom and with no common pattern of programs in use at the time, etc.
I’ll be following your progress with interest, and I’ll post again here if I have any luck myself.
Good luck
I’ve actually had two freeze up problems with slightly different symptoms. One I’ve solved with a lot of help from this forum. That one was caused by wireless network card drivers, and that’s the one I first thought you were describing (freeze up problem, may be related to 4965 card (?) - openSUSE Forums), but the symptoms of that problem are so specific that I’m confident you’re not having the same problem.
My second problem is very similar to yours (same error message & symptoms), but only occurs every couple of days and, like the first one, doesn’t leave any clues in any log files. I’m pretty sure it’s a simple problem with video drivers and/or compositing. Again, only similar to your situation, but not identical, as I’ve got nvidia 8700 card and you have an ATI. I’ve been trying a trial and error approach by disabling various effects one at a time and waiting to see what happens, but it’s going to take a long time to be sure if and when I’ve found the answer since the lockups happen so seldom and with no common pattern of programs in use at the time, etc.
I’ll be following your progress with interest, and I’ll post again here if I have any luck myself.
Good luck
sorry for the double post. somehow a simple “edit” intended to clarify a point turned into a duplicate post. Perhaps a moderator would be kind enough to delete one post for me. (please)
Don’t knew about video, but in fallsafe mode radeonhd(downgraded it to 1.2.3 witch is default to opensuse 11.1) driver not loading. instead of it loading vesa_fb. and fallsafe locking up.
May be i have more than one problem here. still testing various combinations.
Even begin to think something wrong with hardware: may be some power issues, but here is something strange than, because winXP feels fine.
Something i’ve done interesting: now i have less lockups. don’t really know what.
Switched to gnome yesterday. may be that a buggy kde somehow affects something.
Perhaps it’s too early to get super confident, but I think I’ve made progress too, though I’ve taken a different approach. Same bottom line as your approach.
While you eliminated KDE effects by swithching to Gnome, I modified the effects and got the same increased stability you report. I went to Start Menu>Applications>Utilities>Desktop>Desktop Effects then clicked the Effects tab and changed the Switcher option from the default setting to none. I haven’t seen any ill effects or lockups since (23 hours so far).
My best guess: I doubt very much that a hardware problem is causing your problem. Of course I could be wrong, but I doubt it. I base that on having diagnosed and repaired a little over 10,000 PC hardware problems before I retired. I could explain my reasoning in full, but it would take too long.
My thoughts on KDE vs Gnome: I switched from MS to openSUSE in July of last year, and I’ve used KDE ever since… tried Gnome a couple of times and just didn’t like it… personal choice… seems good but not for me. When I started out I used KDE 4.0 for a while and was horrified that anything with that many problems was ever released. Freezeups, etc. were normal and very frequent, with many varied symptoms and causes. Many drivers were unstable, etc., etc., etc. I suspect that most of the negative comments about KDE 4.x originated about that time. I switched to KDE 4.1 early September and have had few problems ever since. Some yes, and the problems with wireless NIC drivers were huge, but on the whole it’s been an enjoyable experience, and I became a believer. When 11.1 was released I loaded it and stayed with KDE 4.13. I’ve had no reason to regret that. I had to solve the Wireless NIC driver problem all over again, and it was even harder this time round, but that problem was caused by poor software from Intel, not by KDE. I’m almost to the point now where I can say I have a desktop I can live with, and that means “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. I don’t change settings often or compulsively like some. If I did make routine changes the clunky, obscure, multiple overlapping GUI interfaces one has to navigate to do so if one isn’t familiar with 'nix CLI commands would be enough to make me nuts (and I’m too old to want to learn more than a few basic commands in a new language).
About my situation it’s not desktop composite or 3d effects (KDE and/or Compiz): they are disabled long time ago (almost a weak ago) with aiglx and composite extension in xorg.conf.
Even if there was a bug and desktop effects wasn’t disabled, they cannot work without aiglx(or xgl, but this one affecting performance too much, so it noticeable) and composite extension enabled.
I’m to prefer KDE, but kde4 is quite unstable to me and not ready to use.
I really don’t knew what have i done, but system is looking more stable to me(may be it’s just illusion). still trying to figure it out.
Just a few thoughts: Install a process monitor to verify if the hangs are in fact waits while something else is grabbing the cpu. Run a smartctl long test again your disks and a file system checks (I once was getting 100% cpu tie-up due to bad sectors). Check there are no services running except absolutely necessary. Be sure strigi/nepomuk are not running. Use a lightweight window manager rather than a DE. Move around in YaST in ncurses mode or do other more intensive things from the command line w/o X running. Change the graphics driver temporarily to vesa. Etc.
Is there any chance that HPET affects system while it’s not supported by hardware and shouldn’t be loaded ? I’ve added boot parameter hpet=disable near 2 days ago.
Also replugged memory modules (in case of bad contact) yesterday and discovered 2.75 volts by default (strange it definitely high to ddr1) on them in bios. lowered to 2.6 now.
strigi/nepomuk not loading. looks they are kde process. am i correct ?
Now executing smartctl. almost an hour feels fine.
Still in gnome, decided to load system completely: files copying video playing etc. (for 4 hours nothing) radeonhd (v1.2.3) driver also loaded.
Didn’t noticed lockups for more than 40 hours.
Don’t want to rush, but looks like problem gone. I wonder that was cause of it.
If that was a hardware(i saw symptoms like this before) then there a few stubs then: a stable windowsXP work and 24 hours running memtest with no errors. I didn’t touched hdds any more from separation attempt hdd(ide) and dvdrw(ide): they are still on same ide cable.
Think i should try kde again and see if lockups back.
Just an update smartctl found nothing (long test both 200gb hdds) cpu load from 10 to 18 percents with few short peaks to 60%