openSUSE 13.2 with kernel 4.2 or Tumbleweed installation system startup freezes

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hello,
I am using openSUSE for three years till now. I still feel as a newbie in linux. I have bought a new NTB and I try to install openSUSE 13.2 on it. Everything works fine but I have problems with build-in LCD panel. When starting installation the whole picture starts shaking at certain point. After done some Googling I have realised that this is there because some weird bug in i915 video driver and kernel 3.16.7 because the same picture on external monitor is OK (no shaking).

Then I found that when I start the kernel with “nomodeset” parameter everything is OK. But because no mode switching I lost capability to use external monitor. When I was searching how to solve this problem I tried to update kernel from version 3.16.7 to 4.2.0 and hurrah! The shaking problem is gone and I can use external monitor, but… !

The very first try was with the Debian kernel 4.2.0 where I had further specific problems related to Debian just because the Debian is too much “hardcore” for me… but I am pretty sure that new kernel 4.2.0 works fine, on Debian at least, so why not on openSUSE?

Now about the problem: I tried to install openSUSE 13.2 and then upgrade kernel manually to version 4.2.0. That was with success done.
But I have problem with USB during system startup with kernel 4.2.0. At certain point during system startup the USB stops working at all. That problem is the same when I tried to install last Tumbleweed snapshot.
Because I used for test these installations external drive connected on USB and the problem described just above, startup of system freezes because no disc (in fact no USB device at all) and I am unable to start system. This problem is specific only to openSUSE kernel 4.2.0 because with Debian kernel with same version no problem exists and system starts normally.
Now we are expecting and looking forward the new stable version openSUSE 42.1 but it seem be there some problem during startup openSUSE and new kernel 4.2.0 which I suppose will be in new stable release.

Could someone help me to recognize and solve this problem? I want to use openSUSE for future (I do not want to move into Debian… :slight_smile: ) because openSUSE gives me all I need on PC…

Hardware that I am trying with this openSUSE: Intel Core i7 5700HQ Broadwell, RAM 16GB DDR3L, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 2GB GDDR5, WiFi 802.11 ac, Gigabit LAN, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI, USB 3.0
Factory code: MSI PE70 2QE-087 (full spec. here: http://www.msi.com/product/nb/PE70-2QE.html#hero-overview )

Please note that I have no problem with NVIDIA and nouveau driver is removed.

Thanks.
Karel

2

I would like to save startup protocol until startup freezes but I do not know how. If exists some paramater for boot how to save startup protocol on external medium please give me a hint how to do that.

3

You seem to have hybrid graphics ie both Intel and NVIDIA GPU. This is a special hardware configuration called Optimus. To use you need to first uninstall any proprietary NVIDIA driver you installed. Keep nouveau. Then follow instructions here exactly.

https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_Bumblebee
You probably want to use the NVIDA driver since at least part of the problem probably comes from the nouveau. But so not uninstall it

Note since you are trying with Tumbleweed you may have to do reinstalls on Kernel changes. Also I’m not sure Bumblebee is fully supported on Tumbleweed. You would be better served with 13.2 unless you like to experiment.

Optionally if you have the BIOS option you can turn off the Intel GPU but in most cases this does not exist since Optimus channels all graphics through the Intel GPU.

4

Hello karelp,

You start your system from an USB-device. Are all required USB modules (usb-storage, xhci-hcd, xhci-pci, …) included in the initrd you load?

Best regards

susejunky

5

Hello gogalthorp,

Nope. Currently I do not plan to use NVIDIA card in Linux under any circumstances at all. Once I will be able run Linux on this machine without problems with Integrated Intel graphic. Than I will install Linux onto regular hard drive and on external will be installed game console named Windows. :slight_smile:

My NTB BIOS does not allow to turn off Integrated graphic but I do not want to. For my Linux needs, I would prefer to turn off NVIDIA instead.

Thank you for the link. It will help me for sure in future when I will try to run on NVIDIA card. Instead I have read SDB:NVIDIA drivers - openSUSE Wiki but not the “External links”…

Karel

6

Running Tumbleweed with Bumblebee (and Nouveau driver) on Optimus HW here: no problems so far.
Overall performance is way below that of the W “game console”, but this is well known with this setup.

