Help with Fatal Freeze

[elvis]

Since last month I'm using Sabayon LXDE 64 bit on my new laptop, a thinkpad edge e130, without any problems. Until yesterday. Since yesterday my system is frequently crashing: during normal work, the LXDE desktop disappears and I see this badly screen: http://www.abload.de/img/p1020132d6kp4.jpg

No touchpad, no keyboard (I can't switch to another tty), all I can do is a forced shutdown with laptop power key.

I have looked some log files, such as /var/log/messages, without success. I have no idea about what is happening and which log file can help me to discover what is causing this disaster.

I got three freezes until now:

1. while using external monitor with HDMI
2. while surfing with Opera
3. while surfing with Chromium

My hardware configuration is a core i3 ulv, integrated Intel VGA, ram 4 gb, and Samsung 830 SSD.

First step: help me in order to post the most useful log files!

[Provia]

I'm not an expert with logs but i suggest you to try to update your kernel(booting in recovery mode) with kernel-switcher and try to reboot.

[elvis]

Kernel upgraded from 3.6 to 3.7, so let's see if this will be the solution I need. Thank you anyway.

[elvis]

With kernel 3.7 the randomly freezes persist. In this way the distro is not usable.

Anyway booting with kernel 3.5 seems safe, according to the few days of testing that I have done.

So I started to search what differs between my installed kernels (3.6 and 3.7 = freeze, 3.5 is ok).
Then I realized that some days ago I added the kernel module tp_smapi (a module used for battery info in thinkpad laptops):

Code: Select all

$ cat /etc/conf.d/modules
# You can define a list modules for a specific kernel version,
# a released kernel version, a main kernel version or just a list.
# The most specific versioned variable will take precedence.
#modules_2_6_23_gentoo_r5="ieee1394 ohci1394"
#modules_2_6_23="tun ieee1394"
#modules_2_6="tun"
#modules_2="ipv6"
#modules="ohci1394"

# You can give modules a different name when they load - the new name
# will also be used to pick arguments below.
#modules="dummy:dummy1"

# Give the modules some arguments if needed, per version if necessary.
# Again, the most specific versioned variable will take precedence.
#module_ieee1394_args="debug"
#module_ieee1394_args_2_6_23_gentoo_r5="debug2"
#module_ieee1394_args_2_6_23="debug3"
#module_ieee1394_args_2_6="debug4"
#module_ieee1394_args_2="debug5"

# You should consult your kernel documentation and configuration
# for a list of modules and their options.

modules="tp_smapi"

Actually I have installed the tp_smapi package only for 3.6/3.7 kernel versions:

Code: Select all

$ equo search --installed tp_smapi
>>  @@ Cercando...
>>      @@ Pacchetto: app-laptop/tp_smapi-0.41#3.6.0-sabayon branch: 5, [__system__]
>>         Installato:    versione: 0.41 ~ tag: 3.6.0-sabayon ~ revisione: 1
>>         Slot:          0,3.6.0-sabayon
>>         Homepage:      https://github.com/evgeni/tp_smapi/
>>                        http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/
>>         Descrizione:   IBM ThinkPad SMAPI BIOS driver
>>         Licenza:       GPL-2
>>      @@ Pacchetto: app-laptop/tp_smapi-0.41#3.7.0-sabayon branch: 5, [__system__]
>>         Installato:    versione: 0.41 ~ tag: 3.7.0-sabayon ~ revisione: 1
>>         Slot:          0,3.7.0-sabayon
>>         Homepage:      https://github.com/evgeni/tp_smapi/
>>                        http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/
>>         Descrizione:   IBM ThinkPad SMAPI BIOS driver
>>         Licenza:       GPL-2
>>  Keyword:  tp_smapi
>>  Trovati:  2 voci


So kernel 3.5 is not using tp_smapi module. Could be this one reason for the freezes?

[Fitzcarraldo]

Well, it's easy to find out: unload the module now (use the command rmmod -f tp_smapi as root user) while you're still using the system, and/or comment out the "modules=" line in /etc/conf.d/modules so that the module is not loaded at start-up. And then see if the problem persists.

[elvis]

I have done some days of testing without the tp_smapi kernel module. The system was completely stable, no freezes overall.

So why this kernel module breaks my system? I would like to use it, because it provides very useful info (such as battery cycles counter).

According to thinkwiki this is a safe module and no big problems has been reported.
This is the Gentoo section but doesn't seems very helpful in my case: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Tp_smapi# ... _in_Gentoo

[DJ A. J. Slye]

That Sabayon Kernel might be built with HDAPS, you might need to Disable the hdaps module in your kernel configuration, Rebuild and re-install the kernel.

[elvis]

That Sabayon Kernel might be built with HDAPS, you might need to Disable the hdaps module in your kernel configuration, Rebuild and re-install the kernel.

