how to see why mandriva 2008 hangs?

riccisit · 11-02-2007, 09:32 AM

Hi

I'm running Mandriva 2008 on a HP dv6123eu notebook. Everything is working ok. Anyway, in the last days I experienced an annoying problem. Sometime the system hangs and I can just reboot the whole pc.

Is there a way to explore a log of events and understand why I have this behaviour with my new OS?

I know there is a log viewer, but I don't know which word I have to search.

Thanks!
Fabio

aus9 · 11-02-2007, 10:26 PM

1) you can search your notebook at the Lq HCL link (normally on the RH side of this page)

Mdv also has a hcl you can search

2) you may have 2 main types of errors.....a hardware driver issue or a lockup due to software.

to tell if all your hw is detected at boot try /var/log/dmesg

if you insert media prior to the lockup, try /var/log/syslog

if its memory not be released you could try a renice command....but that may beyond you until you identify the culprit

3) to check on memory leaks you could run top or ps

4) its helps to know what you have tried and what you were doing prior to the lockup.

if the lockup occurs when you always open application X, thats a good clue.

Look at your hardware lights, the first time you boot up, anacron will run missed cron jobs about 1 minute past the hour.....check /etc/crontab to see the timings and with root powers you can change them if you want to......anyhow, if your disk lights a staying on excessively long and you open some more apps, maybe you have a software issue.

5) only you can tell what is right so report if you had no probs with 2007 pls?

2damncommon · 11-03-2007, 12:42 AM

Mandriva 2008 hangs on my system when it goes into a powersaver/screensaver mode.
Is this when yours hangs too?

riccisit · 11-03-2007, 06:05 PM

Thank you very much for the replies!!!

I don't understand all the messages you have borought me to consider.

What I can say is that the locking happens not becasue of the application X. But one thing I can say: it seems doing that since I installed VortualBox and touched the fstab to access the win partition.

But I'm not sure. I fthese two would be the problems, how could I be sure about it?

I didn't have MDV 2007 BTW...

Thanks if you find the time to reply to me

Fabio

aus9 · 11-03-2007, 09:22 PM

ok well virtualbox needs a kernel with a certain switch enabled = special kernel or a built module to an existing kernel.

If in your grub menu, you have selected your old kernel eg 2.6.x.y and you are trying to load Vbox and that particular kernel does not have forced module unload set....you may get a conflict.

try reading your /boot and spotting the kernel vbox default kernel, it should be something like.....2.6.29.server.

2) the other issue is fstab tries to mount a partition but you may have set the wrong type.

3) relook at your /var/log/syslog for errors. However it is not clear to me if you can now access that partition or not?

riccisit · 11-04-2007, 05:40 AM

Hi and thanks for your reply:

in the syslog I find that at every boot I receive these messages:

Code:

Nov  4 09:58:05 localhost kernel: NTFS driver 2.1.28 [Flags: R/O DEBUG MODULE].
Nov  4 09:58:05 localhost kernel: NTFS-fs warning (device sda3): is_boot_sector_ntfs(): Invalid boot sector checksum.
Nov  4 09:58:05 localhost kernel: NTFS-fs error (device sda3): read_ntfs_boot_sector(): Primary boot sector is invalid.
Nov  4 09:58:05 localhost kernel: NTFS-fs error (device sda3): read_ntfs_boot_sector(): Mount option errors=recover not used. Aborting without trying to recover.
Nov  4 09:58:05 localhost kernel: NTFS-fs error (device sda3): ntfs_fill_super(): Not an NTFS volume.
Nov  4 09:58:05 localhost kernel: fuse init (API version 7.8)

And my fstab is

Code:

/dev/sda5	/	ext3	noatime	1	1
/dev/sda7	/home	ext3	noatime	1	2
/dev/sda3	/mnt/win_	ntfs	umask=0022,nls=utf8,ro	0	0
/dev/sda1	/mnt/win_c	ntfs-3g	defaults,locale=it_IT.UTF-8	0	0
/dev/sda2	/mnt/win_d	vfat	umask=0022,iocharset=utf8	0	0
/dev/cdrom	/media/cdrom	auto	umask=0022,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,ro,exec	0	0
none	/proc	proc	defaults	0	0
/dev/sda6	swap	swap	defaults	0	0

It seems that sda3 isn't proper implemented in fstab. But I still can access the sda1 partition where windows data are.

Any idea? If you don't see problems I will study a bit the virtualbox problem.

Thanks
Fabio

riccisit · 11-04-2007, 05:45 AM

Another thing I noticed is that before locking the Notebook has a strange cooling fan noise. It is normal, but continous and doesn't give up.

I did "top" and found that the program X (so, the graphical server I think) is taking the 95% of the CPU. And imwheel another 35%. Other orgrams, as Firefox, just 2%.

