SuSE 10.0 Crashing Repeatedly

jantman · 12-19-2006, 07:07 PM

I have a LinuxCertified laptop (AMD Athlon 64 Mobile) running SuSE 10.0 (x64_64). For a while, it's bee crashing unexpectedly. It started off that it was overheating and then just shutting off. I figured it was due to the overheating. Once I vacuumed it out, it seemed fine. It happened a few times in a row, every few days, for a week or so. Then it let up for about 2 months. The laptop is on 24x7.

It just started happening again today. I was browsing the web, then the mouse froze, hung like that for a second or so, and then hard power down. I opened it up and vacuumed, and also noticed a pretty large amount of heat, but it seemed to be radiating from the hard drive.

I can't trace any software problems in the logs. Any thoughts? Has anyone heard of any hardware problems that could cause this? How about software.

Some pertinent log entries:

the last entries in /var/log/warn before crash:
Dec 19 19:43:57 antmanLaptop smbd[6346]: [2006/12/19 19:43:57, 0] printing/print_cups.c:cups_cache_reload(85)
Dec 19 19:43:57 antmanLaptop smbd[6346]: Unable to connect to CUPS server localhost - Connection refused
Dec 19 19:44:02 antmanLaptop kernel: ACPI-0071: *** Warning: Invalid 'package' argument
Dec 19 19:44:02 antmanLaptop kernel: ACPI-0285: *** Warning: Invalid _PSS data
Dec 19 19:44:02 antmanLaptop kernel: cpu_init done, current fid 0x0, vid 0x18
Dec 19 19:44:02 antmanLaptop SuSEfirewall2: Warning: ip6tables does not support state matching. Extended IPv6 support disabled.
Dec 19 19:44:07 antmanLaptop udevd[2288]: get_netlink_msg: no ACTION in payload found, skip event 'mount'
Dec 19 19:44:10 antmanLaptop udevd[2288]: get_netlink_msg: no ACTION in payload found, skip event 'umount'
Dec 19 19:45:00 antmanLaptop hp: unable to open /var/run/hpiod.port: No such file or directory: prnt/hpijs/hplip_api.c 75
<END OF LOG BEFORE CRASH>

In the last kdm.log before crash:
FATAL: Module fglrx not found.
[drm] failed to load kernel module "fglrx"
FATAL: Module fglrx not found.
[drm] failed to load kernel module "fglrx"
(EE) fglrx(0): DRIScreenInit failed!
<END OF LOG BEFORE CRASH>

Any suggestions for other places to look? Other logs to post? How do I start to narrow down a hardware problem?

The manufacturer only has a 1 year warranty, they want something like $200 just to look at it... and if I have to spend that much without even knowing what the repair bill will be, I;d rather just save up for a brand name laptop.

Thanks for any help,
Jason

macemoneta · 12-20-2006, 07:03 AM

You can use the smartctl command to check the temperature and health of the hard drive. If the drive temperature is consistently high, it's usually an indication of imminent failure (drive bearing). For example:

Code:

# smartctl -iAH /dev/hda
smartctl version 5.36 [i686-redhat-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 series
Device Model:     HTS541080G9AT00
Serial Number:    12345678901234
Firmware Version: MB4OA60A
User Capacity:    80,026,361,856 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   6
ATA Standard is:  ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a
Local Time is:    Wed Dec 20 08:02:07 2006 EST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000b   100   100   062    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   145   145   033    Pre-fail  Always       -       2
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   092   092   000    Old_age   Always       -       13572
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   088   088   000    Old_age   Always       -       5345
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       70
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       8
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   052   052   000    Old_age   Always       -       487489
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   141   141   000    Old_age   Always       -       39 (Lifetime Min/Max 22/53)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

jantman · 12-20-2006, 06:26 PM

I don't know what it means, but the smartctl command is not on my system.

Is it a part of SuSE 10.0 by default?

macemoneta · 12-20-2006, 09:24 PM

You may need to install it separately. A quick Google search yielded these packages for SuSE 10.0:

smart-addons
smart
smart-gui
smartmontools