8.04 randomly freezing requiring hard shut down, caps and scroll lock flash

[useResa]

Since starting this thread I have seen several assumptions being made on what the issue could be and how it may be resolved. And I admit, also I made assumptions.

I appreciate the suggestions made that may resolve the issue and that seem to work (at least for some). I also appreciate people trying out various options hoping to find a permanent solution or cause of this annoying error.

But .... what still annoys me most is that basically my main question from my first post has not been answered:

What I would like to know is how I could diagnose this issue. Are there -- for example -- any log files I could look into to see what happens just before the freeze?.

If we can not for certain determine the cause I am afraid that all suggestions may work and even solve the symptoms, but how can we be sure that we have cured the cause?

[mempman]

some log files that you could look at are:

/var/logs/message
/var/logs/syslog
/var/logs/debug
/var/logs/kernel

However, for this particular problem I have tried to search these logs for the exact system time that the freezing had occured, and unfortunately, I was not able to recover any useful information at all from these logs. Also, it may be useful to keep in mind that the latest logs in this directory are usually kept in plain text. Only less recent logs are tarred/zipped.

If you want to know exactly what warning messages are being written to what log: check /etc/syslog.conf (not sure if this is the exact name).

[orik]

it is look like no one doing anything about the issue.i have been looking around how to fix the problem and still nothing.it is clear that the ubuntu staff is sleeping or they just do not care about the ordinary users and their problems.

[gefenm11]

i have the same issue (as stated here earlier)
i use Dall Inspiron 1525

LSPCI:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:09.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05)
02:09.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
02:09.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
02:09.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 12)
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 12)
0b:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)

LSUSB:

Bus 007 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 05a9:2640 OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 005 Device 005: ID 0a5c:4503 Broadcom Corp.
Bus 005 Device 004: ID 0a5c:4502 Broadcom Corp.
Bus 005 Device 003: ID 413c:8126 Dell Computer Corp.
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 045e:0040 Microsoft Corp. Wheel Mouse Optical
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 04d9:1400 Holtek Semiconductor, Inc.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

i'll try to disable the DELL tools and see where it gets me.
(i use Hardy Heron)

[francesco44]

Hello Friends,
It seems that the "freezing" problem is finished for me. I just noticed that something happened after the last updates.....The two settings related to the "special effects" are not accessible anymore. I exchanged with joy the eye candy effects for the renewed stability.


Hope that this "freezing problem" will not happen again.

[gefenm11]

Hello Friends,
It seems that the "freezing" problem is finished for me. I just noticed that something happened after the last updates.....The two settings related to the "special effects" are not accessible anymore. I exchanged with joy the eye candy effects for the renewed stability.


Hope that this "freezing problem" will not happen again.

I never used effects... and still got the freeze

[francesco44]

I never used effects... and still got the freeze

Same for me. I didn't used the effects. But these effects were accessible. After the last updates they are not. So I think they probably fixed something.....With the hope it will improvre the situation....and apparently, on some machines it worked. But as the question is certainly related to one or few bugs...this may not help you for sure. But anyway try to check if the effects are accessible or if they are closed after an internal test on graphic cards for example.


Hope you solve the problem also.

[useResa]

I just noticed that something happened after the last updates.....The two settings related to the "special effects" are not accessible anymore.

Maybe I am missing something here, but are you talking about the to bottom settings in the "Visual Effects" tab that you can access through "System --> Preferences --> Appearance"?
Because AFAIK I am also fully up-to-date with all updates and I still can access them.
Or are you talking about something else?

[francesco44]

Maybe I am missing something here, but are you talking about the to bottom settings in the "Visual Effects" tab that you can access through "System --> Preferences --> Appearance"?
Because AFAIK I am also fully up-to-date with all updates and I still can access them.
Or are you talking about something else?

Yes, that' exactly what I am talking about.....but I can Imagine that there is may be an internal test on the hardware or something like that before desactivation of the two visual effects. One thing is sure, I didn't do anything myself (or may be install compiz, but never used it)

[useResa]

Yes, that' exactly what I am talking about.....but I can Imagine that there is may be an internal test on the hardware or something like that before desactivation of the two visual effects. One thing is sure, I didn't do anything myself (or may be install compiz, but never used it)

Thank you for explaining.
Maybe indeed something has changed in this, but all I can indicate that I still can access all three possibilities.
My settings are btw "None" by default (and I had the crashes in this setting).
I only use the others if I like to impress non Linux users with amazing eye candy