# random freezing of my asus m2n-e with amd 64 x2 4200+

## njuk-njuk

i am doubting that this is a gentoo-specific issue; rather, that others in this forum might be able to help me track down what the problem is with my machine...

last year (august, 2006) i updated my sorely old box.  i got an asus m2n-e mobo with a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ processor and 2GB memory.  on the whole, i've been pleased with this box; however, pretty much from the beginning it randomly freezes, requiring a manual press of the reset button to reboot it.  the frequency is once every week or two, and has yet to occur while i am actually sitting at the machine using it.  besides the obvious frustration, it is a pain because i access my box remotely quite frequently, almost as if it were a server.

was wondering if people might be able to point me in the proper direction of trouble-shooting this machine.  i suspected it might be memory-related, so i ran memtest overnight on it a few times without incident.  then i was suspecting it might be overheating---note, that i am *not* overclocking.  when i physically opened the box after a recent hangup i realized the heatsink was loose.  long story, short: the plastic clip that holds the heatsink to the mobo was broken.  i've since replaced the clip with the heatsink is mounted correctly and the sensord values are notably lower; however, i just had another hangup with the box.  the sensord log shows nothing unusual regarding cpu temps (and it isn't notably hot in the room where the box is).

what sort of things should i try next to determine what might be the problem?

thanks for any help.

----------

## quantumsummers

Please post more details about your setup.

GPU, graphics driver, lsmod, which NIC you're using, and emerge --info will be a good start.

If you are running an nvidia GPU, try diabling PEG Link mode in the BIOS ASAP.  It was causing me all kinds of troubles, almost led to madness.

Regards,

Summers

----------

## njuk-njuk

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> Please post more details about your setup.
> 
> GPU, graphics driver, lsmod, which NIC you're using, and emerge --info will be a good start.
> 
> If you are running an nvidia GPU, try diabling PEG Link mode in the BIOS ASAP.  It was causing me all kinds of troubles, almost led to madness.
> ...

 

thanks very much for the reply, summers.

i do have an nvidia GPU (see below) so, as you specified, i corrected the bios setting: PEG Link mode was originally set to "Auto" but i changed it to "Disabled".

my pertinent hardware setup is the following:

 ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor

 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

 Seasonic SS-500HT Power Supply

 EVGA 256-P2-N549-TR GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card

 Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5000YS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

i am using the NIC on-board the ASUS mobo.

i am using the 'nvidia' graphics driver.

here is the output of lsmod:

```

Module                  Size  Used by

it87                   22416  0 

hwmon_vid               4800  1 it87

i2c_isa                 7040  1 it87

eeprom                  8784  0 

vfat                   13056  1 

fat                    48048  1 vfat

ntfs                   89032  1 

nvidia               5426324  12 

i2c_nforce2             7424  0 

i2c_core               20800  5 it87,i2c_isa,eeprom,nvidia,i2c_nforce2

ohci1394               32776  0 

ieee1394               87920  1 ohci1394

k8temp                  7360  0 

hwmon                   5000  2 it87,k8temp

```

here is the output of emerge --info:

```

Portage 2.1.2.2 (default-linux/amd64/2006.1, gcc-4.1.1, glibc-2.5-r2, 2.6.20-gentoo-r7 x86_64)

=================================================================

System uname: 2.6.20-gentoo-r7 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+

Gentoo Base System release 1.12.9

Timestamp of tree: Mon, 07 May 2007 17:20:01 +0000

distcc 2.18.3 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [enabled]

dev-java/java-config: 1.3.7, 2.0.32

dev-lang/python:     2.4.3-r4

dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r5

sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.17

sys-devel/autoconf:  2.13, 2.61

sys-devel/automake:  1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2, 1.10

sys-devel/binutils:  2.16.1-r3

sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.16

sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.22

virtual/os-headers:  2.6.17-r2

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"

AUTOCLEAN="yes"

CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-march=athlon64 -O2 -msse3 -pipe"

CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/3.5/env /usr/kde/3.5/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/shutdown /usr/share/X11/xkb /usr/share/config"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/gconf /etc/php/apache1-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/apache2-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php5/ext-active/ /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo /etc/texmf/web2c"

CXXFLAGS="-march=athlon64 -O2 -msse3 -pipe"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="ccache distcc distlocks fixpackages metadata-transfer sandbox sfperms strict"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="ftp://gentoo.llarian.net/pub/gentoo http://gentoo.llarian.net/ http://gentoo.arcticnetwork.ca/"

LINGUAS="en ja"

MAKEOPTS="-j3"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --delete-after --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages --filter=H_**/files/digest-*"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/portage/local/layman/wschlich-testing /usr/portage/local/layman/wschlich /usr/local/portage"

SYNC="rsync://rsync.namerica.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="X Xaw3d a52 aac aalib acpi aim alsa amd64 ao apache2 audiofile bash-completion bcmath bidi bzip2 cairo calendar canna caps cddb cdparanoia cdr cjk cracklib crypt cscope ctype cups curl curlwrappers dbus doc dts dv dvb dvd dvdr dvdread emacs encode enscript examples exif ffmpeg fftw firefox flac foomaticdb fortran gb gcj gd gdbm geoip gif gimp ginac glut gmp gnutls gphoto2 graphviz gstreamer gtk gtkhtml hal icq ieee1394 imagemagick imap imlib ipod ipv6 jabber jack java javascript jbig jikes jpeg jpeg2k junit ladcca ladspa lapack lash lcms libcaca libedit libgda libnotify libsamplerate libwww lm_sensors logrotate lua m17n-lib mad matroska mbox mcal mikmod mime mmap mng motif mp3 mpeg mplayer msn musepack musicbrainz nas ncurses netcdf nls nptl nptlonly nsplugin nvidia ocaml ofx ogg openal openexr opengl osc oscar oss pam pcntl pcre pda pdf perl php plotutils png portaudio posix ppds prelude python quicktime rdesktop readline recode ruby sasl savedconfig scanner sdl sharedmem shorten skey smp sndfile soap sockets sox speex spell spl ssl stream svg tcl tetex theora threads tidy tiff tk truetype unicode usb vcd videos vim-syntax vorbis wmf x264 xcomposite xface xine xinetd xml xosd xpm xprint xsl xv xvid xvmc yahoo zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="en ja" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="nv nvidia vesa vga"

Unset:  CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS

