%^!#$%%$%$%#$#$#$%$!!!!!!!

I don't think it was the driver after all. It started happening again. After the laptop was on for a week or so it started freezing (once even on the LILO screen). The system seems fine (there's some activity - it's just the display.)

After it had been happening for a few days last time, I then switched it off for a couple of days and it had been working fine for over a week and now it's happening again with the same symptoms both (linux/windows). I switched it off last night and see what happens later on. I think I'll have to contact lenovo.

They (lenovo0 might be being difficult as the problems only start after running it for some time (a week).

@Wayne - are you sure about that?

Have you ever heard of hplies.com? It's no longer, but there used to be many of us there discussing the nvidia GPU problem on hp computers. Hp was lying about it, and many of us were having to sue hp to get our computers replaced. But anyway there were many laptops sent back in. Hp would put a new motherboard in the laptop with the same defective GPU, and while many people made the mistake of leaving the hard drives in, those of us that knew better, removed the hard drives and sent the laptops in without the hard drive. Sending the laptops in without the hard drives never caused any problems.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

I see that your laptop has the duel graphics mess.

Does your bios allow disabling one of the graphics chips?

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

AFAIK, it has a single graphics chip. I've heard of those you're talking about. Mine isn't one of them.

If it freezes and does not say that "fallen off the bus" error then it could be something else.

I would run memtest first.

Thanks. Well, to be honest I never mentioned that error message. I'll run mem test and use it a bit more before I contact lenovo.

Sure about that?

The T410s from 'fall' (why americans cant use 'autumn' is beyond me) of 2010 onward with nVidia GPUs are 'optimus' models. AFAIK the older T410s with nVidia GPUs before the 2010 revision were 'sitchable graphics' models.

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/deta...cID=MIGR-76476

I'd check to see if you do have an 'opmitus', or 'switchable graphics' model laptop.

Thanks but I never said it was T410S. As you can see from my OP it's T410. More parameters can be found here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/sh...t/4516/cat/536

Another thing to do is to check to see if there is a bios update for your laptop.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

I actually meant 'T410' plural, not T410S. If I meant T410S is would have capped the 'S'.

After checking, it looks like the T410 (non-sandy bridge models with an nVidia GPU) are not meant to be 'switchable graphics' models. I've actually woked on them, and saw 'switchable graphics' in the lenovo software. Never tired using it, and it seems that it was a mistkae in the software. Though I wouldnt be suprised if a few models crept out of the factory with the non-GPU model chipset and the nVidia GPU.

It happened for me with the 275.28 drivers. Some suggest using earlier drivers like 275.21 or 260.* (I will test this now):
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=209151

In case it is an IRQ issue, try creating a file at '/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf' with this:

I am also testing this.

I don't think it's that problem in my case. I checked the log each time anything like that happened but nothing showed up. The guy in the thread you refer to describes it as the display disappearing. In my case it'd freeze. Besides I had been running the same nvidia driver for a few months before it first occurred (both on linux and windows = different drivers)

When I think of it now, I remembered that it first started happening a couple of days after I installed Minecraft. Playing it for a few minutes the cpu would overheat and shut down the laptop. I got the fan air outlets cleaned with compressed air and the game ran smoothly. Not sure if that's related at all but haven't played Minecraft on the laptop since then.

The funniest thing is that after the last occurrence of the freezing problem 2 weeks ago, the laptop has been on (15 days) and it hasn't happened since. It seems like a recurring problem. First I experienced it for 2 days (constant freezing) then it was ok for a week or so. Then it started happening again for 2 days and after the Nth freeze/reboot, it went fine again (and has been fine so far).

The mem test did not show any errors. If/when it happens again, I'll try creating the nvidia.conf file. Thanks

It is random and it can manifest itself as a freeze or a hang (not really a black screen, I never got any). You will only get the error in syslog if you REISUB, otherwise you will not get any error from what I've found.

From what I see the X server is stuck in an infinite loop. Usually you can REISUB, sometimes not.

1 members found this post helpful.

Ok, didn't know about it. Thanks

Another possible solution, try the latest kernel and latest nvidia drivers.