I have just installed xubuntu 8.10 on new hardware. It is based on a an Asus P5Q-VM motherboard (all Intel, including graphics) has 8Gb of memory and a quad code processor.
It all installed OK without any problems and ran OK. However since I set the graphics resolution to 1600x1200 (the display's default) it crashes *totally* on exiting from X. It's a total, hard, crash - CTRL/ALT/Fn won't switch to a text console, I can't ssh into the system (which I can before it has crashed) and I can't ping the system.
There is one other symptom, when I try and switch to a text mode console (using CTRL/ALT/Fn) even when the system is running OK I get a message from my monitor saying "this mode isn't supported" which seems a little odd on a monitor capable of 1600x1200 at more than 60Hz.
The monitor is a Dell 2001FP and I'm using the DVI-D input.
Does anyone have any ideas how to diagnose this problem? I have hunted around the files in /var/log but I can't see anything that looks significant there.
The xorg.conf file is totally uncustomised:-
Section "Device" Identifier "Configured Video Device" EndSection
Section "Monitor" Identifier "Configured Monitor" EndSection
Section "Screen" Identifier "Default Screen" Monitor "Configured Monitor" Device "Configured Video Device" EndSection
Hi Chris,
2008/11/11 Chris G cl@isbd.net:
It all installed OK without any problems and ran OK. However since I set the graphics resolution to 1600x1200 (the display's default) it crashes *totally* on exiting from X. It's a total, hard, crash - CTRL/ALT/Fn won't switch to a text console, I can't ssh into the system (which I can before it has crashed) and I can't ping the system.
Sounds like a kernel oops or freeze. Do the Magic SysRq keys work? Next step would be to get serial console support in kernel and pump the output to another box, then trigger the crash by exiting from X. The relevant info should be useful to someone.
Do you get the same issue at a different resolution? With vesa X11 drivers?
Good luck,
Srdjan
On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 06:11:11PM +0000, Srdjan Todorovic wrote:
Hi Chris,
2008/11/11 Chris G cl@isbd.net:
It all installed OK without any problems and ran OK. However since I set the graphics resolution to 1600x1200 (the display's default) it crashes *totally* on exiting from X. It's a total, hard, crash - CTRL/ALT/Fn won't switch to a text console, I can't ssh into the system (which I can before it has crashed) and I can't ping the system.
Sounds like a kernel oops or freeze. Do the Magic SysRq keys work?
They don't seem too even though '/proc/sys/kernel/sysrq' has a 1 in it. I've tried various ALT/SysRQ/<key> combinations and nothing seems to happen.
Next step would be to get serial console support in kernel and pump the output to another box, then trigger the crash by exiting from X. The relevant info should be useful to someone.
Will it be useful to me though! :-)
Do you get the same issue at a different resolution? With vesa X11 drivers?
If memory serves me correctly the "as installed" xubuntu before changing the resolution did work OK (i.e. I could log out of X and back in again). However changing to (for example) 1280x1024 from 1600x1200 doesn't change the symptoms at all now.
I'll try the vesa drivers if I get desperate.
On Tue, 2008-11-11 at 18:30 +0000, Chris G wrote:
I'll try the vesa drivers if I get desperate.
Before you do that try
Option "NoAccel"
In the device section of xorg.conf
Not a fix because you have now lost 2D hardware acceleration but it will at least steer you in the right direction if it makes a difference.
On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 08:36:44PM +0000, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
On Tue, 2008-11-11 at 18:30 +0000, Chris G wrote:
I'll try the vesa drivers if I get desperate.
Before you do that try
Option "NoAccel"
In the device section of xorg.conf
Not a fix because you have now lost 2D hardware acceleration but it will at least steer you in the right direction if it makes a difference.
Yes, that's fixed it, thank you. I had to add that to my xorg.conf when I did my first installation (of ubuntu 8.10 beta) but later Intel drivers seemed to have fixed the problem and I was able to take the Option "NoAccel" out again. It would seem that they've maybe re-introduced the bug. I'll have to keep a watch on the Intel drivers and see if a fix appears.
I did a clean install of xubuntu because I'd decided to move to xfce and wanted to get rid of the mixed up mish-mash of gnome and xfce I had got into.
I still get the "Can not display this mode" when I try to switch to a console using CTRL-ALT-Fn - and now it won't switch back to X either!
However at least X doesn't crash and bring the whole world down around me, having done CTRL-ALT-F1 and being stuck there I was able to ssh into the system and kill the X server to unscramble things.
On 11/11/2008 17:54:18, Chris G wrote:
... It all installed OK without any problems and ran OK. However since I set the graphics resolution to 1600x1200 (the display's default) it crashes *totally* on exiting from X. It's a total, hard, crash - CTRL/ALT/Fn won't switch to a text console, I can't ssh into the system (which I can before it has crashed) and I can't ping the system.
There is one other symptom, when I try and switch to a text mode console (using CTRL/ALT/Fn) even when the system is running OK I get a message from my monitor saying "this mode isn't supported" which seems a little odd on a monitor capable of 1600x1200 at more than 60Hz.
I would take a guess that either X or one of the kernel drives does not understand all the registers on the graphics card so the card is not being put in a consistent state when X exits or hands the card back to the console/framebuffer driver to switch to the text console. Depending on what happens next the card is left with the wrong settings (i.e. not those for the text console, hence the message) or the kernel is fooled into doing something that results in the crash.
I do not know how you would debug this in the sense of knowing exactly what is happening. There will be some info in the X log file but obviously once the the kernel is dead it doesn't write to disk anymore.
I has a case of something similar when text mode used the framebuffer device and whether or not there was a crash depended on the exact settings of that framebuffer mode, i.e. what resolution, depth and refresh rate. I did not try different settings in X to see if it was just a certain combination that was problematic because I spend most of my time in X and didn't want to compromise on that. Instead I reverted to having the text mode use the old (non framebuffer) console driver and that was reliable. Since then problem seems to have been resolved and framebuffer and X co-exist though I do not know if it was an update to X or the kernel that fixed it.
Good Luck, Steve.
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Chris G -
Srdjan Todorovic -
Steve Fosdick -
Wayne Stallwood