```

----------

## quantumsummers

njuk-njuk,

You've got a nice system, all quality components.  Hopefully disabling stupid PEG link will fix your wagon.

I assume you're using the forcedeth driver for your nic.  

Do you ever get anything in /var/log/messges about the crash, or anything suspicious at all in any logs?  Post what you believe is relevant.

I assume that the crashes have occurred on multiple kernels, which versions have you tried?

What versions of nvidia-drivers have you used and have crashes occurred on certain versions?

What are the general temps you experience, k8temp should be under 40 C except under heavy load.

When these crashes occur are you running an X session or not?

Can you post the output of cat /proc/interrupts 

Let's see where this gets us.

Regards,

Summers

----------

## njuk-njuk

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> You've got a nice system, all quality components.  Hopefully disabling stupid PEG link will fix your wagon.

 

well, after making the change in the bios (knock-on-wood) i haven't had any lockups.  however, i've gone weeks w/o lockups in the past---sometimes a few days between lockups, other times a few weeks.

one encouraging note, though, is that i recently did a full update of my gentoo system, which usually works the cpu pretty heavily.  i had no lockups during the update, which usually would cause one.  also, i was doing some batch image processing a few days ago that had the cpu pretty excited for several hours and, though the cpu temp got pretty high, i had no lockup.  i'll keep my fingers crossed that it was some combination of the loose heatsink and this PEG link mode.

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> I assume you're using the forcedeth driver for your nic.

 

yep, that's the nic driver i'm using.

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> Do you ever get anything in /var/log/messges about the crash, or anything suspicious at all in any logs?  Post what you believe is relevant.

 

no, nothing has ever shown up in logs.  that's been the weird thing and made it very difficult for me to track anything down.  i'm no specialist at debugging low-level system stuff, but i have yet to stumble across anything hinting at what the issue might be.

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> I assume that the crashes have occurred on multiple kernels, which versions have you tried?

 

these are the kernels i have in /usr/src and i'd wager each one of them has shown the problem.

```
linux-2.6.17-gentoo-r7

linux-2.6.17-gentoo-r8

linux-2.6.18-gentoo-r3

linux-2.6.18-gentoo-r4

linux-2.6.19-gentoo-r1

linux-2.6.19-gentoo-r5

linux-2.6.20-gentoo-r7

linux-2.6.20-gentoo-r8

```

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> What versions of nvidia-drivers have you used and have crashes occurred on certain versions?

 

i've used a variety of the nvidia drivers, updating my system every 2-3 months on average.  i can't say a particular one caused the issue.

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> What are the general temps you experience, k8temp should be under 40 C except under heavy load.

 

these days, after the heatsink was fixed, it is anywhere between 32-40 C.  i honestly can't recall what it was like before this but it was notably higher.  under heavy load of updating my system or batch image processing (as mentioned above) it peaks anywhere from 40-50, though i see the fan speed cycling higher trying to bring the temps down.  some of this is dependent upon the fact that my machine is in a non-air-conditioned room that can get reasonably hot in the summer.  still, i've had problems in the middle of winter, too.

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> When these crashes occur are you running an X session or not?

