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Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

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Muttin
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010-11-28 20:18

Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#1 Post by Muttin »

I am running Wheezy 64bit on a Lenovo Thinkpad x220 laptop with an intel Sandybridge core i7 processor and integrated graphics.

I have been running Debian testing on this machine with few issues for ~2 years now. However, in the past few months (sorry, I'm not sure of a more precise time frame than that) the system has occasionally frozen up. By this I mean that I seem to be unable to interact with the system in any meaningful way other than to hard restart. I am still able to move the mouse (and perhaps notably, the cursor still updates from an arrow to a hand icon in certain locations as though it is over a link - though this does not necessarily correspond to where links are actually displayed on the screen. I have seen no response to any keyboard interaction - I am thus unable to ctrl-alt-shift-Fx into a terminal to investigate or attempt restarting the display manager. The freezes are not very frequent - sometimes only one time ever week or two weeks; I use the system for many hours most days without issue. Looking at postings of somewhat-similar issues around the net, my most recent attempt at a fix was to try a more recent kernel - specifically linux-image-3.7.0-8.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64. Unfortunately, a week or so after the update, I have just experienced the exact same type of system freeze. Prior to installing this kernel I was using the default for Wheezy. I do tend to install updates as they become available, so most everything should be up to date with current Wheezy. The most recent freeze occurred when, I believe, the only non-background application open was the Chromium browser - though I cannot recall for certain that past freezes occurred in a similar state.

I'm not sure what to try next / how to proceed with investigation into what might be causing the problem. Any advice will be appreciated. If any additional information would be helpful, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks!

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llivv
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#2 Post by llivv »

If a wheezy kernel upgrade is to blame we could test this one way
by downgrading your wheezy kernel, hopefully.

post what you get from:

Code: Select all

ls -la /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image*
and

Code: Select all

ls -l /boot
In memory of Ian Ashley Murdock (1973 - 2015) founder of the Debian project.

Muttin
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010-11-28 20:18

Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#3 Post by Muttin »

Thanks for the response! Here are the results:

Code: Select all

$ ls -la /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 31256998 Feb 15 15:00 /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.7.0-8.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64_3.7.0-13_amd64.deb

Code: Select all

$ ls -l /boot
total 164352
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   106100 May 18  2011 config-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   121645 May  8  2011 config-2.6.38-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   124738 Jul  4  2011 config-2.6.39-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   125263 Aug 27  2011 config-3.0.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   128350 Jan  9  2012 config-3.1.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   132206 Nov 12  2011 config-3.1.0-1.dmz.2-liquorix-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   130657 Feb 16  2012 config-3.2.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   128954 Jun 11  2012 config-3.2.0-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   128986 Jul 22  2012 config-3.2.0-3-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   128903 Dec 19 06:19 config-3.2.0-4-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   145510 Feb 15 14:51 config-3.7.0-8.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root    12288 Feb 27 21:38 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9112541 Jun 18  2011 initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9561286 Jun 18  2011 initrd.img-2.6.38-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9734849 Aug  6  2011 initrd.img-2.6.39-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9956514 Nov 12  2011 initrd.img-3.0.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10094813 Jan 17  2012 initrd.img-3.1.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11264868 Jan  9  2012 initrd.img-3.1.0-1.dmz.2-liquorix-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10308398 Mar  3  2012 initrd.img-3.2.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10412748 Jun 24  2012 initrd.img-3.2.0-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10373764 Oct 16 17:19 initrd.img-3.2.0-3-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10381704 Jan 26 21:58 initrd.img-3.2.0-4-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12200129 Feb 27 21:38 initrd.img-3.7.0-8.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1662049 May 18  2011 System.map-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1861969 May  8  2011 System.map-2.6.38-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1887188 Jul  4  2011 System.map-2.6.39-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2007368 Aug 27  2011 System.map-3.0.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2035270 Jan  9  2012 System.map-3.1.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1864607 Nov 12  2011 System.map-3.1.0-1.dmz.2-liquorix-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2073221 Feb 16  2012 System.map-3.2.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2091890 Jun 11  2012 System.map-3.2.0-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2095153 Jul 22  2012 System.map-3.2.0-3-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2101443 Dec 19 06:19 System.map-3.2.0-4-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2182150 Feb 15 14:51 System.map-3.7.0-8.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2419328 May 18  2011 vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2644912 May  8  2011 vmlinuz-2.6.38-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2690384 Jul  4  2011 vmlinuz-2.6.39-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2705680 Aug 27  2011 vmlinuz-3.0.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2729168 Jan  9  2012 vmlinuz-3.1.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  3130448 Nov 12  2011 vmlinuz-3.1.0-1.dmz.2-liquorix-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2780080 Feb 16  2012 vmlinuz-3.2.0-1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2819504 Jun 11  2012 vmlinuz-3.2.0-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2822928 Jul 22  2012 vmlinuz-3.2.0-3-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2829472 Dec 19 06:16 vmlinuz-3.2.0-4-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  3646656 Feb 15 14:50 vmlinuz-3.7.0-8.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64
Please let me know if any further information may be of use.

