# Computer sometimes crashes when compiling

## isilia

Hi, my computer randomly crashes (although not very often) when compiling (it crashed while compiling xulrunner just now). Although I have never experienced crashes when running BOINC (which I've allowed to use my entire CPU).

Here's my latest crash's kern.log output: http://pastebin.com/m4bb78638

I've tried googling for "unable to handle kernel paging request" but that did not give me any information. What kernel option can I try leaving out (if possible)? Should I try up/downgrading my kernel, or is it hardware related?

Edit: with crashing I mean that first X dies, then my sound dies, then text mode only shows a blinking cursor and not too long after my PC will stop responding to pings.

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## NeddySeagoon

isilia,

Random crashes during heavy CPU use often indicates thermal issues. However, BOINC does just that, so its not likely.

I see you are using the nvidia binary blob ... swap to the nv video driver for a while, see if that helps.

If you have an AGP graphics card, turn off fast agp writes.

If you over clock - don't.

A kernel upgrade wouldn't do any harm but I doubt its that.

Try memtest from the live CD but be aware errors do not always indicate faulty memory.

The important thing is do one thing at a time or you will not know what was effective.

----------

## d2_racing

Hi, did you run a memtest on your box ?

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## isilia

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> isilia,
> 
> Random crashes during heavy CPU use often indicates thermal issues. However, BOINC does just that, so its not likely.
> 
> I see you are using the nvidia binary blob ... swap to the nv video driver for a while, see if that helps.
> ...

 

Hi, thanks for your replies, I will run memtest tonight. I do not have agp fast writes enabled:

```
isilia@Gentoo ~ $ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/registry | grep AGP

EnableALiAGP: 0

NvAGP: 3

ReqAGPRate: 15

EnableAGPSBA: 0

EnableAGPFW: 0

```

I have swapped to the nv drivers for now, I'll be running a xulrunner emerge loop overnight to see if that is the problem.

----------

## isilia

I ran memtest and it did not return any errors, looping emerge xulrunner for 12 hours didn't crash my computer (while running X with the nv driver). So it looks like the nvidia driver was indeed the problem. I will try downgrading the driver and loop emerge xulrunner again.

----------

## d2_racing

Hi, can you post this :

```

# lspci

# equery list nvidia

# cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

```

----------

## isilia

```
Gentoo isilia # lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 Host Bridge (rev a2)

00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a2)

00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:01.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:01.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:01.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:01.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:01.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:01.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:02.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:02.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation Device 03bc (rev a1)

00:02.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)

00:06.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)

00:07.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)

00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Memory Controller (rev a2)

00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 LPC Bridge (rev a3)

00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SMBus (rev a3)

00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a1)

00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a2)

00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 IDE (rev a1)

00:0e.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a3)

00:0e.1 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a3)

00:0e.2 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a3)

00:0f.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI bridge (rev a2)

00:0f.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP55 High Definition Audio (rev a2)

00:11.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a3)

00:12.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a3)

00:13.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a3)

00:14.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a3)

00:15.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a3)

00:16.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a3)

00:17.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a3)

00:18.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a3)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G80 [GeForce 8800 GTX] (rev a2)

```

```
Gentoo isilia # equery list nvidia

[ Searching for package 'nvidia' in all categories among: ]

 * installed packages

[I--] [ ~] media-video/nvidia-settings-177.80 (0)

[I--] [ ~] x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-177.80 (0)

```

```
Gentoo isilia # cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"

   Identifier     "X.org Configured"

   Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0

   InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

   InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

Section "Files"

   RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"

   ModulePath   "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/OTF"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"

EndSection

Section "Module"

#   Load  "dri"

   Load  "wfb"

   Load  "xtrap"

#   Load  "GLcore"

   Load  "record"

   Load  "extmod"

   Load  "dbe"

   Load  "glx"

   Load  "freetype"

   Load  "type1"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier  "Keyboard0"

   Driver      "kbd"

#   Option       "XkbLayout" "us,nl" 

#   Option       "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_n_toggle"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier  "Mouse0"

   Driver      "mouse"

   Option       "Protocol" "auto"

   Option       "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

   Option       "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier   "Monitor0"

   VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"

   ModelName    "Monitor Model"

EndSection

Section "Device"

        ### Available Driver options are:-

        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",

        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"

        ### [arg]: arg optional

        #Option     "SWcursor"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "HWcursor"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "NoAccel"               # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ShadowFB"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "UseFBDev"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "Rotate"                # [<str>]

        #Option     "VideoKey"              # <i>

        #Option     "FlatPanel"             # [<bool>]

        #Option     "FPDither"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "CrtcNumber"            # <i>

        #Option     "FPScale"               # [<bool>]

        #Option     "FPTweak"               # <i>

        #Option     "DualHead"              # [<bool>]

   Identifier  "Card0"

   Driver      "nvidia"

   VendorName  "nVidia Corporation"

   BoardName   "Unknown Board"

   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"

   EndSection

Section "Screen"

   Identifier "Screen0"

   Device     "Card0"

   Monitor    "Monitor0"

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     1

   EndSubSection

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     4

   EndSubSection

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     8

   EndSubSection

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     15

   EndSubSection

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     16

   EndSubSection

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     24

   EndSubSection

EndSection