 

more often than not X was running.  as a result, when i'll be away from my machine for more than a few days i usually exit X completely.  on two occasions, while i was traveling for more than a week, the system locked up while it was simply at the text login screen.  the most recent of these occurrences was what prompted my post.

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> Can you post the output of cat /proc/interrupts

 

```
           CPU0       CPU1       

  0:    4907620          0   IO-APIC-edge      timer

  1:      14576          0   IO-APIC-edge      i8042

  8:          1          0   IO-APIC-edge      rtc

  9:          0          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   acpi

 12:          4          0   IO-APIC-edge      i8042

 16:    1194717          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   nvidia

 17:          3          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ohci1394

 20:          0          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   libata

 21:    1247986          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   libata, HDA Intel

 22:      24148          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   libata, ohci_hcd:usb2

 23:          2          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ehci_hcd:usb1

1273:    2240469          0   PCI-MSI-edge      eth0

NMI:       1249       1030 

LOC:    4907618    4907598 

ERR:          0

```

 *quantumsummers wrote:*   

> Let's see where this gets us.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Summers

 

thanks a lot for posting replies on this.  in the end, i hope it is just the PEG link mode and faulty heatsink that caused the problems, but only time will tell.

----------

## quantumsummers

Happy to help,

Just an FYI, I have tested just about every nvidia-drivers version, and I have settled with 1.0.9755-r1 for the time being.  Performance on the newest versions 100.14.xx was abysmal with my 7600 GT.  GLXGears ran well, but enemy-territory played like I was swimming in tar.

You may also want to check out the timings/voltage on your memory.  I run Corsair XMS (DDR not DDR2 like you have), and the motherboard did not detect the optimum settings specified by Corsair.  A quick check will give you the correct timings if you still have the complete model numbers for your modules: http://www.corsairmicro.com/products/xms2.aspx

Its really odd that it is so random, have you run memtest?  If not, run it over night & see what that yields.

You may also post the output from dmesg, or at least check it out for anything weird.

Anyway, from your emerge --info, looks like you can link to the new 2007.0 profile if you please, and feel free to make oldconfig and upgrade to gentoo-sources-2.6.21-r4, its about to go stable anyway.  Also update sys-kernel/linux-headers to 2.6.21. (headers & kernel don't have to be the same version)

Finally, you should add parallel-fetch and user-fetch to the FEATURES line in make.conf , parallel-fetch is especially nice as it starts a fetch on all packages at once.  Its usually a bit faster that way, especially for a large set.

Let us know how its going!

Cheers,

Summers

----------

## Cyker

Asus seem to have had some QA issues with their M2N line (NB: Subjective info; Pulled out of arse) - A few bad batches seemed to slip through here and there (My brother went through 3 RMAs his M2N32's and a friend in Sweden an M2N, both displaying similar issues - i.e. the system will just suddenly freeze or reboot with no warning - plus scattered forum posts when we were Googling for fixes.).

It's exacebated by the fact that Asus have got all this auto-overclocking crap built into their mobos (PEG being one of them) - Turning that all off helps immensely.

I only post this because me and my brother wasted a lot of money, theft and time trying different PSUs, RAM, Video cards, CPUs and even heatsinks trying to get to the bottom of this.

The third replacement mobo was much better and ran without the freeze/reboots, but the accelerated nVidia RAID0 he was using kept failing for no apparent reason every few weeks (Under Windows), so he tried using the Windows software RAID and that did the same thing, with the only clue being Eventlog saying the controller had reset. In the end he returned it and got a Gigabyte (GA-MA69G) mobo instead and things have been fine since...

----------

## johnm1019

I recently have purchased one of these and am having problems as well

i just read this and disabled peg link to no avail.

i am running

2.6.23-gentoo-r3 latest

My catch is that my lockups only occur while in X.  Not once during the whole install process or any of the time that I lurk in console has it locked or hesitated.

To test other things, when my system does lock while in X/gnome, it hard locks - if i have an open ssh session on my laptop next to the computer, that session becomes unresponsive the second the system locks.

I am really digging deep on these searches and could use some more advice.

thanks!

----------

## njuk-njuk

johnm1019,

i occasionally have lock-ups still.  to be honest, though, since i changed the 'peg link mode' setting, my lock-ups have been very few and far between.  in the past, my lock-ups have been both in X and not in X.  i think a few of my more recent lock-ups have been the result of overheating, but not entirely sure.  it is definitely quite a pain dealing with this, especially since i need remote access to my machine when i travel.  also, yes, my lock-ups have been pretty "hard" in that i cannot ssh or work with any open ssh connections.

i've updated my portage once or twice since posting the original message.  the current version of x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers  i am using is 100.14.09.

if you come across any additional information that is helpful to your situation, please post them back to this thread.

----------

