Hardy will not boot on Samsung Q45 laptops

Hardware Specifications for this model are found here : http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/mobilecomputing/qseries/np_q45a002suk.asp?page=Specifications

I can confirm this, even with acpi=off it does not seem to boot.

Problem still unresolved in 7.10 final. When attempting to boot from the live CD the process hangs at the "Loading ACPI Modules" line and the CD spins down.

Although it does not work by default (which it should really...), there is information on how to get it working with gutsy here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/SamsungQ45

Way past my skill level to be messing about in files through a command prompt, especially when I hear BIOS updates in the solution.

Thanks for the information, but I'll wait for the next Ubuntu I think.

I am assigning this bug to the 'ubuntu-kernel-team' per their bug policy. For future reference you can learn more about their bug policy at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies .

Problem still present with Hardi daily build 24-01-2008, kernel 2.6.24-4

Hi All,

Hardy Alpha 4 will be released within days. It will have an updated version of the kernel It would be great if you could test the new kernel via the LiveCD. You can download and try the new Hardy Heron Alpha release from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/ . General information regarding the release can also be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ .

If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. If the issue still exists, can you boot with the "quiet" and "splash" boot options removed and take a digital photo of the messages logged to the screen and attach it to this bug report? Thanks.

Leann,

As of ISO build 20080221 kernel 2.6.24-8-generic, acpi=off is still required...

But the situation has changed...

Now the system hangs during rcS.d/udev and in particular when executing udevadm trigger, while before it would hang in the early stages of the boot process (IIRC).

Strangely enough now in order to boot I need to disable both ACPI and usplash! I tried several times with either one on and it does not work.

The module "video.ko" is causing the system freeze.

The depending module "output.ko" loads fine, but after loading video.ko there is a hard freeze where even SysRq isn't working anymore!!

Tried with latest kernel version, currently "2.6.24-10"

It seems to work well with 2.6.24-12!!!

Tested with daily ISO of 15-Mar-2008

Thanks

Matt, care to confirm if this is resolved? Thanks.

Hi Leann,

I'll download the beta in the morning, try it out, and let you know. Sounds promising :)

This issue is fixed in the 8.04 beta, my Q45 now boots Ubuntu! And may I say, it's been a while since I used Ubuntu (because of this bug), but I am very impressed indeed with the new version. I'm considering binning my Vista install on this machine (it's a nightmare).

The bug was fixed with 2.6.24-12 but was reintroduced in 2.6.24-13.
It still persists in -15

The system just freezes on startup

I can confirm that the issue reappeared in 2.6.24.15. That requires acpi=off to boot.
It was working well in 2.6.24-12.

Still broken in 2.6.24-16 using today's ISO

<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.20/+bug/64308> may be related to this bug.

I've also filed a bug upstream at <http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10448.

Similar bug with a backtrace: <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-meta/+bug/216221>

As has been said before, it will boot 2.6.24-12 perfectly well but stopped working in newer kernels. With "quiet" and "splash" options taken, these are the last two lines before it froze:
[ 37.178781] sdhc i : slot0: will use DMA mode even though HW doesn't fully claim to support it
[ 37.178978] mmc0 : SDHC1 at 0xf0401800 irq 22 DMA

I can also confirm this on a Samsung Q45 using Hardy RC. I'll attach a photo of the screen with the last output on it.

This is rather disappointing since it did not work in gutsy either, and it apparentlz did work at some point in the hardy cycle.

I can also confirm that blacklisting the video.ko module solves the problem. Unfortunately that is not possible for the Live CD (which is also a big problem IMHO). So there you have to boot with acpi=off to work around it.

Ben, I understand that it is too late for this to be fixed in hardy. But this has been open for over a year, fixed by chance, then broken again...

Isn't there something we can do to actually debug and fix this? I'd be willing to help, I just don't know where to start.

The issue clearly seems to be triggered by the video.ko module. But there's no output on the screen when it hangs. Is it somehow possible to enable debugging output?

Tested with daily build of 2008-04-23 and no luck.

I live close to the London office, I can bring my laptop in if that helps (it does not have a serial port though).

I just installed the final release of Hardy Heron and I can confirm that I still have to boot with the acpi= off option.

Everything else seems to work OK. (Except most of the FN keys don't work and sometimes the cursor leaps randomly to a different line when I'm typing).

But not having any acpi really sucks.

Is there any way to fix this?

raid517, have a look here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/SamsungQ45Dalia#workaround-boot

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

I tried the latest .27 Intrepid-kernel but the problem still persists.

But there exist patches against mainline kernel to fix this bug.
This bug was discussed in upsteam-bugzilla (http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10448) as stated by Sam.
Finally there is a fix in http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9614 which is a duplicate report.

This fix won't make it into .27 but it is in Andi Kleen's linux-acpi test branch.
Look for the patch-series of "Thomas Renninger" dated 2008-08-01:
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/ak/linux-acpi-2.6.git;a=shortlog;h=test;pg=8

With a kernel build from this git-tree, loading of video.ko doesn't freeze my samsung q45 with intel graphics anymore.

Looking at the bugs listed in the previous comment, the upsteam maintainers imply that the fixes for BZ#9614 may also fix the problems for this bug.

As part of fixing LP#257927 we have attempted a backport of those fixes. There are test kernels built for that bug, and as such they may be applicable to this bug also. Could you test the kernels at the url below and report back:

    http://people.ubuntu.com/~apw/lp257827/

I just tested this build and it works fine in my Q45 with intel GM965 video.

The module video.ko loads without freezing the system

Thanks!

works for me too, q45+intel here too. brightness control via function keys still behaves erratically, but that's for another bug, i guess.

thanks

working fine on my Q45 with intel.
to get the brightness working you need to downgrade your bios to 09ST:
download the 08ST.iso (http://www.samsungpc.com/gb/support/q45/bios/08st.iso)
burn to disc
boot from disc, type 08ST.exe /s /x /c /nomodel_partcheck (make sure the bios is correct)
you can then upgrade to 09ST.

the brighness control works much better now, i can swtich the backlight on and off. the change brightness level works, but it is still a little bit buggy.

updated the wrong task

today's upgrade (2.6.27-10-generic) seems to break acpi: intrepid hangs on boot with acpi on, even blacklisting video.ko. (samsung q45 + intel)

That sounds like a new problem. What are the last messages emitted by the kernel before it hangs; try a boot with spash and quiet removed from the kernel command line.

It hangs detecting (?) acpi devices. last two messages are:

ACPI: Sleep Button (CM) [SLPB]
ACPI: Battery Slot [BAT1] (battery present)

before that it detects AC Adapter, Power Button (FM), Lid Switch and Power Button (CM). No other messages or errors after that (i waited just a minute or so)

(I'm going to try a bios downgrade as suggested by AlexPepler as soon as i get my hands on a cd, but I tend to see it as cheating...)

With video.ko _blacklisted_ intrepid boots fine with the latest kernel upgrade. I probably did something wrong with the previous one.

2.6.27-10.20lp257827apw1 boots ok with video.ko enabled (brightness controls still buggy)

This seems to have been fixed by the same changes as were applied under bug #257827, which remove the duplicate video devices.

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

Marking this Fix Released as the patches for bug 257827 which also resolve this isssue here have been released and avilable as of 2.6.27-11.25 . Thanks.