7

Hello susejunky,

I hope so. If there is some way how detect initrd for included drivers then I do not know it.

But I hope that required USB modules are there. Here are my install steps in past:

  1. Installation openSUSE 13.2 x64, kernel 3.16.6
    success: no problems with any HW
    problems: the only problem is shaking LCD picture

  2. added “nomodeset” into GRUB
    success: no problems with any HW, LCD picture stable
    problems: cannot turn on any external monitor

  3. updated system = kernel 3.16.7
    still same as at point 2 (when is nomodeset removed LCD picture is shaking again)

  4. kernel upgrade via CLI by:
    zypper ar -f http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/ kernels
    zypper ref
    zypper dup -r kernels
    success: available new kernel 4.2.0
    problems: I cannot startup system with kernel 4.2.0 at certain point all USBs power off
    The last messages (and only ones I can read) during startup are:
    [OK] Started Show Plymouth Boot Screen
    [OK] Reached target path
    [OK] Reached target Basic System

At this point all USBs are not reacting at all and all LEDs on USB devices are off. When I try to press CTRL+ALT+DEL these last three messages are repeated, so the computer is not dead.

I hope that “zypper dup …” is downloading all the necessary modules for new kernel and automatically invoked mkinitrd is reflecting previous system configuration.

Karel

8

Thanks OrsoBruno.

The Tumbleweed is mentioned here since it is using kernel 4 and during installation and after installation no problems with LCD shaking were encountered.
(It can be recognised because shaking picture comes almost immediately after kernel is loaded - just when modeset is done).

But system startup fails by the same style when should be started after installation… (USB power off)

Karel

9

If you want to only Intel you still need Bumblebee. You do not have to install NVIDIA driver. Your problem is probably the nouveau driver which is an open source NVIDIA driver This would be used because the system sees the NVIDIA card. Using nomodeset causes the system to use older generic drivers. These do not have the features you may want and are used only for emergency recovery normally

If you absolutely refuse to use Bumblebee then you need to force the Intel driver via the /etc/ X11/xorg.conf.d files. But I recommend you use bumblebee you do not have to use the NVIDIA driver or even the nouveau. Optimus is a special hardware configuration and must be treated as such

10

Definitely I will try the Bumblebee and I will report results.
Agree with your arguments.

But why the problem (shaking) is gone with new kernel? When invoked lsmod on Debian 8.1 which is upgraded to kernel 4.2 and is working, there are the same drivers and loaded modules as on openSUSE and the problem is quite same:

Kernel 3.16.x (openSUSE or Debian) = shaking LCD picture
Kernel 4.x.x (openSUSE or Debian) = stable LCD picture

The very first kernel which I have tried was 4.0 or 4.1 I cant remember exactly now…

Karel

11

New kernel may deal with older nouveau short comings. Most of nouveau is built into the kernel only the user exposed interfaces are in the package called nouveau.

12

I did further testing…

I tried to startup in textmode only. So I add to GRUB line runlevel 3, splash=0 and debug so I got some more messages… Now I can say that USB modules are included and system startup freeze is not probably a issue of graphic card but some other problem.

At point [3.606268] all USBs gets dead.

Unfortunately I am unable to get more detailed diagnostic. See included screen photo this is startup kernel 4.2.0.

http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/20150912_021940.jpg

13

Karel, apparently you have two different problems:

  1. “shaky” LCD during boot.
  2. USB problems with Kernel 4.2.0. (and also with 4.1.6 in Tumbleweed?)

Point 1)
Some sort of “shaky LCD” is to be expected in some configurations during the very first phase of the boot process and is due to the switch from an early video driver, say vesa framebuffer, to that best suited to the hw at hand, and/or changes in the resolution used if the LCD supports more than one. This should be gone (and disregarded…) by the time the system reaches the login prompt.
If the “shakiness” continues after login, you may have a problem, indeed.

Please note also that the “nouveau” driver from a stock installation may generate kernel panics in Optimus Intel+Nvidia laptops, possibly yielding LCD “shakes” as a result. I saw these effects disappear after installation of Bumblebee (which powers off the Nvidia chip when not in use).

From the specs it is unclear to me if your notebook is indeed of the “Optimus” type or a pure dual graphics type with the possibility to choose one OR the other: note that the procedure for driver installation is different in those two cases.

