X freezes on Dell Latitude D600

Michael H. Warfield mhw at wittsend.com
Sun Dec 5 01:21:32 UTC 2004


On Fri, Dec 03, 2004 at 02:39:31PM -0700, Sean Dogar wrote:
> Hi all:

> I've just installed FC3 on a Dell Latitude D600 laptop; I seem to be
> having some problems with X.  This machine has 1 gigabyte of RAM, 80 gig
> disk, and the ATI Radeon Mobility M9 graphics processor.  

> I run the laptop primarily in the dock, so as to be able to use a second
> monitor (dual-head).  There are no major issues for me here; X sets up
> correctly, and I can use system-config-display to enable and configure
> the second monitor.  

> Here's the problem:  If I use any hot-key combination in X to either
> kill X (with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace) or to switch to a virtual console (with
> Ctrl-Alt-F1), X freezes.  I can ssh to the box, and I try to kill X, but
> it's no use, it won't be killed...I can reboot at that point and it will
> go away.  Examining the X logs afterwards shows nothing but the startup
> of X, which is successful.  I have also used up2date to update the X
> binaries, with no success.  

	There have been threads on this as well as discussion
in one of the Fedora forums and there's a bugzilla report on it.

	Search the archive for this list for the thread on:

	"xorg.conf nx7000 dual head problem"

	For the forum discussion go here:

	<http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=27513&page=2>

	For the buzilla report, go here:

	<https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=140435>

	Basically, from what I can determine, it's an xorg X server
problem when running in any dual head mode (clone, Xinerama, or
side-by-side multihead).  If the X server in that mode (and this
includes rhgb at bootup) on the screen and the virtual consoles are
switched (either to a text vc or another X server such as the gdm
screen from rhgb) then you're toast.  The X server hangs burning
CPU time like crazy.

	You can ssh into the box and you CAN kill the X server, but you
have to use a -QUIT ("no specified signal", or -INT or -TERM won't do it,
DON'T use a -KILL unless absolutely necessary and it's not necessary
here) and you may need to run gdm-restart afterwards.

> A co-worker runs the exact same model of laptop with FC3 with no
> problems.  I asked him if he had applied any updates at all and he said
> that he updated with apt-get from the Dag repository.  

	But is he running in dual-head mode.  Simple single screen mode
(or coming up in simple mode with two screens replicated) doesn't
experience the problem.  Which is why you can put rhgb in a single
screen mode and avoid to boot-up problem (but not the vc switch problem).
You can switch FROM a single mode X server to an X server in dual head
mode on another vc, you simply can't switch vc's AWAY from that dual
head X server.

> Previously, I used this laptop with FC2 with few issues (aside from
> never being able to get display acceleration working), and I did a fresh
> install of FC3 hoping that this would solve my problems, but no dice.
> For me, this issue is a showstopper as I regularly switch to the
> standard virtual consoles while using X.  

	If you switch to standard vc's while using X then you can not
use a multi-head mode until they FIX this damn thing.  They are currently
mutually exclusive.

	Oh, and Magic-Sys-Rq works with the screen hung as well.  It's
a good idea to enable that, just in case you can't ssh into the box.
Then you can Magic-Sys-Rq S (sync) U (unmount) B (boot) and get out
of jail with the big switch.

> If anyone has any ideas or needs more information, please ask.

> -Sean

	Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield    |  (770) 985-6132   |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
  /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/       |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9      |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471    |  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!
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