Thinkpad X30 freezes with Hardy: looks to be X server

[candlerb]

Hello,

After upgrading my Thinkpad X30 from Dapper to Hardy beta via update-manager, it started freezing up seemingly at random. Initial discussion can be seen over at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=760904 - that thread is now closed (*).

However I have had a breakthrough: I'm pretty sure I can demonstrate it's the X server which is making it freeze.

With a normal graphical startup, the machine freezes some minutes after bootup - sometimes even when left in the gdm screen. If I run something big like Virtualbox then I always get a freeze sometime before I can complete an OS installation within a virtual machine.

Then I had a bit of a brainwave:
- disable gdm using rcconf
- reboot
- I ran a simple perl loop all morning, and it didn't freeze
- so from my Dapper desktop I did: ssh -X laptop
- I ran virtualbox on the laptop, with its display thrown back to the desktop

And for the first time ever, I have got a complete CentOS 5.1 virtual machine install running on the Thinkpad under Hardy, without a freeze!

If I compare the output of "lsmod" when booting with X and without X, in the latter case only "i915" and "drm" are missing.

Now, I am certainly no X server guru, so I would appreciate any suggestions for what I could look for, or what I could trying disabling (and how) to make the system more stable.

Here's my /etc/X11/xorg.conf, which I've not updated manually but it has a timestamp of 10th April 2008:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
        # path to defoma fonts
        FontPath        "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load    "i2c"
        Load    "bitmap"
        Load    "ddc"
        Load    "dri"
        Load    "extmod"
        Load    "freetype"
        Load    "glx"
        Load    "int10"
        Load    "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "CoreKeyboard"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "gb"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "Protocol"              "ExplorerPS/2"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Synaptics Touchpad"
        Driver          "synaptics"
        Option          "SendCoreEvents"        "true"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/psaux"
        Option          "Protocol"              "auto-dev"
        Option          "HorizScrollDelta"      "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver        "wacom"
  Identifier    "stylus"
  Option        "Device"        "/dev/wacom"          # Change to
                                                      # /dev/input/event
                                                      # for USB
  Option        "Type"          "stylus"
  Option        "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"               # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver        "wacom"
  Identifier    "eraser"
  Option        "Device"        "/dev/wacom"          # Change to
                                                      # /dev/input/event
                                                      # for USB
  Option        "Type"          "eraser"
  Option        "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"               # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver        "wacom"
  Identifier    "cursor"
  Option        "Device"        "/dev/wacom"          # Change to
                                                      # /dev/input/event
                                                      # for USB
  Option        "Type"          "cursor"
  Option        "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"               # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Intel Corporation 82830 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controller]"
        Driver          "i810"
        BusID           "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
        Option          "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Intel Corporation 82830 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controller]"
        Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           1
                Modes           "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           4
                Modes           "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           8
                Modes           "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           15
                Modes           "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           16
                Modes           "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Modes           "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Generic Keyboard"
        InputDevice     "Configured Mouse"
        InputDevice     "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Mode    0666
EndSection

And here's lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82830 830 Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82830 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controller] (rev 04)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82830 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controller]
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #1 (rev 02)00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #2 (rev 02)00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #3 (rev 02)00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 42)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801CAM ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801CAM IDE U100 Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev a8)
01:00.1 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev a8)
01:00.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller
01:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection (rev 05)
01:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82801CAM (ICH3) PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller (rev 42)

I can post /var/log/Xorg.0.log if it's of interest, but it's about 64K.

If there's any additional info I can give to help nail down the problem, or any tests I can try, please let me know. I've googled for i810 X freeze and I see a few Ubuntu bug reports, but I'm not sure any are related. In my case it's definitely not when the screen saver comes on: I have had freezes while I was scrolling through a dialog box.

Regards,

Brian.

(*) (Aside) since then I tried a number of changes to my system:
- removed the wireless card
- replaced wireless card with Intel 3945 (upgrade I'd been meaning to do for a while)
- replaced the 2 x 256MB SODIMMs with 2 x brand new 512MB SODIMMS (ditto)
- continued to use update-manager to bring all packages up to date

but in each case, the machine continued to freeze, unless I booted with the old 2.6.15-51-386 kernel. With 2.6.24-16-386 it only became solid after I booted up without an X server.

Booting under 2.6.15, lsmod still shows "i915" and "drm" modules loaded, but presumbably they are older ones.