x server restarts

English Hardware
1

Hi all,
I am using opensuse 12.1 (64 bit) on my system (i7, 16GB ram Nvidia 240GTS).

My x-server randomly restarts, without giving me an error or backtrace.

This usually happens when I am using matlab to plot 3d figures, or comsol to plot 3d figures and sometimes on chrome while broswing. For some reason I am suspecting nvidia. But I couldn’t find anything on the log files.

dmesg | grep nvidia
 15.032699] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
 15.069552] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
 15.069559] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64

sudo cat /var/log/messages |grep nvidiaroot's password:
Jun 29 03:59:04 linux-0abd kernel:    14.868519] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Jun 29 03:59:04 linux-0abd kernel:    14.909407] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Jun 29 03:59:04 linux-0abd kernel:    14.909414] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Jul  2 08:00:03 linux-0abd kernel:    15.625966] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Jul  2 08:00:03 linux-0abd kernel:    15.663085] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Jul  2 08:00:03 linux-0abd kernel:    15.663091] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Jul  3 04:16:10 linux-0abd kernel:    13.541715] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Jul  3 04:16:10 linux-0abd kernel:    13.578433] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Jul  3 04:16:10 linux-0abd kernel:    13.578440] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Jul  5 03:54:17 linux-0abd kernel:    15.434599] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Jul  5 03:54:17 linux-0abd kernel:    15.473671] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Jul  5 03:54:17 linux-0abd kernel:    15.473678] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Jul  9 04:52:27 linux-0abd kernel:    15.032699] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Jul  9 04:52:27 linux-0abd kernel:    15.069552] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Jul  9 04:52:27 linux-0abd kernel:    15.069559] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64


sudo cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log |grep nvidia  2539.813] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
  2539.813] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/updates/drivers/nvidia_drv.so
  2539.814] (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
  2539.816] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/updates/drivers/nvidia_drv.so
  2539.816] (**) NVIDIA(0): Option "MetaModes" "CRT-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, CRT-1: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0"
  2540.904] (II) NVIDIA(0):     "CRT-0:nvidia-auto-select+0+0,CRT-1:nvidia-auto-select+1920+0"
  2540.926] (II) NVIDIA(0):     "CRT-0:nvidia-auto-select+0+0,CRT-1:nvidia-auto-select+1920+0"
  2540.986] (II) NVIDIA(0): [DRI2]   VDPAU driver: nvidia
2

I am not seeing anything bad per say in your listing. Open up terminal and run the following command:

/sbin/modinfo nvidia

This will tell me the version of your nVIDIA driver and other things. Just post the output in code # tags just as you did with the other information posted.

Thank You,

3

Thanks for the reply

/sbin/modinfo nvidiafilename:       /lib/modules/3.1.10-1.16-desktop/weak-updates/updates/nvidia.ko
alias:          char-major-195-*
version:        295.49
supported:      external
license:        NVIDIA
alias:          pci:v000010DEd00000E00sv*sd*bc04sc80i00*
alias:          pci:v000010DEd00000AA3sv*sd*bc0Bsc40i00*
alias:          pci:v000010DEd*sv*sd*bc03sc02i00*
alias:          pci:v000010DEd*sv*sd*bc03sc00i00*
depends:        
vermagic:       3.1.0-1.2-desktop SMP preempt mod_unload modversions 
parm:           NVreg_EnableVia4x:int
parm:           NVreg_EnableALiAGP:int
parm:           NVreg_ReqAGPRate:int
parm:           NVreg_EnableAGPSBA:int
parm:           NVreg_EnableAGPFW:int
parm:           NVreg_Mobile:int
parm:           NVreg_ResmanDebugLevel:int
parm:           NVreg_RmLogonRC:int
parm:           NVreg_ModifyDeviceFiles:int
parm:           NVreg_DeviceFileUID:int
parm:           NVreg_DeviceFileGID:int
parm:           NVreg_DeviceFileMode:int
parm:           NVreg_RemapLimit:int
parm:           NVreg_UpdateMemoryTypes:int
parm:           NVreg_InitializeSystemMemoryAllocations:int
parm:           NVreg_UseVBios:int
parm:           NVreg_RMEdgeIntrCheck:int
parm:           NVreg_UsePageAttributeTable:int
parm:           NVreg_EnableMSI:int
parm:           NVreg_MapRegistersEarly:int
parm:           NVreg_RegisterForACPIEvents:int
parm:           NVreg_RegistryDwords:charp
parm:           NVreg_RmMsg:charp
parm:           NVreg_NvAGP:int
4

So the latest Long Lived nVIDIA driver is up to version 295.59 while I see you are using 295.49 so have you considered doing an upgrade? I will say that normally, the word server is not used when it is being used to directly load and run graphic applications. In any event, a newer video driver might be helpful to try. Other things you can do include a complete cleaning of the PC for any unit that has not been cleaned in a year or so. This mainly is done by blowing all dust out of the PC and its heat sinks and a resetting of every plug, cable, adapter card and such inside the case or just blowing out dust in a Laptop computer. One could try a newer kernel version, clear up to version 3.4.4 for instance. I have bash scripts that can help in the video and kernel upgrade department if you need them.

Thank You,

5

I search for 295.59, but it is not on the repositories.

Can deffective ram be responsible for this?

6

Yes, defective RAM can do this. Normally though I recommend the PC cleaning described before and the reseating of memory modules before I would suggest they be replaced. If the PC does work long enough to install a newer Video driver it might be worth a try. You must remove the nVIDIA repository and uncheck the nVIDIA driver loaded in YaST before you would proceed. I normally install the driver the hard way following these guides. Make sure all files are in place and downloaded before you would do anything using YaST. Make sure to read through all documentation as well.

Installing the nVIDIA Video Driver the Hard Way - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

LNVHW - Load NVIDIA (driver the) Hard Way from runlevel 3 - Version 1.45 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

S.A.K.C. - SUSE Automated Kernel Compiler - Version 2.75 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

S.A.N.D.I. - SuSE Automated NVIDIA Driver Installer - Version 1.46 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

A system that locks up before you can finish anything is not going to let you complete any of these tasks. Again, make sure you have a dust free PC before you would do anything else.

Thank You,

7

jdmcdaniel3 wrote:
> I will say that normally, the word server is not used when it is being
> used to directly load and run graphic applications.

There seems to be some confusion here. marios geo mentioned his
‘x-server’. I take this to mean his X server. The X server is an
application that controls graphic displays. It forms the basis of almost
all Linux displays.

jdmcdaniel3 wrote:
> If the PC does work long enough to
> install a newer Video driver it might be worth a try. You must remove
> the nVIDIA repository and uncheck the nVIDIA driver loaded in YaST
> before you would proceed.
[snip]
> A system that locks up before you can finish anything is not going to
> let you complete any of these tasks. Again, make sure you have a dust
> free PC before you would do anything else.

There seems to be some more confusion here, or possibly some off-forum
conversation. I have seen no suggestion that the system is locking up at
all, let alone locking up rapidly.

marios geo said that his x-server was crashing when running particular
graphical applications. So this appears to be an application level
problem that does not affect the system’s integrity. (the applications’
problems may still be caused by system-level defects in hardware or
drivers, of course). But as long as marios does not try to
simultaneously run matlab whilst installing an updated driver, I see no
reason to expect difficulty. If there is difficulty, then the obvious
step is to switch the system to runlevel 3 and perform the update using
command-line tools.

As well as updating the nvidia driver, it may also be worth trying the
open-source nouveau driver. That would help isolate problems and might
provide a workaround.