hangs, windows become unresponsive without noapic

Originally, I seem to have filed this as a support request. Not sure how that happened. Anyway, my apologies for the duplication

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Could you please add your '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' file and your '/var/log/Xorg.0.log' file as attachments to your bug report? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the response, Brian. Here is /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

and here is /etc/X11/xorg.conf

I probably should mention that there is no system hang covered by the period of this Xorg.0.log

and this is mine as requested

and this is the log, just after a reboot due to a sudden block (probably skype fault)

Hi Brian, quacklin;

Is quacklin having a similar problem to mine? I can't tell from the above...

Anyway, some more information.

Over the weekend, I tried Feisty beta. I had similar "hang up" problems, but much more frequently... I could not get more than one hour of work in before "the system would hang". This was true with both Kubuntu and Ubuntu. Note I was using a fresh install from CD on a brand-new hard drive of a slightly different type than I use for Edgy, in both cases.

So, back to Edgy.

Next, on Saturday (two days ago) I had a hang-up happen when I was using Gmail inside Firefox with Edgy; I was still able to type in the composition window for quite some time after I stopped being able to actually move windows around, close them, etc. Eventually, I would say after at least one minute, everything froze up.

Another thing - when windows become unresponsive in this "hang up" thing, I can usually (maybe always) CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE, at which time all windows and menu bars disappear but the screen background image usually (maybe always) stays in place, with a frozen mouse pointer. Sometimes, at that point, I can get a partially operational console window, but as soon as I try to do something like "ps" it loses its communication with anything that matters (though I still get characters echoed back to the screen).

On the theory that there's something funny with my Xorg setup, I edited the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to get rid of the incorrect font file paths and the references to the Wacom tablet. This gave me less warnings and errors in my /var/log/Xorg.0.log file. The remaining ones that seem to perhaps be of concern are:

(WW) RADEON(0): Unknown DDCType 5 found
(WW) RADEON(0): LCD DDC Info Table found!

(WW) RADEON(0): DRI init changed memory map, adjusting ...
(WW) RADEON(0): MC_FB_LOCATION was: 0x3fff3800 is: 0x3fff3800
(WW) RADEON(0): MC_AGP_LOCATION was: 0xffffffc0 is: 0xd27fd200

(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x23
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x24
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x25
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x26
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x27
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x28
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x29
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2a
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2b
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2c
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2d
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2e
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x2f
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x30
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x31
(WW) AIGLX: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x32

error opening security policy file /usr/lib/xserver/SecurityPolicy

Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/TTF/, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/OTF, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/CID/, removing from list!

ProcXCloseDevice to close or not ?

I have attached the Xo...

Here's the modified xorg.conf

Note that I have had one "hang-up" already today.

One "last" thing. When my machine hung up this morning, I did a CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE (which made everything but the window background vanish) and then tried to get a console login with ALT-Fx. I was able to get a login prompt but not a password prompt. Finally I power-cycled the machine.

Once again, there are no error messages in /var/log/syslog covering that period of time:

Apr 16 08:56:16 dabuntu -- MARK --
Apr 16 09:16:17 dabuntu -- MARK --
Apr 16 09:17:01 dabuntu /USR/SBIN/CRON[6958]: (root) CMD ( run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Apr 16 09:36:17 dabuntu -- MARK --
Apr 16 09:56:17 dabuntu -- MARK --
Apr 16 10:02:01 dabuntu /USR/SBIN/CRON[8056]: (root) CMD (if [ -x /usr/sbin/pg_maintenance ]; then /usr/sbin/pg_maintenance --analyze >/dev/null; fi)
Apr 16 10:16:17 dabuntu -- MARK --
Apr 16 10:17:01 dabuntu /USR/SBIN/CRON[8427]: (root) CMD ( run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Apr 16 10:36:17 dabuntu -- MARK --
Apr 16 10:56:17 dabuntu -- MARK --
Apr 16 11:07:19 dabuntu syslogd 1.4.1#18ubuntu6: restart.

In conclusion, I'm assuming this is a problem caused by the video subsystem, but I'm not sure. And I really don't know what to do to diagnose it any further.

Please run memtest to see if memory is broken. Let it run for a couple of cycles to be sure

I have run memtest more than twice, for more than four hours the last time. However, I will start it up tonight and let it run until the morning, in case.

On the subject of memory, is it possible there is some kind of conflict between what the graphics card thinks is its memory and what the rest of the system wants? Is there any way to check this kind of thing?