Thanks!

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llivv
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#4 Post by llivv »

If you haven't already tested using one of your older installed kernels
that would be my first suggestion.
3.2.0-3-amd64
is where I'd begin
if you still see the freeze after some time then go to the next older
installed kernel.
3.2.0-2-amd64

until the machine stops freezing up.

if you drop all the way to
2.6.32-5-amd64

and the machine still freezes then you know it's not the kernel

If you know how to edit grub on a per boot bases using the
'e' key at the grub menu
then edit the
linux and initrd
lines with the new kernel version you want to boot to,
when done editing use
Ctrl - x

test all the kernels to see if they still boot.

And don't update any of the initrd images until you are finished testing
the older kernels.
In memory of Ian Ashley Murdock (1973 - 2015) founder of the Debian project.

Muttin
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010-11-28 20:18

Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#5 Post by Muttin »

Thank you for the advice! I will try what you suggest. Unfortunately, since I know of no way to forcibly reproduce the problem and it occurs fairly infrequently, it may be some time before I am confident that the problem no longer exists when using an older kernel version. I will post updates here as new information becomes available.

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llivv
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#6 Post by llivv »

If it is the upgraded kernel causing the crashes,
you're at very least
lucky you have the older kernels still installed you can test with.

keep your fingers crossed!
In memory of Ian Ashley Murdock (1973 - 2015) founder of the Debian project.

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yzT
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#7 Post by yzT »

I have the same issue for some months ago. I think it is a Gnome problem, because you can switch to TTY and kill gnome-shell and then switch back to graphic, and the problem is fixed.

Even when it is "frozen", try to open an application and you'll notice that when you switch back to GUI that app is running.

Sent through Tapatalk

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llivv
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#8 Post by llivv »

yzT wrote: I think it is a Gnome problem, because you can switch to TTY and kill gnome-shell and then switch back to graphic, and the problem is fixed.
Gnome may very well be the issue in both your case and Muttin case
Although the OP states CTRL ALT Fx is not working when the issue appears.
I have experienced both and both are a pain to debug. :wink:
In memory of Ian Ashley Murdock (1973 - 2015) founder of the Debian project.

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yzT
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#9 Post by yzT »

Ooo didn't read that xD

Then it seems to me the same issue I had with Ubuntu (or LM, don't remember well) time ago. I think it happened also when I started to use Debian. Maybe a bug of the Linux Kernel version of that time

I remember I tried network drivers, graphic drivers... and all common solutions that I could find in Google, but no one fixed it. It simply stopped to freeze time ago (full freeze, Gnome still is freezing as I commented xD)

funkydiscoman
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#10 Post by funkydiscoman »

I have had the same issue with 3.2.0-4 kernel and the 3.7.8-1 from experimental. It was gnome-shell freezing, killing it (and so restarting the shell) brought back a working machine. It has however not happened in the last week, and I could find nothing useful in the logs. Lets just hope an update has sorted it.

I should add my machine is a sandybridge i5 HP sleekbook, i915, rt3290pcie, rts5229.

bwat47
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#11 Post by bwat47 »

I've been getting random freezes very similar to this too, only difference is it lets me switch to a tty and reboot, its very annoying. my system also has intel graphics.