For Optimus, follow this carefully, even if you do NOT plan to use Nvidia graphics in OpenSUSE.

For pure dual graphics follow this instead.

As I understand, you experience no shake with Tumbleweed (Kernel 4.1.6 in the current snapshot).
I would use a Tumbleweed Live CD (or the rescue system image) to try and sort out the usb problem.
Given your problems, I would burn the image to a physical DVD, not to an usb stick.

The OS 13.2 Live CD still contains the i915 driver that had severe problems with Kernel 3.16.6 at the time of the release, so I would rule out that for now.
Once usb problems are sorted out, you might still install OpenSUSE 13.2 and run an online update as soon as possible to get the updated i915 and Kernel 3.16.7 which work well together.

Point 2).
Kernel 4.2.0 is still an “unstable” version for testing purposes and I would NOT use it at this stage in OpenSUSE, unless you really need it.
If you use OpenSUSE 13.2, the official update is Kernel 3.16.7
If you use the current Tumbleweed snapshot (20150909) the Kernel version is 4.1.6-3
I am currently running 4.1.6-3 and just checked 3.16.7 on HW similar to yours (but i7 4720HQ CPU) with no problems.

So I would use a Tumbleweed Live or rescue cd to find out why your system hangs.
Please be aware that I saw delays of as long as 3 minutes (no kidding!) while booting from usb sticks on some systems, because udev or lvm2 activation wait for something that doesn’t happen.
But this doesn’t seem the case, looking at your screenshot.

Check if some BIOS setting or security setting is disabling usb or other I/O.

Hope this helps,
Bruno

14

Hello karelp,

if you can access your root file system (either by booting a different/older kernel or by means of starting up a live system) this command will show you the contents of your initrd-files:

# lsinitrd initrd-4.xxx

You need to replace the “4.xxx” with the correct version number of your initrd-file.

The install of kernel 4.xxx via zypper probably changed the way your initrd-file is build (i.e. left out necessary USB moduls). You could do the following test that won’t harm even if the problem is not related to missing USB modules:

  1. Get access to your root file system either by booting a different/older kernel or by means of starting up a live system.
  2. Become root
  3. Copy the file /etc/dracut.conf
    to /etc/dracut.conf.d/10_USB_dracut.conf 1. Edit /etc/dracut.conf.d/10_USB_dracut.conf
    with your favourite text editor 1. Search for the comment “# additional kernel modules to the default
    " 1. Replace the line
    *# add_drivers+=”"
    *with
    add_drivers+=“usb-storage uas ehci-hcd ehci-pci ohci-hcd ohci-pci uhci-hcd xhci-pci xhci-hcd”
  4. Save your changes
  5. Build a new initrd
    -file for your 4.xxx-kernel with```

dracut -f --kver 4.xxx

 
  1. Try to boot your system with the new *initrd*
-file 


If this does not help you can undo the changes by deleting the file */etc/dracut.conf.d/10_USB_dracut.conf* and building a new initrd-file as described under 9.

Best regards

susejunky
15

Hello Bruno,

Agree with you there are two different problems.

According to point 1:
“Shaky” LCD is not just during boot, it is all the time when system is running. So I have problem, indeed. :expressionless:
The behaviour of my laptop gives me feeling that my laptop is Optimus HW because NVIDIA is as second GPU displayed thru the integrated graphic.
I have got successfuly installed Bumblebee but it was not solving of my problem. But I will try the second way of course, just in case…

According to point 2:

Kernel 4.2.0 is still an “unstable” version for testing purposes and I would NOT use it at this stage in OpenSUSE, unless you really need it.

Agree, but same problems are occured in Tumbleweed.

If you use OpenSUSE 13.2, the official update is Kernel 3.16.7

Yes, after official update to 3.16.7 was the problem the same.

If you use the current Tumbleweed snapshot (20150909) the Kernel version is 4.1.6-3
I am currently running 4.1.6-3 and just checked 3.16.7 on HW similar to yours (but i7 4720HQ CPU) with no problems.

So today I downloaded latest available Tumbleweed snapshot: openSUSE-Tumbleweed-DVD-x86_64-Snapshot20150909-Media.iso and even the Tumbleweed LiveKDE: openSUSE-Tumbleweed-KDE-Live-x86_64-Snapshot20150909-Media.iso (Both were burned on DVDs.)

