Debian on macbook air 13" 2011 freezes at least once per day

guerlando · 02-11-2016, 03:43 PM

I've tried to search everywhere, and this question describes the same freezing I'm having. However, since I'm on a macbook, my video card is onboard and PSU is not a problem.

I'm running debian 8 on my macbook air 13" 2011, and this problem happens once a day:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...5RV2FnOGZwZDJB

Everything freezes, when I move the mouse it jumps from one place to another (does not go continuosly), even the clock freezes... Sometimes if I wait for like 1 minute, it returns to works but with small freezes. When I restart, everything works normally.

I doubt it's anything hardware related because I have Windows 10 in the same machine and it never freezes. I've used windows for years and it never frozen, but the first day I installed Debian 8 it happened.

These freezes normally happen when I open or load something a bit heavy (not too heavy), but it's random, sometimes I open really heavy things and it does not happen.

I obviously searched for 'debian freezes' on google, and I've read that I must try to read the logs. I've restarted and saved this log (I don't remember of which file) but I don't know if it contains anything sensitive. I'd like to better know the reason and fix it. Any ideas on how to help me?

This is the log during the time of the crash:

Code:

4 18:14:28 my_user gdm-Xorg-:0[593]: (II) intel(0): EDID vendor "APP", prod id 40159
    Feb  4 18:14:28 my_user gdm-Xorg-:0[593]: (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
    Feb  4 18:14:28 my_user gdm-Xorg-:0[593]: (II) intel(0): Modeline "1440x900"x0.0   91.54  1440 1504 1546 1652  900 903 909 926 -hsync -vsync (55.4 kHz eP)
    Feb  4 18:14:54 my_user org.gnome.Calculator.SearchProvider[1825]: Error: ErrorCode.UNKNOWN_VARIABLE
    Feb  4 18:14:54 my_user org.gnome.Calculator.SearchProvider[1825]: Error: ErrorCode.UNKNOWN_VARIABLE
    Feb  4 18:14:55 my_user org.gnome.Calculator.SearchProvider[1825]: Error: ErrorCode.UNKNOWN_VARIABLE
    Feb  4 18:14:59 my_user org.gnome.Calculator.SearchProvider[1825]: Error: ErrorCode.UNKNOWN_VARIABLE
    Feb  4 18:15:00 my_user org.gnome.Bijiben.SearchProvider[1825]: (bijiben-shell-search-provider:14940): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
    Feb  4 18:15:03 my_user org.gnome.Bijiben.SearchProvider[1825]: (bijiben-shell-search-provider:14940): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
    Feb  4 18:15:06 my_user org.gnome.OnlineMiners.MediaServer[1825]: Gom-Message: Setting scheduler policy to SCHED_IDLE
    Feb  4 18:15:07 my_user org.gnome.Bijiben.SearchProvider[1825]: (bijiben-shell-search-provider:14940): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
    Feb  4 18:15:26 my_user org.gnome.Bijiben.SearchProvider[1825]: (bijiben-shell-search-provider:14940): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
    Feb  4 18:15:27 my_user gnome-session[1782]: Gjs-Message: JS LOG: Received error from DBus search provider org.gnome.clocks.desktop: Gio.IOErrorEnum: Timeout was reached
    Feb  4 18:15:27 my_user gnome-session[1782]: Gjs-Message: JS LOG: Received error from DBus search provider org.gnome.Documents.desktop: Gio.IOErrorEnum: Timeout was reached
    Feb  4 18:15:27 my_user gnome-session[1782]: Gjs-Message: JS LOG: Received error from DBus search provider org.gnome.Photos.desktop: Gio.IOErrorEnum: Timeout was reached
    Feb  4 18:15:35 my_user org.gnome.Photos[1825]: (gnome-photos:14947): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_set_data_full: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
    Feb  4 18:15:35 my_user org.gnome.Photos[1825]: (gnome-photos:14947): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
    Feb  4 18:15:35 my_user org.gnome.Photos[1825]: (gnome-photos:14947): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user NetworkManager[507]: <info> sleep requested (sleeping: no  enabled: yes)
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user NetworkManager[507]: <info> sleeping...
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user NetworkManager[507]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: activated -> unmanaged (reason 'sleeping') [100 10 37]
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user NetworkManager[507]: <info> (wlan0): deactivating device (reason 'sleeping') [37]
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user NetworkManager[507]: <info> (wlan0): canceled DHCP transaction, DHCP client pid 14654
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user NetworkManager[507]: <info> (wlan0): canceled DHCP transaction, DHCP client pid 14753
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user avahi-daemon[524]: Withdrawing address record for 2804:7f0:e083:e354::1 on wlan0.
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user avahi-daemon[524]: Leaving mDNS multicast group on interface wlan0.IPv6 with address 2804:7f0:e083:e354::1.
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user avahi-daemon[524]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface wlan0.IPv6 with address fe80::ba8d:12ff:fe0e:a6e4.
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user avahi-daemon[524]: Registering new address record for fe80::ba8d:12ff:fe0e:a6e4 on wlan0.*.
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user kernel: [28219.019467] wlan0: deauthenticating from 48:ee:0c:1f:d8:73 by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)
    Feb  4 18:15:44 my_user kernel: [28219.020412] brcmsmac bcma0:0: brcmsmac: brcms_ops_bss_info_changed: disassociated
    Feb  4 18:15:44