According to lsmod output there isn't the hdaps module, but I don't know if lsmod can be considered enough reliable to discard your tip. Anyway:

Code: Select all

$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
8021q                  13708  0
garp                    4351  1 8021q
stp                     1418  1 garp
llc                     3281  2 stp,garp
xt_hl                   1089  6
ip6t_rt                 4481  3
nf_conntrack_ipv6       6513  6
nf_defrag_ipv6          7490  1 nf_conntrack_ipv6
ipt_REJECT              1905  1
xt_LOG                  9609  1
xt_limit                1417  2
xt_tcpudp               2737  18
xt_addrtype             2209  4
nf_conntrack_ipv4      10875  6
nf_defrag_ipv4          1151  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
xt_conntrack            2417  12
ip6table_filter         1073  1
ip6_tables             14224  2 ip6table_filter,ip6t_rt
ipv6                  244167  30 nf_defrag_ipv6,nf_conntrack_ipv6
nf_conntrack_netbios_ns      929  0
nf_conntrack_broadcast     1086  1 nf_conntrack_netbios_ns
nf_nat_ftp              1713  0
nf_nat                 12497  1 nf_nat_ftp
nf_conntrack_ftp        8233  1 nf_nat_ftp
nf_conntrack           58308  8 nf_nat_ftp,nf_conntrack_netbios_ns,nf_nat,xt_conntrack,nf_conntrack_broadcast,nf_conntrack_ftp,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack_ipv6
iptable_filter          1121  1
ip_tables              13894  1 iptable_filter
x_tables               13915  12 ip6table_filter,xt_hl,ip_tables,xt_tcpudp,xt_limit,xt_conntrack,xt_LOG,iptable_filter,ip6t_rt,ipt_REJECT,ip6_tables,xt_addrtype
joydev                  7921  0
coretemp                5241  0
kvm                   198552  0
crc32c_intel            1313  0
ghash_clmulni_intel     3087  0
btusb                  11913  0
bluetooth             213518  2 btusb
psmouse                63551  0
iwldvm                 96258  0
mac80211              207446  1 iwldvm
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     21879  1
snd_hda_codec_realtek    45617  1
snd_hda_intel          22297  3
snd_hda_codec          68446  3 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               4607  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                58496  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc          6087  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
iTCO_wdt                4169  0
cdc_wdm                 9270  0
snd_timer              14247  1 snd_pcm
cdc_acm                17825  0
iTCO_vendor_support     1618  1 iTCO_wdt
rts_pstor             313562  0
cdc_ncm                 9953  0
usbnet                 17807  1 cdc_ncm
mei                    52070  0
r8169                  39769  0
uvcvideo               58088  0
videobuf2_vmalloc       2074  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops        2284  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core         17558  1 uvcvideo
videodev               81912  2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
media                   8195  2 uvcvideo,videodev
i2c_i801               13241  0
lpc_ich                10897  0
serio_raw               3945  0
pcspkr                  1521  0
microcode              11028  0
iwlwifi                56684  1 iwldvm
cfg80211              139712  3 iwlwifi,mac80211,iwldvm
thinkpad_acpi          46065  0
nvram                   4739  1 thinkpad_acpi
snd                    46583  14 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,thinkpad_acpi
virtio_pci              6279  0
virtio_blk              8331  0
virtio_net             13052  0
virtio_console         14659  0
virtio_balloon          4012  0
virtio_ring             4757  5 virtio_blk,virtio_net,virtio_pci,virtio_balloon,virtio_console
virtio                  3358  5 virtio_blk,virtio_net,virtio_pci,virtio_balloon,virtio_console
lrw                     3190  0
xts                     2808  0
gf128mul                5339  2 lrw,xts
ablk_helper             1629  0
cryptd                  6880  2 ghash_clmulni_intel,ablk_helper
aes_x86_64              7388  0
sha256_generic          9534  0
iscsi_tcp               7677  0
tg3                   119696  0
e1000                 109315  0
fuse                   56750  2
zfs                   821656  0
zcommon                28471  1 zfs
znvpair                24478  2 zfs,zcommon
zavl                    4188  1 zfs
zunicode              316778  1 zfs
spl                   107112  5 zfs,zavl,zunicode,zcommon,znvpair
xfs                   414850  0
nfs                   101223  0
lockd                  53082  1 nfs
sunrpc                145723  2 nfs,lockd
jfs                   141447  0
reiserfs              206613  0
ext4                  252506  2
jbd2                   48908  1 ext4
ext3                  108118  0
jbd                    37551  1 ext3
ext2                   53713  0
mbcache                 4579  3 ext2,ext3,ext4
sl811_hcd               8936  0
hid_generic             1042  0
xhci_hcd               74811  0
ohci_hcd               24415  0
uhci_hcd               20291  0
ehci_hcd               45896  0
sx8                    10934  0
imm                     8678  0
parport                26712  1 imm
pata_pcmcia             9670  0
pcmcia                 38996  1 pata_pcmcia


How to check (using other tools) if I have the hdaps module loaded? And how can I disable it and rebuild the kernel? I have no experience whit this.