Scary Ubuntu problem

[kilaueabart]

I have discovered that since 8 Dec I have been getting zillions of lines in my Ubuntu kern.log like this.

kern.log.png

They continue being written rapidly while I read the file.


Ubuntu's System log file viewer as of today shows the log list on the left, with kern.log high-lighted, but only a blank window on the right. Clicking list items has no effect. Need to "Force Quit" to close. I have to use nano in a terminal to read log files as of today.

I haven't noticed any particular new problems in Ubuntu, but this has me worried. For one thing, I'm afraid those files will fill all available memory soon.

Answers on the internet repeatedly suggest doing something in /etc/default/grub, but I don't seem to have anything like grub in /etc/default/ .

[xeno74]

I have discovered that since 8 Dec I have been getting zillions of lines in my Ubuntu kern.log like this.

kern.log.png

They continue being written rapidly while I read the file.


Ubuntu's System log file viewer as of today shows the log list on the left, with kern.log high-lighted, but only a blank window on the right. Clicking list items has no effect. Need to "Force Quit" to close. I have to use nano in a terminal to read log files as of today.

I haven't noticed any particular new problems in Ubuntu, but this has me worried. For one thing, I'm afraid those files will fill all available memory soon.

Answers on the internet repeatedly suggest doing something in /etc/default/grub, but I don't seem to have anything like grub in /etc/default/ .

Please post the output of lspci.

Thanks

[kilaueabart]

Here it is:

0000:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Freescale Semiconductor Inc Device 0421 (rev 20)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Cape Verde PRO [Radeon HD 7750/8740 / R7 250E]
0000:01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Cape Verde/Pitcairn HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7700/7800 Series]
1000:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Freescale Semiconductor Inc Device 0421 (rev 20)
1000:01:00.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT 89HPES12NT12G2 12-Lane 12-Port PCIe Gen2 System Interconnect Switch (rev 02)
1000:02:01.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT 89HPES12NT12G2 12-Lane 12-Port PCIe Gen2 System Interconnect Switch (rev 02)
1000:02:02.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT 89HPES12NT12G2 12-Lane 12-Port PCIe Gen2 System Interconnect Switch (rev 02)
1000:02:03.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT 89HPES12NT12G2 12-Lane 12-Port PCIe Gen2 System Interconnect Switch (rev 02)
1000:02:08.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT 89HPES12NT12G2 12-Lane 12-Port PCIe Gen2 System Interconnect Switch (rev 02)
1000:02:10.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT 89HPES12NT12G2 12-Lane 12-Port PCIe Gen2 System Interconnect Switch (rev 02)
1000:03:00.0 PCI bridge: Pericom Semiconductor PI7C9X111SL PCIe-to-PCI Reversible Bridge (rev 02)
1000:04:04.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev 10)
1000:04:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CMI8738/CMI8768 PCI Audio (rev 10)

By the way, I was wrong about system log viewer not working. Yesterday I tried again. I left it on a back workspace while I did my email and stuff. When I looked again it the window was full of the usual. It just didn't display until it was finished reading.

[xeno74]

The problem is the C-Media PCI audio card. Please reduce the RAM with the boot argument "mem=3500M" and check the log again.

Thanks

[kilaueabart]

After I caught on to "boot argument" and put the mem= thing in the right place, kern.log came up nice and quiet. Thank you.

I have been using that audio card with no problem for over two years. How come now? (I don't think Fienix has the problem.)

When I first discovered the problem I noticed it had started about the same time I began "testing" 5.5.0-rc1 and wondered it that had anything to do with it. But the old trouble-free 5.4 suffered the same symptoms.

This is unrelated, but I've been meaning to ask somebody: Sometimes Ubuntu comes up with phony looking icons in the top and bottom panels, and clicking on them has no effect. I have to use the reboot button on the box or Ctrl^Alt^F3 to get out. Any idea what would cause that?