Timothy Miller · 02-11-2016, 04:10 PM

Which kernel are you running, standard or backports? If you're running the standard kernel, I'd at least try the backports to see if it's just the performance of the graphics driver, and that a newer kernel resolves (performance with the graphics drivers is VASTLY improved in 4.x overall compared to 3.16).

guerlando · 02-11-2016, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller

Which kernel are you running, standard or backports? If you're running the standard kernel, I'd at least try the backports to see if it's just the performance of the graphics driver, and that a newer kernel resolves (performance with the graphics drivers is VASTLY improved in 4.x overall compared to 3.16).

Why didn't 8 come with kernel 4.x already? Also, can I just follow this page to update it? https://wiki.debian.org/HowToUpgradeKernel

I've never did it, what if something breaks, how do I return to the older kernel?

Thank you!

Timothy Miller · 02-11-2016, 04:29 PM

When installing the backports kernel, it won't uninstall your existing kernel, so if it has issues, you just reboot and choose the older kernel.

Jessie was decided to ship with kernel version 3.16.x, I think because they decided 4.x would be too young to standardize on still when it became stable, and once released, stable doesn't do major version upgrades on their kernels, so it'll have a 3.16 kernel until Stretch becomes stable.

guerlando · 02-11-2016, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller

When installing the backports kernel, it won't uninstall your existing kernel, so if it has issues, you just reboot and choose the older kernel.

Jessie was decided to ship with kernel version 3.16.x, I think because they decided 4.x would be too young to standardize on still when it became stable, and once released, stable doesn't do major version upgrades on their kernels, so it'll have a 3.16 kernel until Stretch becomes stable.

can I install "linux-image-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 - Linux 4.3 for 64-bit PCs"?

Timothy Miller · 02-11-2016, 04:36 PM

Assuming you have the 64-bit Debian installed, that's the one to install and test. If it only happens once a day, I'll admit I don't THINK it's probably driver related, but it's a really good (and easy to test) place to start.

guerlando · 02-11-2016, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller

Assuming you have the 64-bit Debian installed, that's the one to install and test. If it only happens once a day, I'll admit I don't THINK it's probably driver related, but it's a really good (and easy to test) place to start.

Code:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0:i386 libgstreamer0.10-0:i386 libwine libwine:i386 libwine-gecko-2.21
  python-characteristic python-crypto python-lzma python-pam python-parsley python-psutil python-pyasn1-modules
  python-serial python-service-identity python-twisted python-twisted-bin python-twisted-conch python-twisted-core
  python-twisted-lore python-twisted-mail python-twisted-names python-twisted-news python-twisted-runner
  python-twisted-web python-twisted-words python-txsocksx python-zope.interface wine32:i386 wine64 wmctrl
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
Suggested packages:
  linux-doc-4.3 debian-kernel-handbook
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  linux-image-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 35.5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 173 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports/main linux-image-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 amd64 4.3.3-7~bpo8+1 [35.5 MB]
Fetched 35.5 MB in 6min 56s (85.2 kB/s)                                                                            
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package linux-image-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64.
(Reading database ... 194129 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64_4.3.3-7~bpo8+1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking linux-image-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 (4.3.3-7~bpo8+1) ...
Setting up linux-image-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 (4.3.3-7~bpo8+1) ...
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms:
Error! Your kernel headers for kernel 4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 cannot be found.
Please install the linux-headers-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 package,
or use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/skl_dmc_ver1.bin for module i915
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub:
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background image: /usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-grub.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-amd64
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found memtest86+ multiboot image: /boot/memtest86+_multiboot.bin
Found Windows 8 (loader) on /dev/sda4
done

What about this line?

