Description of problem: I have an HP Pavilion zd7000 (ZD1881CL, 3.2 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 64 MB NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5700) running Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES v3 with al the latest updates. I have tried using both the standard "nv" driver that comes with RHEL and the latest "nvidia" driver from nVidia's web site. In both cases, when I try to log out of Gnome either by choosing "Log Out" from the menu or pressing Ctrl- Alt-Del, the "Log Out" window appears, and the system locks up. The Caps Lock LED flashes, and the keyboard is dead. Sometimes, I can ping the system, and sometimes it's completely dead. In one instance I was able to login remotely, but for the most part, the system does not respons to remote logins, and I have to press the power button. Other than that, the system seems to work fine. The only way to exit Gnome safely is to hit Ctrl-Alt-F1 to return to the console where I started X, and then hit Ctrl-C to kill startx. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): XFree86-4.3.0-55.EL gnome-session-2.2.2-3 How reproducible: Almost always. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Type "startx" at console to start Gnome session 2. Choose "Log Out" from menu 3. System will hang up as described above
While we do not support the proprietary "nvidia" driver, we will try to troubleshoot the problem you're having while using the "nv" driver and narrow it down. It is important to note, that it is possible this lockup problem could be a kernel issue, BIOS issue, or some other issue also, however we'll proceed for now with the assumption it is video related and see what we can determine. I'll need you to do the following steps: - Uninstall the proprietary Nvidia driver from your system at least temporarily - Reinstall the Red Hat supplied XFree86 packages from the latest update. This is important because the proprietary Nvidia driver installation overwrites several Red Hat supplied X server modules which can cause problems. - Ensure that you have installed all updates released by Red Hat for RHEL 3 that have been released to date, and that you're using the latest official Red Hat binary kernel release. - Reboot your system. This step is necessary in order to force a total hardware reset of the video card, so that the "nv" driver is using the video hardware from it's factory default power on state, rather than after it's been reprogrammed by an alternate driver. - Run "system-config-display --reconfig" to generate a new config file which should be using the "nv" driver. Ensure this is the driver chosen by examining the X server log file. - Run the X server either via "startx" or via gdm/xdm/kdm After X is started up using the "nv" driver as described above, please gather the X server log /var/log/XFree86.0.log, the config file /etc/X11/XF86Config, and your /var/log/messages file (including at least all data since the system rebooted). Attach these files as individual uncompressed file attachments using the attachment link below, and we will review the data and continue troubleshooting from there. Setting bug status to NEEDINFO. Thanks in advance.
Thank you for your assistance. I also suspected that the problem could be due to several other factors, but I had to start somewhere. Here is one interesting point: the notebook has hyper-threading turned on, and there is no way to turn it off in the BIOS. Does the latest stable RHEL support hyper-threading Penium 4 CPUs? Whether or not it does, I have tried booting both the uni-processor and SMP kernels, and in both cases, Gnome/X still hangs when I try to log out. I did notice something interesting today: if I don't move the mouse (actually the touchpad on the notebook) then I can hit Enter to log out of Gnome or use keyboard shortcuts to shut down the system. I only repeated this twice, and then I had to send the notebook off on a business trip, so I am not sure how repeatably I can log out of Gnome without hanging the system if I don't move the mouse pointer. Perhaps I'll now more after our guys get back from the trip. In any case, as soon as the notebook returns, I will do as you asked. Also, just before the trip, I reinstalled RHEL from scratch and refrained from installing any third-party software or drivers, so the notebook now has a fresh, fully updated OS with standard-issue drivers. Once again, thank you for taking the time to look into this.
RHEL 3 supports hyperthreading on Pentium 4 CPUs. I don't think hyperthreading or SMP is related to the issue though. The information about avoiding using the mouse is interesting. There could potentially be some kind of hardware conflict perhaps, or a bad kernel driver causing the system to hang. Could you test that out by trying to log out several times without using the mouse and see if it reproduceably avoids locking up? That could help to establish a bit of commonality to the lockups. Your X server log, kernel log, and X config file may show information about possible conflicts or kernel or hardware issues perhaps. I'll review this again once you've attached the details. Thanks for the update.
Created attachment 100286 [details] X Configuration for HP zd7000 LCD
Created attachment 100287 [details] X Log for HP zd7000 LCD
Created attachment 100288 [details] System Log for HP zd7000 LCD
The command "system-config-display" does not exist on any of our systems. Instead, I regenerated a new /etc/X11/XF86Config using "XFree86 -configure". In any case, we just upgraded to RHEL 3 ES Update 2, and the problem still persists. I am attaching XF86Config_HP_zd7000, which is the X configuration I typically use (it basically adds a mode line for 1440x900@16bpp to support the wide LCD display at its highest resolution). Log files containing "_HP_zd7000" correspond to this configuration, which caused the system to crash as usual upon displaying the "Log Out" window under Gnome. The system was then rebooted, and I started X again with a newly regenerated XF86Config. The corresponding logs are attached as you requested.
Created attachment 100289 [details] X Configuration from XFree86 -configure
Created attachment 100290 [details] X Log
Created attachment 100291 [details] System Log
Created attachment 100292 [details] X Log from XFree86 -configure This is the log created when I ran "XFree86 -configure". I thought it might be useful. I copied the automatically generated /root/XF86Config.new to /etc/X11/XF86Config, and then I ran "startx". The log files corresponding to the X session are attached.
"redhat-config-xfree86" is the name of the config tool on RHEL3. It was renamed to "system-config-display" in newer operating system releases. "X -configure" is known to generate bad config files for many systems, and is thus not a supported configuration method. Please reconfigure the system by running: redhat-config-xfree86 --reconfig Apologies for the command name mixup. Using the stock config file, unmodified from what redhat-config-xfree86 produces, start the server, and if the problem is reproduceable, please attach the file produced by "sysreport", as well as your X server log, config file from this invocation. Also attach the output of lsmod, and /var/log/messages from this invocation. I notice you're loading the "vnc" module in one config file, please leave that out for these tests. It's important to be able to narrow the problem down. We can then further narrow things down once we have this info. Thanks in advance.
You may not like this solution, but disabling the sound card modules in modules.conf solves this problem for me.
Since there are insufficient details provided in this report for us to investigate the issue further, and we have not received feedback to the information we have requested above, we will assume the problem was not reproduceable, or has been fixed in one of the updates we have released for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. Users who have experienced this problem are encouraged to upgrade to the latest Red Hat Enterprise Linux update, and if this issue turns out to still be reproduceable in the latest update, please contact the Red Hat Global Support Services page on our website for technical support options: https://www.redhat.com/apps/support If you have a telephone based support contract, you may contact Red Hat at 1-888-REDHAT1 for technical support for the problem you are experiencing. Setting status to "CURRENTRELEASE"