[xeno74]

After I caught on to "boot argument" and put the mem= thing in the right place, kern.log came up nice and quiet. Thank you.

I have been using that audio card with no problem for over two years. How come now? (I don't think Fienix has the problem.)

When I first discovered the problem I noticed it had started about the same time I began "testing" 5.5.0-rc1 and wondered it that had anything to do with it. But the old trouble-free 5.4 suffered the same symptoms.

Hi Kilaueabart,

Could you please test the alpha2 of kernel 4.21/5.0 without the mem boot argument?

This is unrelated, but I've been meaning to ask somebody: Sometimes Ubuntu comes up with phony looking icons in the top and bottom panels, and clicking on them has no effect. I have to use the reboot button on the box or Ctrl^Alt^F3 to get out. Any idea what would cause that?

Could you please post a screenshot with the phony looking icons?

Thanks,
Christian

[kilaueabart]

Could you please post a screenshot with the phony looking icons?

I'll try the alpha2 later today, but try to post some photos now.

I had to use my camera because I couldn't access the Take Screenshot app on the dead screen. (I didn't think to try Print Screen on keyboard until now. I'll try that the next time it happens.)
Three photos, upper panel left, and right; bottom panel left.

topleft.png

topright.png

bottomleft.png

[kilaueabart]

The bad Ubuntu screen came up twice this morning, once while booting 5.5 and once while booting Kernel Linux 4.21-a2_A-EON_A1-X5000-03763-gfc2fd5f-dirty ppc64, which I am doing this from. Keyboard Print Screen does nothing. The keyboard does work for Ctrl^Alt^F3 allowing me to log on to a terminal, which was messed up this morning with a bunch of lines like the bad kern.log.

No kern.log problem with alpha2 and no mem=3500M. I feel like I'm going backwards using a 4.xx kernel instead of a 5.xx.

By the way, I notice that every time I boot I get this line:

Code: Select all

Dec 18 09:20:21 X5000 kernel: [   59.436166] FAT-fs (sdb1): Volume was not properly unmounted. Some data may be corrupt. Please run fsck.

[xeno74]

No kern.log problem with alpha2 and no mem=3500M. I feel like I'm going backwards using a 4.xx kernel instead of a 5.xx.

Hi Kilaueabart,

OK, good to know. Could you please also test the alpha3?

I think the new generic DMA mapping code in powerpc V4 is the problem. We have problems with some PCI cards (Sound, SCSI ...) since these updates.

Thanks,
Christian

[kilaueabart]

Alpha3 seems to work the same as Alpha2. Here is the end of my first look at kern.log:

Code: Select all

Dec 20 11:13:46 X5000 kernel: [   57.642820] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
Dec 20 11:13:46 X5000 kernel: [   57.642831] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
Dec 20 11:13:57 X5000 kernel: [   68.546076] EXT4-fs (sdb2): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
Dec 20 11:13:57 X5000 kernel: [   68.605209] FAT-fs (sdb1): Volume was not properly unmounted. Some data may be corrupt. Please run fsck.
Dec 20 11:13:57 X5000 kernel: [   68.615904] EXT4-fs (sdb3): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
Dec 20 11:15:09 X5000 kernel: [  140.343732] rtl_usb: reg 0x900, usbctrl_vendorreq TimeOut! status:0xffffff92 value=0x69b61268
Dec 20 11:15:09 X5000 kernel: [  140.407802] rtl_usb: reg 0x608, usbctrl_vendorreq TimeOut! status:0xffffff92 value=0x85bf97f5
Dec 20 11:15:19 X5000 kernel: [  150.593994] rtl_usb: reg 0x884, usbctrl_vendorreq TimeOut! status:0xffffff92 value=0xffa10000
Dec 20 11:15:19 X5000 kernel: [  150.658052] rtl_usb: reg 0x608, usbctrl_vendorreq TimeOut! status:0xffffff92 value=0xffa10000