SlackwareThis Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Failure running memtest indicates it's hardware, probably not memory (memtest should be fine with that ) but something else instead. It could (for example) be capacitors on the motherboard that are getting old -- you might find it's ok when running on battery but fails when running on mains power. That kind of thing might not be repairable, unless it's a well known problem with your model and you can find someone brave to give it a shot for nothing.
Failure running memtest indicates it's hardware, probably not memory (memtest should be fine with that ) but something else instead. It could (for example) be capacitors on the motherboard that are getting old -- you might find it's ok when running on battery but fails when running on mains power. That kind of thing might not be repairable, unless it's a well known problem with your model and you can find someone brave to give it a shot for nothing.
If it was something as serious as that, would a reboot apparently (albeit temporarily) fix it, as suggested on the bottom line of the screen?
*If* it was something as serious as that, then, depending on how it crashes, yes, a reboot might get it going again (until the next time), or it might need to be powered off before it'll restart.
I'm not stamping my foot and insisting that it's definitely hardware, but we need to prepare you emotionally for that possibility
If you try to carry on with it but the problem gets more frequent as the weeks go by, that'll be another indication that something in the hardware is going bad.
*If* it was something as serious as that, then, depending on how it crashes, yes, a reboot might get it going again (until the next time), or it might need to be powered off before it'll restart.
I'm not stamping my foot and insisting that it's definitely hardware, but we need to prepare you emotionally for that possibility
If you try to carry on with it but the problem gets more frequent as the weeks go by, that'll be another indication that something in the hardware is going bad.
Not sure, but I might have fixed it using guess work. Since some of the error message entries seemed to refer to the kernel (kthread_worker, kthread_data) I thought I'd try rebuilding the initrd, using mkinitrd_command_generator.sh again. I've shut it down, and switched it back on after an interval, 3 times today. And the error has not occurred. So it may be fixed, or not.
-----------------------------
Fingers crossed - still OK.
Last edited by brianL; 12-08-2017 at 04:34 AM.
Reason: updated information
No, the rebuilt initrd was not the solution. Only a temporary reprieve. Switched on & booted up this morning and got what's shown in the attached photo. Tried the "have you switched it off and on again" routine, and got the original error as in post #1. Off & on again, and it boots OK.
I haven't got a spare HDD or SSD. If it was the SSD, wouldn't problems show up when it was running - not just on boot? Once it boots OK, it runs with no problems whatsoever.
Over the years I've gotten in trouble by making assumptions about how things work. ("Oh this couldn't possibly be the problem because ...")
Now days I just follow good troubleshooting technique to isolate a problem without presuming to know the cause of the failure.
It would be nice to know if the problem is with an easily replaced component (RAM, Disk, Software) or not.
Without spare computers and components my ideas won't work. Hopefully others will have some more sophisticated techniques you can use without swapping out hardware.
Brian, could be you are just affected by a kernel bug, like the one described for 4.14.x ?
I'll have a look at that thread: "Strange behavior...". Although it's worked OK since the update to 4.4.88, up to now. And I haven't had problems on my other 2 machines running it (Thinkpad T410 & Dell T3600).
Although it's worked OK since the update to 4.4.88, up to now. And I haven't had problems on my other 2 machines running it (Thinkpad T410 & Dell T3600).
That's exactly what make me to question the Kernel, and the experience made me to learn in a hard-way that just because it works well in three machines, is not a guarantee that it will not crash in the fourth one.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
Now Memtest seems to be frozen.
) but something else instead. It could (for example) be capacitors on the motherboard that are getting old -- you might find it's ok when running on battery but fails when running on mains power. That kind of thing might not be repairable, unless it's a well known problem with your model and you can find someone brave to give it a shot for nothing.