```

----------

## d2_racing

Hi, your X.ORG seems to be pretty clean.

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## NeddySeagoon

isilia,

There is a later nvidia driver. Even if its still in testing, its better to go forward rather than back.

Do emerge --sync, if you haven't done it already today and add 

```
x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers
```

to your /etc/portage/package.keywords to get the latest testing driver.

Now emerge nvidia-drivers.

----------

## isilia

 *d2_racing wrote:*   

> Hi, your X.ORG seems to be pretty clean.

 

Thanks for checking!

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> isilia,
> 
> There is a later nvidia driver. Even if its still in testing, its better to go forward rather than back.
> 
> Do emerge --sync, if you haven't done it already today and add 
> ...

 

Hi, I am running the latest nvidia drivers (177.80): http://packages.gentoo.org/package/x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers

----------

## NeddySeagoon

isilia,

Yep, sorry.

I thought I had heard of a 180.xx

----------

## isilia

I had the custom-cflags USE flag enabled, so I turned it off to see if that helps. (Is that possible?)

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## NeddySeagoon

isilia,

That breaks a few things - grub most notably.

It will have no effect unless your rebuild all the packages that can use it.

```
emerge -Np
```

will show you the packages that need to be rebuilt because of changed USE flags.

----------

## isilia

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> isilia,
> 
> That breaks a few things - grub most notably.
> 
> It will have no effect unless your rebuild all the packages that can use it.
> ...

 

Thanks but I meant that I recompiled the nvidia-drivers without custom-cflags.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

isilia,

I would be surprised if it has any effect. nvidia-drivers has very little to compile, just the 'shim' code between the kernel and the kernel binary blob.

----------

## Lucractius

Only time i ever had a crash while compiling it turned out i had accidentaly unplugged the cpu fan (slot a p2 400MHz) 

System ran fine for a week before i tried to install tomcat. Hit the java compile & politely failed over on itself with memory errors.

Was fine once i plugged the fan back in and waited a few hours for the cpu to cool down.

I recommend checking the systems vitals ( cpu, hdd, gpu, mobo, etc temps, all the other vital stats are handy too but this makes me think temp issue mabey)

----------

## isilia

 *Lucractius wrote:*   

> Only time i ever had a crash while compiling it turned out i had accidentaly unplugged the cpu fan (slot a p2 400MHz) 
> 
> System ran fine for a week before i tried to install tomcat. Hit the java compile & politely failed over on itself with memory errors.
> 
> Was fine once i plugged the fan back in and waited a few hours for the cpu to cool down.
> ...

 

My CPU runs nicely at ~50 C when compiling (idling around 35 C), my mobo is at 30 C, and my GPU at 50 C (And around 55 C when gaming). I have not checked my HDD's temperature in a while, but I will get to that later today.

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> isilia,
> 
> I would be surprised if it has any effect. nvidia-drivers has very little to compile, just the 'shim' code between the kernel and the kernel binary blob.

 

Alright, I will enable the custom-cflags USE flag again then.

----------

## isilia

```
Gentoo isilia # hddtemp /dev/sda

WARNING: Drive /dev/sda doesn't appear in the database of supported drives

WARNING: But using a common value, it reports something.

WARNING: Note that the temperature shown could be wrong.

WARNING: See --help, --debug and --drivebase options.

WARNING: And don't forget you can add your drive to hddtemp.db

/dev/sda: Hitachi HDS721075KLA330:  37 C or  F

```

My HDD temperature while copying some 10GB to another partition.

----------