Code:

Error! Your kernel headers for kernel 4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 cannot be found.
Please install the linux-headers-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 package,
or use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools:

it says 'done'. Did it work?

guerlando · 02-11-2016, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller

Assuming you have the 64-bit Debian installed, that's the one to install and test. If it only happens once a day, I'll admit I don't THINK it's probably driver related, but it's a really good (and easy to test) place to start.

Ok, I ignored the error, rebooted and selected the new kernel through grub. I'll run this new one until some problem appears. Thank you!

Timothy Miller · 02-11-2016, 05:10 PM

Ah, missed that you had a dkms package installed. It needs your kernel headers installed to build the driver for your wifi. Install also linux-headers-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64, and then it should be able to build the kernel module for the newer kernel. Otherwise you'll be without wifi connectivity when you boot into the newer kernel (and it may ALSO require a newer version of the dkms package installed, but after installing the headers, it'll tell you if so).

But yes, it's installed the newer kernel, if you were to reboot you'd reboot (by default) into the newer 4.3 kernel.

guerlando · 02-11-2016, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller

Ah, missed that you had a dkms package installed. It needs your kernel headers installed to build the driver for your wifi. Install also linux-headers-4.3.0-0.bpo.1-amd64, and then it should be able to build the kernel module for the newer kernel. Otherwise you'll be without wifi connectivity when you boot into the newer kernel.

But yes, it's installed the newer kernel, if you were to reboot you'd reboot (by default) into the newer 4.3 kernel.

I installed the headers (which gave me some errors) and when I sudo apt-get ... the kernel, it did no changes. I booted the new kernel and the wifi is working.

By the way, videos on Iceweasel are all green, the audio plays but the screen is green. Chromium works. It reminds me of another problem I had since when I installed Debian: whenever I replayed videos on iceweasel, it played all glitched (pixelated), you can see here in this post I made https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1109332

Does it have something to do with the freezing? Why my videos are green? Thank you and sorry by being so annoying, I'm new to all this, decided to change from windows 10 a few months ago.

aorfanos · 02-22-2016, 04:03 AM

I would suggest that you build your own kernel from source rather than using the *.deb packages. Don't be afraid to do it, as it's not a complex process if you don't need it to be. Go to kernel-dot-org and download the appropriate kernel version, then google 'install latest kernel debian 8' and go to the cyberciti guide on how to compile and run your own kernel. If you need any help pm me or post here.

PS. Currently writing this from a Macbook Pro 2009 on Jessie, kernel 4.4.1

Arzach · 04-02-2016, 05:57 AM

I followed your discussion and I found it very enteresting. I have a different problem with the stock debian jessie kernel (it is relate to suspend/resume) and I would try to use my own compiled kernel. I tried to compile by my own 4.4 kernel but with no luck. The system works but the temperature of the cores is always, at least, 10-15°C higher than running the stock kernel or the old 3.2. Indeed sometimes track-pad stop works for a minute or two and than it works again.

I'm a newbie in the kernel compilation/customization, so, probably I haven't confugured it fine. Can you give to me a hand?

All the best.

P.S. This is my machine:

Code:

r@mb:~$ inxi -F
System:    Host: mb Kernel: 3.2.0-4-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Gnome 3.14.4 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 8
Machine:   System: Apple product: MacBook4 1 v: 1.0
Mobo: Apple model: Mac-F22788A9 v: PVT Bios: Apple v: MB41.88Z.00C1.B00.0802091535 date: 02/09/08
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 Duo T8100 (-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
Clock Speeds: 1: 800 MHz 2: 800 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary)
Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 driver: intel Resolution: 1280x800@59.91hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 965GM GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.3.2
Audio:     Card Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA v: 1.0.24
Network:   Card-1: Marvell 88E8058 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: sky2
IF: eth0 state: down mac: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Card-2: Broadcom BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n driver: b43-pci-bridge
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (60.2% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5000LPVX size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 455G used: 277G (65%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.22GB used: 0.01GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 137 Uptime: 2 days Memory: 1655.5/3933.6MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.1.28