[ltp] Input devices seem to freeze or hang periodically
Eric Blouin
linux-thinkpad@www.bm-soft.com
Tue, 6 Nov 2001 17:05:14 -0500
Tod,
OK. You got me thinking. Did I really have input freezes when APM was not
installed? In short, I recompiled the 2.4.14-pre8 kernel to have no APM
support enabled, rebooted and ran. Just when I was starting to doubt my
prior recollection... bam frozen solid. Pop out card and everything back
to normal. Insert card and I'm back surf'in. It's happened twice through
the course of the day now, but the mean time to failure feels (hate these
dang non-reproducable problems -- they're so touch-feely) much longer
without the APM support.
I do have a little bit more data:
Remember when I ran with APM enabled in the kernel I would eventually hard
hang? Well, I was working in a text-based tty in the APM enabled kernel
when things froze. This time when I popped the card, the kernel crashed
and printed to the screen a stack trace (and hung -- is the trace on the HD
anywhere?). kapm-idled was the current running process in the trace.
Also, when I fn-f4 to suspend the machine hangs on the resume with APM, but
is fine without APM. I think the hard hang may be a propagation of the
"freeze" problem (I hope).
I'm going to attach my .config file as you requested. Someone yell at me
if there is a better way. Also, I'm writing on blotus notes so I haven't
found a way to do the nifty '>' thing. This .config file is the kernel
without APM compiled.
Here's also what I think I figured out about PCMCI vs. yenta. I found this
document very useful: http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/README-2.4 It
looks like DH's PCMCIA code (CONFIG_PCMCIA) is in the most recent kernels.
The "yenta" driver is enabled with CONFIG_CARDBUS. I think some time ago
the little slot in the side of laptops evolved from a PCMCIA slot(s) to a
CARDBUS+PCMCIA slot. It seems the yenta driver (written by the L-man
himself) provides some glue (called "hot plug PCI" interface) to the normal
PCI drivers. I think CARDBUS compliant cards are more liked real PCI cards
smooshed to fit in the little slot and with some "hot plug" extra
electronics. Most of this is random guess work, but I'm pretty sure my TR
card is an old fashion PCMCIA card and doesn't get involved (or shouldn't)
with yenta/CARDBUS. It uses the ibmtr.o driver (which DH HOWTO says don't
select in the kernel config, but I didn't see much choice).
Thanks for any help you can give, even if it's "moral" support.
Eric Blouin
Tod Harter
<tharter@rhombus.net> To: linux-thinkpad@www.bm-soft.com
Sent by: cc:
owner-linux-thinkpad@b Subject: Re: [ltp] Input devices seem to freeze or hang periodically
m-soft.com
11/06/2001 11:56 AM
Please respond to
linux-thinkpad
Can you provide the contents of your /usr/src/linux/.config please? I am
guessing, but I suspect there may be some flags in there that might be
tweakable to fix things. APM would normally be the primary thing I'd look
at,
and it MAY still be in some way related to that, but I guess you've
eliminated some possibilities there already (at least we know its not
something related to the scripts apmd normally controls).
The PCMCIA part of the equation is interesting. It may well be there is
some
sort of resource conflict or similar issue there. My suggestion there would
be to shut down card services and see if and when the machine hangs without
them running.
Also there are as I understand it 2 different types of PCMCIA support with
2.4.x kernels. There is DH's card services, which has been around quite a
while, and is user space, and there is the "yenta" kernel mode stuff, which
I
believe is pretty much new to 2.4 (at least I never encountered it before).
Not sure what the differences are exactly, or how they might related to
each
other but you may want to try various combinations... My understanding is
they use somewhat different drivers.
I also dimly seem to recall something about token ring and PCMCIA and
/etc/pcmcia/config.opts needing something extra, but I don't use broken
ring,
so can't help much there!
On Tuesday 06 November 2001 08:13, you wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have a 600x and I seem to have a problem(s) that is similar but not
> exactly like anyone else's on the list.
>
> At times my thinkpad seems to "freeze." Freeze in this case means the
> keyboard _and_ mouse seem to be locked (it is always both). I can't
type,
> ctr-alt-backspace the server or ctr-alt-del the machine. I can fn-F4 to
> suspend, but when I resume the machine doesn't respond to my keystrokes
for
> the password (I have a power on password). The strange thing is I can
> usually physically remove my PCMCIA card and everything will come back
> alive. If the password prompt is up, I can then type in my pw and
resume.
> Keystrokes that I pressed will even be buffered and printed as soon as
the
> PCMCIA card is ejected.
>
> Occasionally, my system also hard hangs. Can't ping, can't suspend,
can't
> do anything but power down. Related to above?
>
> Here is what I know:
>
> - PCMCIA card is an IBM Token-Ring Auto 16/4 Credit Card Adapter
> - OS is RH 7.1 SBE. Hangs with kernels: 2.4.3-6, 2.4.13, 2.4.14-pre8
> - Happens in X or with no X-server running
> - Mean time to failure can be hours (normally 10-15 min), but I don't
> recall ever hanging or freezing with PCMCIA card _not_ installed
> - APM compiled in or out makes no difference
> - System will freeze or hang while just idling
> - System seems to freeze more often just as I click in a VT window to
type
> (could be coincidental)
> - Upgraded to most recent bios
>
>
> Any help?
>
> Eric Blouin
>
> config.opts file:
> #
> # Local PCMCIA Configuration File
> #
> #----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> # System resources available for PCMCIA devices
>
> include port 0x100-0x4ff, port 0xc00-0xcff
> include memory 0xc0000-0xfffff
> include memory 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff, memory 0x60000000-0x60ffffff
>
> # High port numbers do not always work...
> # include port 0x1000-0x17ff
>
> # Extra port range for IBM Token Ring
> include port 0xa00-0xaff
>
> # Resources we should not use, even if they appear to be available
>
> # First built-in serial port
> exclude irq 4
> # Second built-in serial port
> #exclude irq 3
> # First built-in parallel port
> exclude irq 7
> # PS/2 Mouse controller port, comment this out if you don't have a PS/2
> # based mouse
> exclude irq 12
>
> #----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> # Examples of options for loadable modules
>
> # To fix sluggish network with IBM ethernet adapter...
> #module "pcnet_cs" opts "mem_speed=600"
>
> # Options for IBM Token Ring adapters
> #module "ibmtr_cs" opts "mmiobase=0xd0000 srambase=0xd4000"
>
> # Options for Raylink/WebGear driver: uncomment only one line...
> # Generic ad-hoc network
> module "ray_cs" opts "essid=ADHOC_ESSID hop_dwell=128 beacon_period=256
> translate=1"
> # Infrastructure network for older cards
> #module "ray_cs" opts "net_type=1 essid=ESSID1"
> # Infrastructure network for WebGear
> #module "ray_cs" opts "net_type=1 essid=ESSID1 translate=1 hop_dwell=128
> beacon_period=256"
>
> # Options for WaveLAN/IEEE driver (AccessPoint mode)...
> #module "wvlan_cs" opts "station_name=MY_PC"
> # Options for WaveLAN/IEEE driver (ad-hoc mode)...
> #module "wvlan_cs" opts "port_type=3 channel=1 station_name=MY_PC"
>
> # Options for Xircom Netwave driver...
> #module "netwave_cs" opts "domain=0x100 scramble_key=0x0"
>
>
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