My experince with Tumbleweed LiveKDE.

1st. The system started up to Destop, after that was opened Welcome window, the system hangs with window “Segmentation fault…” and I was not able to do anything.
2nd. I tried to startup in FailSafe mode. This try was the best. I have had to start KDE manually after text login. The system was started correctly and I was even able to close system correctly. But It was very short try, start then tried to open and run destop settings and quit. No problems!
3rd. I tried normal startup just with “nomodeset”. The system hangs just after login screen.

In all cases the USBs remained powered. Just in case 1 and 3 just when system hangs the CAPS LOCK LED starts flashing.

My experince with Tumbleweed installation.

Then I have tried to install Tumbleweed. Again three times… but in this case no one installation were successful. I created three photos of place where the installation were stopped/freezes. Noted that in case 1 and 3 LED of CAPS LOCK were flashing.

1st freeze
http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/20150913_162154f.jpg

2nd freeze
http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/20150913_162952f.jpg

3rd freeze
http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/20150913_163408f.jpg

Just because it is hangs up on different places and even in installation I suppose that it is not a problem of USBs or video card. They are probably just secondary.

Check if some BIOS setting or security setting is disabling usb or other I/O.

I will check BIOS again for potentionally overlooked settings.

Finally I will test Tumbleweed Live GNOME to exclude KDE and some other live distros like Fedora.

Karel.

16

Karel, the freezes you are showing look as kernel panics caused by some strange HW setup, possibly IRQ handling and maybe nothing to do with USB at all.
I occasionally saw something like that before installing Bumblebee.
Hard to help you further, without having a similar machine on hand. Just a few hints.

BIOS
I disabled “fast boot”, “secure boot”, and enabled “compatibility mode” (or CMS or whatever it is called on your BIOS).
Try to boot the DVD in the legacy mode (i.e. not UEFI) if you have the choice (occasionally I saw UEFI boot fail from usb).
Try to add the boot option “IRQ_poll=1” to the boot command line (it helped before installing Bumblebee).
Is it possible to disable/power off the Nvidia chip from the BIOS? If so, try that.

VERSIONS
Kernel 4.1 has a better recognition of Optimus HW, no wonder that Tumbleweed has no “shaky LCD”: stick to that.
Kernel 4.2 is not needed in my view, but avoid 3.xx since your HW seems too new (and “extreme”, so to say) for it.
The freeze seems so basic that I doubt Gnome (or any other distro) does any better.

Further help should come from owners of similar MSI machines: my ASUS seems much more tolerant (I even swapped in an HD with Tumbleweed from an older PC without a glitch!)

17

Dear Bruno,

thank you for the hints. Down below are my results from testing. My problems will be probably problems of a future because brand new processor architecture Haswell. (June 2015)

So I did some tests. I downloaded last LiveKDE Tumbleweed and Fedora 22. Tumbleweed Live GNOME I eventually resigned due to the results … but first things first:

I note only that everything was done from DVD.

  1. I have tried to launch LiveKDE Fedora 22 and Tumbleweed LiveKDE. No one try was not successful. Both launches ended unsuccessfully about always in places that I’ve described above.

  2. Thus, I went into the BIOS and looking for something (anything) that could be switched, and could have some influence to my problems. (Let it be said that the BIOS on my NTB’s is pretty tiny in things which can be switched: maybe 10 items, maybe even less). I found some according to USBs and reduced delays, see:

Original setting:
http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/bios-usb-original.jpg
My new setting:
http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/bios-usb-zmena.jpg

  1. After this change, it started to behave a little differently. First I tried to launch Fedora 22 LiveKDE. It was run successfuly. I opened the clock and ping. Just to make sure that something will ran on desktop. Then I left it for a half an hour to operate. Seamlessly.