Although I have NVIDIA video card, I've not installed drivers by default (I don't know why the installation didn't recognize this): should I install the new kernel for Nvidia too?

Fabio

GlennsPref · 11-04-2007, 05:49 AM

Hi fabio, just change the sda3 to be the same as sda1.

That may fix the problem you have.

Do you access sda1 a lot?

I do, but the my windows partitions are fat32 except for windows C:, which is ntfs.

aus9 · 11-04-2007, 06:41 AM

yeah well ignoring my difference in hw, your top shows the culprit its a bad xorg.conf

/etc/X11/xorg.conf defines what X is loaded. Post your output pls and name your video card make and model and what your monitor can do at your preferred resolution.

my top has about 1% X.......Linux generally likes to load and run and use applications in RAM but these should be intensive apps like open office data or burner or certain image manipulations or running ooo with lots of undos got it?

so IMHO lets fix X.

2) I still want to know what the default kernel name you are using in /boot/grub/menu.lst and what are the choices in /boot for vmlinuz(something)

riccisit · 11-04-2007, 09:02 AM

Hi and thank you for your replies!

Here is my xorg.conf

Code:

# File generated by XFdrake (rev 230776)

Section "Extensions"
    Option "Composite"
EndSection
# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"
    #DontZap # disable <Ctrl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
    AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
    #DontZoom # disable <Ctrl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
    Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
    Load "extmod"
    Load "type1"
    Load "freetype"
    Load "glx" # 3D layer
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Keyboard1"
    Driver "kbd"
    Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
    Option "XkbLayout" "it"
    Option "XkbOptions" "compose:rwin"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Mouse1"
    Driver "mouse"
    Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
    Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "SynapticsMouse1"
    Driver "synaptics"
    Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "monitor1"
    VendorName "Generic"
    ModelName "Flat Panel 1280x800"
    HorizSync 31.5-90
    VertRefresh 60
    
    # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
    # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630
    
    # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616
    
    # modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
    ModeLine "1280x800_120"  181.21  1280 1376 1520 1760  800 801 804 858  -HSync +Vsync
    
    # modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
    ModeLine "1280x800_100"  147.89  1280 1376 1512 1744  800 801 804 848  -HSync +Vsync
    
    # modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
    ModeLine "1280x800_85"  123.38  1280 1368 1504 1728  800 801 804 840  -HSync +Vsync
    
    # modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
    ModeLine "1280x800_75"  107.21  1280 1360 1496 1712  800 801 804 835  -HSync +Vsync
    
    # modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
    ModeLine "1280x800_60"  83.46  1280 1344 1480 1680  800 801 804 828  -HSync +Vsync
    
    # modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
    ModeLine "1280x800_50"  68.56  1280 1336 1472 1664  800 801 804 824  -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
    BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce FX - GeForce 8800"
    Driver "nv"
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    DefaultColorDepth 24
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 8
        Modes "1280x800"
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 15
        Modes "1280x800"
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 16
        Modes "1280x800"
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Modes "1280x800"
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout1"
    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice "SynapticsMouse1" "AlwaysCore"
    Screen "screen1"
EndSection

It's very strange that I have NVIDIA GEFORCE 6150 on my laptop but actually I've installed the version 8800! This is very strange...

My Kernel is kernel-laptop-2.6.22.9-1mdv.

aus9 · 11-04-2007, 06:41 PM

lets pick stuff from the top

Option "XkbLayout" "it" means Italian keyboard layout

SynapticsMouse1......I do not have a laptop but I assume you have this?

Monitor specs from config HorizSync 31.5-90 VertRefresh 60
I did ask you what resolution your was so is this correct?

BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce FX - GeForce 8800" Driver "nv"
this is the same output for my desktop nv 5200 card so nothing to worry about .......the key is drive is nv and you are not using a nvidia driver....more on that later

Modes "1280x800".....there a lot of these but its the absence of lower resolutions that concerns me....concerns me a lot hint hint.
Mdv should have given you some more basic fallbacks.

I am guessing when you boot up the system is only capable of 1280x800 but its not clear what refresh rates vertical horizontal you are getting. I do not have a laptop but can you run KInfoCenter and look at available screen > dimensions & resolutions and report what you see please.

2) leaping ahead, depending on your reaction, I am suggesting you may want to rebuild your xorg conf file. but you need to be clear on what your hw is capable of, as I do not want to responsible for you burning out your screen heh heh

aus9 · 11-04-2007, 06:48 PM

if you do want to leap ahead, and are prepared to do a clean install if all breaks, because you have no partimage backup, ....

go to Mcc > hw > set up graphical server....

2) and if you want a nvidia driver in lieu of nv....you will need to search add software for nvidia and grab....nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.22.9-desktop-1mdv but not sure if that is good for a laptop.....so if not

3) make sure your new config is ok and dowload the nvidia driver from nvidia and compile it for your existing laptop kernel