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yzT
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#12 Post by yzT »

bwat47 wrote:I've been getting random freezes very similar to this too, only difference is it lets me switch to a tty and reboot, its very annoying. my system also has intel graphics.
You don't need to reboot, just kill the gnome-shell process and switch back to tty7

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bwat47
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#13 Post by bwat47 »

This seemed to fix the freezes for me (intel hd4000, stock kernel, I'll have to give it a few days to make sure)

Add this to your grub commandline: i915.i915_enable_fbc=0

Muttin
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010-11-28 20:18

Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#14 Post by Muttin »

An update on this issue:

I eventually did experience a gnome-shell freeze-up using the 3.2.0-3 kernel - though I was able to ctrl-alt-Fx to a console and restart gdm3. I have since switched back to the current default kernel for Wheezy (3.2.0-4) - and experienced a couple more similar gnome-shell freezes. Further research around the net seems to indicate that this issue is not uncommon with the gnome-shell (there are posts describing this or very similar issues on many help sites / other distro forums). Even when a full reboot is not necessary, I still find recognizing the freezup and recovering to be quite disruptive. I have taken this as an excuse to try out a tiling window manager; currently I have a gnome 3 + xmonad setup working which I think that I will like. Thanks again for the feedback / ideas - I will continue to check back to see if there are any definitive solutions to this issue.

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llivv
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#15 Post by llivv »

This is the first time in a long time that I've had an issue with gnome.
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=101278
and it doesn't seem to be serious enough that I want to
fix it right away.
My current theory is that swap is too small
or my monitors builtin sleep function is
having an issue with the way I have
wheezy setup.

Both are just guesses so far though.
In memory of Ian Ashley Murdock (1973 - 2015) founder of the Debian project.

lightnin
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#16 Post by lightnin »

Yep, I'm experiencing this same issue. It happens to me about every other day or so. Cursor still moves, but unable to get to tty to kill gnome shell, so I have to hold the power button down to force power off.

Be nice if there was a bug filed for this, but I'm not sure how /where to do that on Debian (I've switched to Debian from Ubuntu, because I was seeing too many issues like this. :( Perhaps it's the intel video drivers...

Muttin
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#17 Post by Muttin »

For what it's worth, I have not yet experienced any similar freezing using gnome 3 + xmonad rather than gnome 3 + gnome-shell.

I agree that it would be nice if a bug were filed - though some more information about what was causing the issue would be nice... Or at least some way to reliably reproduce it. I wouldn't be surprised if there were already related bug reports filed though; as mentioned previously, the results of my searches around the net seem to indicate that this issue (or similar) with gnome-shell is not exceedingly uncommon. Further, I cannot rule out that the issue may have already been fixed in a newer version of gnome-shell; I have not experimented with upgrading my gnome components past those that are currently stock with Wheezy.

mindflash
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#18 Post by mindflash »

I have experienced Wheezy freezing on GNOME 3 too. I had something like a kernel panic months ago (lots of strange characters on screen, maybe caused by proprietary ATI drivers). And sometimes GNOME 3 would hang with a strange icon over the network tray icon (probably drivers crashing?). Now it all seems to be good, I haven't had this problem, but, I don't do many stuff with Wheezy right now, basically I just update with the CLI, run IceWeasel, X-Chat and Empathy.

I find it amusing that it was not working that great for me but I kept feeling improvements over the weeks and right now it seems even faster and trouble free. But it might be my lack of real testing.

I believe this bug was already reported, I saw it in the release critical bugs page weeks ago. Might have been closed though, and maybe not fixed for some people.

tekstr1der
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#19 Post by tekstr1der »

I've seen the same behavior as the OP using Wheezy with GS. I'm surprised to see this affecting other graphics systems. I was quite certain it was an nVidia problem and had filed bugs regarding this issue back in December 2012:

nouveau (lengthy) - http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=696554
non-free - http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=696360

I switched to XFCE and have had no issues for several months. Occasionally I do pop back into GS to see if the freeze still occurs, and it does. It seems quite irrespective of the kernel version as the issue can be reproduced with a whole variety of kernels:

3.2.0-4 (3.2.x.upstream) - default Debian
3.4.x (LTS kernel series) - this is what I run 24/7
3.7.10 - I always build the final point-release of the latest stable kernel to make sure no regressions appear for my system.
nouveau git master head rev

I also built several kernels off the nouveau git tree trying to isolate this. I did not perform a full bisect as this issue is looking increasingly kernel/driver-independent.

persistent
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Re: Wheezy Freezing Occasionally (Except Mouse) Gnome 3 GUI

#20 Post by persistent »

I have this same issue running a fresh install of Wheezy (gnome 3.4) on a Toshiba C850. So far, it only appears to freeze when I'm editing a large document, but it doesn't happen very often (once per day or so) so this might be coincidence. The keyboard and mouse still work, but nothing is clickable. I can still log into other ttys.
I found some posts about adding i915 controls to my grub config and have tried this but it hasn't helped me.
Has anyone got any further with resolving this problem, or found a workaround that works?
Thanks

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