  2. Even rejoiced that I probably found problem and tried to launch Tumbleweed LiveKDE. It ran on the first attempt. Even greater joy and slowly opening the champagne. As in Step 3, I let the window with the clocks and ping just to been sure that something is running. Than I had to leave for about 4 hours, computer still running…

  3. When I returned, I had to finish computer’s sleep mode. Super! Ping was working, the clock moved seconds hand and time was correct. I tried to close CLI window by using cross in the upper right corner. Than I saw the new window warning about improper closing, but not its contents. The seconds hand on the clock was stopped, the mouse responded Ok for some time yet. So I thought: this DVD probably wants a few moments before it will work … when 10 minutes left and nothing happened I had to turn off the NTB using power button.

  4. So I tried launch Tumbleweed LiveKDE again. And behold how beautiful messages I received
    http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/tubleweed-live-01.jpg

I do not read correctly, I said, Yeah, that’s the problem with Nvidia and nouveau and tried it again and got this one
http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/tubleweed-live-02.jpg

  1. Now I was pretty sure that this problem is not related to “nouveau” driver, but the man is trying to be optimistic and, moreover, I thought, once it was running, why not again … :slight_smile: So I decided to install Tumbleweed, not just launch LiveKDE. There I failed completely. And all three attempts were not successful in the above described areas (meant earlier posts … :-))

  2. So the other way to reach 4.x core! I installed version 13.2
    Incidentally notice the difference in loading drivers at 13.2
    http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/installation-drivers-13.2.jpg
    during installation and installation of Tumbleweed
    http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/installation-drivers-tumbleweed.jpg
    yes, it seems that this is indeed the same driver named differently, but … ???

  3. Then I did update the system kernel to 3.16.7 and indeed all components (zypper update). Which was completed with two or three restarts without problems.

  4. According to openSUSE:Tumbleweed installation - openSUSE Wiki I began to upgrade to 13.2 Tumbleweed. Note that “zypper dup” was done already in text mode. Well, after downloads and start installing suddenly I received this:
    http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/installation-zypper-13.2-tumbleweed-01.jpg

the last lines are rewrote below just because the picture is badly readable:
[2821.336105] Kernel panic - not syncing: Timeout synchronizing machine clock over CPUs
[2822.368108] Shutting down cpus with NMI
[2822.379118] Kernel offset: 0x0 from 0xffffffff81000000 (relocation range: 0xffffffff80000000-0xffffffff9fffffff)
[2822.379809] Rebooting in 90 seconds…

  1. In view of the fact that it NTB was rebooted itself and let me launch system with kernel 3.16.7 once again, Of course the Xsession failed so I have to continue in text mode, I tried to continue in upgrade and I got this:
    http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/installation-zypper-13.2-tumbleweed-02.jpg

the last lines are rewrote below just because the picture is badly readable:
[228.146890] Kernel panic - not syncing: Timeout synchronizing machine clock over CPUs
[229.177005] Shutting down cpus with NMI
[229.180605] Kernel offset: 0x0 from 0xffffffff81000000 (relocation range: 0xffffffff80000000-0xffffffff9fffffff)
[229.189886] Rebooting in 90 seconds…

And so I ended … though not entirely. When I looked at the error screens that I got at launches Tumbleweed LiveKDE so I found that all of the reasons for the falls are actually the same !!!

I do not want it downright summarize, but it really comes to me like a kernel bug. The second thing is that the processor which is in my NTB is one of the last. Actually was launched in 06.2015 and not technology Haswell, but Broadwell, which would of course be related … when I ran Tumbleweed LiveKDE I have done HW sheet if it might help (I cut out the dumps, but dumps are available ): http://www.unimatrixzero.cz/aukro/HWC-Tumbleweed-LiveKDE.txt

Well, because it is more or less clear where the problem is I tried to throw it into a search engine. And I found basically the same hardware and the same problem here:
http://superuser.com/questions/963975/need-help-resolving-kernel-panic-not-syncing-timeout-synchronizing-machine-ch/973275#973275

Karel

18

HI Karel,

I too received the “nouveau” error messages before installing Bumblebee, but they were harmless most of the time anyway. Never saw them again after bumblebee installation.
But I have an “Haswell” processor (i7 4720HQ), so kernel designers had a year or so to debug it :wink:
I don’t have any i7 5xxx machine on hand, so sorry I can’t help you further.

Good luck, and let us know if you succeed.

Bruno

19

Just a heads-up: the latest Tumbleweed snapshot features Kernel 4.2.1.
Maybe it is worth a try on your HW.