# (SOLVED) Gentoo Linux hardlocks on my laptop

## Kasumi_Ninja

I have installed Gentoo Linux without problems on my laptop. However my system hard locks pretty fast leaving me no other solution then to press the 'power' button   :Sad: . I have no idea what went wrong. Here are my specs:

Specs

-Compaq V6302EU Presario

-AMD Sempron 3500+

-1GB memory

-Geforce Go 6150 Video till 128 MB videomemory

Update: I am pretty convinced I made a mistake in the kernel compilation options because compiling from the livecd during install never gave me this kind of problems.

# lspci

```
00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)

00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a2)

00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2)

00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2)

00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2)

00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)

00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2)

00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2)

00:02.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)

00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)

00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a2)

00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Host Bridge (rev a2)

00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 LPC Bridge (rev a3)

00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP51 SMBus (rev a3)

00:0a.3 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PMU (rev a3)

00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a3)

00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a3)

00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 IDE (rev f1)

00:0e.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Serial ATA Controller (rev f1)

00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PCI Bridge (rev a2)

00:10.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP51 High Definition Audio (rev a2)

00:14.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Ethernet Controller (rev a3)

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control

03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Unknown device 4311 (rev 01)
```

# cat /proc/cpuinfo

```
processor       : 0

vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD

cpu family      : 15

model           : 76

model name      : Mobile AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3500+

stepping        : 2

cpu MHz         : 1800.000

cache size      : 512 KB

fdiv_bug        : no

hlt_bug         : no

f00f_bug        : no

coma_bug        : no

fpu             : yes

fpu_exception   : yes

cpuid level     : 1

wp              : yes

flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow up pni cx16 lahf_lm cr8legacy ts fid vid ttp tm stc

bogomips        : 3619.56
```

----------

## Crono81

I've read the other thread with the similar problem: try the various acpi=off like options in the kernel boot options (while in grub, press e and edit the line). I can't remember them now. If you have these lockups when you press the Fn+X keys you may need to fix the dsdt table, and try the very latest kernel.

Check with dmesg also!

----------

## Kasumi_Ninja

 *Crono81 wrote:*   

> I've read the other thread with the similar problem: try the various acpi=off like options in the kernel boot options (while in grub, press e and edit the line). I can't remember them now. If you have these lockups when you press the Fn+X keys you may need to fix the dsdt table, and try the very latest kernel.
> 
> Check with dmesg also!

 

Hey thanks for trying to help! I have tried passing the noacpi option but that didn't work   :Sad: . Even stranger I used genkernel to compile a kernel but that one even refused to boot! I get this error message:

VFS: Cannot open root device "sda3" or unknown-block(0,0)

Please append a correct "root=" boot option

Kernel panic -not syncing: VFS

Update 2:

I solved this by enabling sata support in Genkernel, but my system still hard locks even with Genkernel.

I have booted my laptop with the Gentoo livecd so now I can give some info like dmesg etc.

# cat /mnt/gentoo/grub/grub.conf

# ls /mnt/gentoo/grub

# cat  /mnt/gentoo/var/log/dmesg

----------

## Crono81

maybe recompiling the kernel without SMP support?

----------

## Kasumi_Ninja

 *Crono81 wrote:*   

> maybe recompiling the kernel without SMP support?

 

I think I already found the solution   :Very Happy: . The bad news is I don't know how I did it exactly. I fiddled around with the kernel options somewhat and now it  compiled Xorg without hardlocking. I will run some tests with different kernel options to see what was the culprit. I made a list of the things I rremeber to have changed in the kernel:

