I’ve been quite happily running 11.2 on my Thinkpad X60s since it was released with very few problems but since 11.2 is no longer supported I am forced to upgrade to 11.4 with KDE 4.6.0. I did a clean install only keeping my Home directory.
So far I’ve spent the last two days disappointed and frustrated as I have just had problem after problem.
So far I am experiencing:
- Random complete lock ups where I am forced to turn the laptop off via the power button.
- Random mouse freezes from anything between 10 seconds to permanent, but the keyboard still works. The only way to recover is to log out and log in again.
- Sometimes mouse clicks are not being recognised by the window in focus. I.E if I try click on an icon or button on the window in focus, the clicks actually click items on the window below. However, the keyboard works properly on the focused window.
- The EUR sign no longer works when pressing Alt Gr 4. My locale, keyboard map (gb) as as before with 11.2.
- My CPU randomly seems to lock at 90%-100%. Looking at system activity (Ctrl Esc) or top in konsole doesn’t show any process that is running away and adding all the process cpu % will only typically add to <30%.
- If using the laptop undocked, and then suspending or hibernating, then docking it and waking the laptop, the external screen is not activated. So I’m forced to have to completely shut the laptop down before docking.
That’s what I’ve struggled with in the two days since the upgrade. I’m not sure what else I will find but the experience has been rather disappointing. It’s hard to believe that there has been such a major regression. I suspect the problems with the mouse and screen freezes are related to the Intel driver but cannot confirm as nothing is every shown in the logs after a freeze.
I’m going to try with a clean home directory and see if it’s any of the old settings that are causing my problems. Failing that I’ll do another clean install but I suspect that won’t really change things as my colleague’s x60s also running 11.4 experiences the lock-ups too.
Regrettably I’ll be posting quite a few threads for help over the next few days I think.
Thanks for replying James. I did do a clean install but kept my /home directory (as mentioned in line two of my post). Perhaps I should have not used the word upgrade in the title.
The problem with the freezing and mouse focusing on the widow below the one in focus is really interfering with being able to use my laptop as it keeps happening randomly and usually within 30mins of a clean boot. It’s driving me crazy to the point I was going to through the thing out of the window. I’m normally patient with things like this but this seems to have got to me. I had such a good ride with 11.1 and 11.2 but it seems 11.4 just doesn’t like my hardware.
I’ve tried creating a new user but the problems still exist in the new user account so I don’t see it being a legacy setting being the problem. I suspect it’s display driver. The Intel driver for the 945GM card never was that great. Incidentally, disabling desktop effects doesn’t improve things.
As for the suspend/hibernate in and out of the dock, it worked perfectly under Windows, 11.1 and 11.2 after a little fiddling, but those tweaks don’t work for 11.4. I can live with having to shut down before docking and un-docking but cannot live with these constant freezes, mouse issues and sudden high CPU load.
The main problem is that I haven’t seen anything in the logs when these freezes occur so I don’t even know where to start.
Are you using 32 or a 64 bit installation on the Laptop? Have you considered a Kernel Update to a newer version? The newer the kernel, perhaps the better the video support. If you add the following repository, you can jump up to kernel 2.6.39:
Index of /repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/openSUSE_11.4
I normally modify my YaST setup to allow multiple kernel versions. Here is how to do that:
Yes, it is possible to keep both your old and new kernels. You need to change how YaST Software Management works with kernel updates, to allow you to maintain both the old kernel and the newer kernel.
edit the file /etc/zypp/zypp.conf to say:
##
## Packages which can be installed in different versions at the same time.
##
## Packages are selected either by name, or by provides. In the later case
## the string must start with "provides:" immediately followed by the capability.
##
## Example:
## kernel - just packages whith name 'kernel'
## provides:multiversion(kernel) - all packages providing 'multiversion(kernel)'
## (kenel and kmp packages should do this)
## Valid values:
## Comma separated list of packages.
##
## Default value:
## empty
##
# multiversion = provides:multiversion(kernel)
**multiversion = kernel-desktop** ## (suggested for openSUSE 11.3 or lower)
## OR
**multiversion = provides:multiversion(kernel)** ## (Usable for all kernels under openSUSE 11.4)
If you use KDE, you can use the menu Run Command:
kdesu kwrite /etc/zypp/zypp.conf
The file zypp.conf has a whole lot more in it than the small portion shown above. You are adding only one of the lines shown in bold (and it will not be in bold in your file after being added. So be careful not to mess anything else up.
If you would like to compile your own kernel and thus modify the kernel settings first, look to this script file I have written:
S.A.K.C. - SUSE Automated Kernel Compiler - Version 2.00 - Page 7
Message #62 has the most recent sakc script to use.
Thank You,
Thanks. I’ll look into trying a newer kernel. However I use a couple of programs Virtualbox and tp-smapi (Thinkpad module for controlling battery and HDD accelerometer) which are kernel specific so how would that work? Would I need to compile those modules myself for the new kernel?
EDIT: Sorry, forgot to say it’s the 32bit version.
On 06/10/2011 06:36 PM, suse tpx60s wrote:
>
> I did do a clean install but kept my /home
> directory (as mentioned in line two of my post).
have you used YaST Online Updater (with the oss, non-oss, and update
repos enabled and refreshed) to pick up all the updates, patches etc
since 11.4 came out, and rebooted since that?
–
dd CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
via NNTP openSUSE 11.4 [2.6.37.6-0.5] + KDE 4.6.0 + Thunderbird 3.1.10
Acer Aspire One D255, 1.66 GHz Atom, 1 GB RAM, Intel Pineview graphics
- When your gecko is broken you have a reptile dysfunction! *
Thanks. I'll look into trying a newer kernel. However I use a couple of programs Virtualbox and tp-smapi (Thinkpad module for controlling battery and HDD accelerometer) which are kernel specific so how would that work? Would I need to compile those modules myself for the new kernel?
EDIT: Sorry, forgot to say it’s the 32bit version.
Well, I would not use a 32 bit setup with all of this you are trying to do. As for the kernel version, you need to fully update it before loading virtual box. The files vboxdrv, vboxnetflt and *vboxnetadp *might not be updated properly when you change the kernel version which is a big deal. I would at minimum switch to (and fully update) a 64 bit OS and then reinstall VirtualBox from scratch and see what you get.
Thank You,
Unfortunately, my laptop is 32bit so 64bit OS will not work. I’ve had no trouble running anything I required with this hardware with 11.1. or 11.2. I don’t really use heavy cpu intensive apps.
Yes I’m sure. It probably was one of the last 32bit systems before 64bit became the norm. I got the laptop in mid 2006 so it’s quite old as far as hardware goes.
Here is the link to the processor confirming 32bit. http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27229
Hmmm… I wonder if the intel graphics driver is the cause of many of your problems. Does failsafe mode work ok (without lockups etc)? A second thought I had is that the intellegacy driver may be better with your hardware:
Intel Graphics Hardware
The 11.4 Release Notes mention
On Intel without KMS the Xserver falls back to the fbdev driver (the intel driver only supports KMS); alternatively, there is the “intellegacy” driver (xorg-x11-driver-video-intel-legacy package) which still supports UMS (User Mode Setting). To use it, edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf and change the driver entry to intellegacy.
Just a guess.
Thanks I’ll try that. I added nomodeset to the boot option and it seems to have settled things down a bit but I have only used the system for an hour since doing that so will have to see how it goes for the rest of the day.