I ran memtest last night, from about 11PM until about 7AM today. It went through 17 passes and detected no errors.

I have tried Feisty and I seem to have the same problem there, too, only much worse; sometimes I can't even finish running the install app.

I did manage to get Feisty running for awhile. Here are some things that seemed odd, relative to this problem:

- once again, my screen saver would not "engage". though I finally got it to start working
  by setting it to lock the screen as well;

- at one point, I had the system activity monitor running, when I clicked on the Firefox icon.
  The screen froze before firefox could start, and the top process in the system activity
  monitor was Firefox in an "uninterruptible" state.

- at another point, the windows had frozen. I played around with the ctrl-alt-f1, f2, etc.
  I was able to get a login window, enter my name and password, but at that point I did
  not get a shell prompt, though returns were still echoed back to the screen. In some
  desperation, I tried my toshiba's Fn keys for suspend, resume, and so forth. When I
  pressed the "switch screen" key, I suddenly received a shell prompt, and was able to
  do a "ps" and a couple of other things - but then things froze again.

So, to sum up. Right now, I'm running Edgy, and I can pretty much count on one screen hangup per day. I cannot upgrade to Feisty because it will not run without hanging up for more than an hour or so.

This is a really serious problem. I have no idea what to do about it. I do not wish to stop using Ubuntu.

Hmm, I may have solved the problem.

As I mentioned above, I tried using Feisty and the problem seemed worse.

However, there was a message early in the boot phase that made me wonder...

MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC

A bit of internet sleuthing led me to add "noapic" to the grub boot defaults. And, things seem to work just fine now - no hangups after a fairly extensive wringing-out yesterday and this morning. Right now I even have desktop effects enabled just to really try hard to break things!

Interesting that some of the Internet discussion of the 8254 timer problem relate back to Dapper. I don't recall ever seeing the message in Dapper, but that was some time ago now. The message certainly never showed up in Edgy, though it may have been concealed by the splash.

Anyway, I think I will close this bug report, and soldier optimistically on.

Can you please attach /var/log/dmesg ?

Hi Tormod;

The /var/log/dmesg is attached below. This is the Feisty - working I hope - /var/log/dmesg. I can fetch the Edgy one as well if you like, from two days ago.

Thanks, can you attach the output from "sudo dmidecode" as well, in order to precisely identify your hardware?

Hi Tormod;

Here is the output of sudo dmidecode. If there are any tests I can run here please let me know, it's no trouble!

I have the exact same problem with the Toshiba A75-226 I will try the noapic
because I too cannot use Feisty reliably. However, my lockups are so random
as to be rediculious. However, It does sound like my hard drive is going offline
and not coming back.

additionally i too have the 8254 timer message

added noapic to boot command line and have been up for two hours
the longest I have been up on this laptop.

Note that I never had the apic problem with edgy for whatever reason.
And I havent had any lockups with Nvidia cards on Desktops. Only this
Toshiba A75-226 Laptop with the ATI 9100 card has had the Lockup problem. I will post to
this bug tomorrow after using Feisty all day to announce if it is still
staying up and not locking up.

I hope that was the problem as I really want to move forward to Feisty.

Just to confirm, but I have had no hangs in the month or so since I added noapic to my boot options.

I have Feisty on a Toshiba A75-S206 with the same symptoms: "MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC" at boot, hangs constantly from 1 to 10 minutes after logging in X. I can confirm that adding "noapic" to boot options fixes the problem.

Have any of you tried the 2.6.22 kernel from Gutsy? (Without the noapic option of course)

Beginning with the Hardy Heron 8.04 development cycle, all open Ubuntu kernel bugs need to be reported against the "linux" kernel package. We are automatically migrating this bug to the new "linux" package. However, development has already began for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. It would be helpful if you could test the upcoming release and verify if this is still an issue - http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . If the issue still exists, please update this report by changing the Status of the "linux" task from "Incomplete" to "New". We appreciate your patience and understanding as we make this transition. Thanks!

With Gutsy and now Hardy kernels, I no longer need to use the noapic option, as per Tormod's question above. However I still get the same MP-BIOS error when booting. I conclude from this that there is some kind of successful workaround in the kernel.

I think this bug should be marked "solved".

Thanks. If the message is just the kernel noticing there is a bug in the BIOS, that's ok.

Tormod, just to confirm, I have experienced no system hangs of the type described above in either Gutsy or Hardy, and I no longer need to use the noapic option. It seems that the behaviour detected by the kernel is no longer harmful.

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.