Processor type and features

Processor  K7 instead of Athlon64

Timer frequency 100 HZ instead of  1000

Power management

Changed all these from module t build into the kernel:

```
 │                                                                                                                                                    │

  │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │

  │ │                                     [*] ACPI Support                                                                                           │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   AC Adapter                                                                                           │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   Battery                                                                                              │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   Button                                                                                               │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   Video                                                                                                │ │

  │ │                                     < >   Generic Hotkey (EXPERIMENTAL)                                                                        │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   Fan                                                                                                  │ │

  │ │                                     < >   Dock                                                                                                 │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   Processor                                                                                            │ │

  │ │                                     <M>     Thermal Zone                                                                                       │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   ASUS/Medion Laptop Extras                                                                            │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   IBM ThinkPad Laptop Extras                                                                           │ │

  │ │                                     [*]     Legacy Docking Station Support                                                                     │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   Toshiba Laptop Extras                                                                                │ │

  │ │                                     (0)   Disable ACPI for systems before Jan 1st this year                                                    │ │

  │ │                                     [ ]   Debug Statements                                                                                     │ │

  │ │                                     [ ]   Power Management Timer Support                                                                       │ │

  │ │                                     <M>   ACPI0004,PNP0A05 and PNP0A06 Container Driver (EXPERIMENTAL)                                         │ │

  │ │                                     < >   Smart Battery System (EXPERIMENTAL)                                                                  │ │

  │ │                                                                                       

```

Device drivers/graphics

I compiled these into the kernel:

Graphics Nvidia Framebuffer /Riva

----------

## andyandrews35

You can copy the .config from the livecd, it is gzipped on there somewhere.  The installation handbook gives instructions on how to do that.  I must confess I did this, and I have absolutely zero problems.  The only difference I can tell is the kernel compile time is longer.

----------

## Kasumi_Ninja

 *andyandrews35 wrote:*   

> You can copy the .config from the livecd, it is gzipped on there somewhere.  The installation handbook gives instructions on how to do that.  I must confess I did this, and I have absolutely zero problems.  The only difference I can tell is the kernel compile time is longer.

 

That is really a good tip, thanks!

----------

## Kasumi_Ninja

I think I have found the problem:

```
Device drivers/graphics/Graphics nVidia Framebuffer Support
```

When this isn't compiled in the kernel (module I haven't tested) the laptop freezes. And I don't have X installed. I will test this some more but I am pretty confident I found the problem. If this works I'll add solved to the title    :Very Happy: .

----------

## DaggyStyle

strange, the gentoo wiki on howto install nvidia suggests that enabling it will cause the problems....

are you sure it is working?

----------

## Kasumi_Ninja

 *DaggyStyle wrote:*   

> strange, the gentoo wiki on howto install nvidia suggests that enabling it will cause the problems....
> 
> are you sure it is working?

 

Yes I did some further testing and I am absolutely sure this was the problem. But don't forget I don't had X running yet (and therefor not installed the nvidia-drivers).

----------

## Kasumi_Ninja

Hmm close but no cigar. I did a fresh install and now have the same problem with nVidia Framebuffer Support. Last time the fonts in my console were smaller. I think if I get these smaller fonts back this problem will be solved.

Update: Got it!  Framebuffer Console support  also needs to be enabled:

```
Device Drivers  --->

Graphics support  --->        

Console display driver support  --->  

  <*> Framebuffer Console support    
```

----------

## Larry The Cow

Thanks muchly! You fixed my problem!  :Very Happy: 

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-552141.html

----------

## Kasumi_Ninja

 *Larry The Cow wrote:*   

> Thanks muchly! You fixed my problem! 
> 
> https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-552141.html

 

Hey Larry, good to hear that it helped you too. Thanks for letting me know  :Very Happy:  . You might want to check out my other threads which solved some other issues:

Sound

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-552252-highlight-.html

Nvidia bug

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-551722-highlight-.html

Sata problems (no solution yet)

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-551892-highlight-.html

----------

## Kasumi_Ninja

In conclusion I would like to add that installed the nvidia-binary drivers. This forced me to remove the nVidia Framebuffer Support. i remoevd it and replaced it with:

```
Device Drivers  ---> 

Graphics support  --->

*>   VESA VGA graphics support                                      │ │

  │ │        VESA driver type (vesafb-tng)  --->                          │ │

  │ │(1280x800@60) VESA default mode           

```

In combination with Framebuffer Console support this works perfectly   :Very Happy: . Btw does anyone kno the optimal setting for vesafb-tng? I have put it on 1280x800@60 but I have no idea of this a good setting.

----------

