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Linux USB Problems on Dimension E521 AMD 64 X2
Hi,
Anyone else try running Linux (in my case Ubuntu 6.06) on the E521 with the AMD 64 X2 processor? I am having a problem when using xorg where my USB devices, more often my mouse, but my keyboard has had the problem as well stops working. It is almost like the interrupts start getting masked, but it isn't that. Because when the mouse stops working I am usually able to still use the keyboard.
It happens after a while, and usually in times of heavy use. I guess really instead of heavy I would say normal. But it has never happened that it will be working and then I let it lay idle for a while and then reach for it again and it be frozen.
This started happening under the amd64 version of Ubuntu but I have tried several different versions by now and the problem continues to happen.
As far as troubleshooting it has been a real pain. There is never a message in the kernel log or shown by running dmesg. Actually once or twice I have seen the irq status -71 received, but I am pretty sure that is not the cause, becuase it has only happened about twice out of maybe 40 occurances. And there is no message in the Xorg log either.
I have tried the default amd64-generic kernel the latest amd64-generic, the latest amd64-k8 kernel (I think 2.6.15-27.48) I have tried running the i386 uniprocessor kernel and the latest k7-smp kernel. All of them have the same problem.
In an effort to get to the bottom of it I have re-compiled the kernel according to the directions here: http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Kernel_Compilation_Dapper and turned on debugfs and collected data, but there doesn't seem to be anything of interest. It seems I get hundreds of thousands of lines of -115 status (Which I believe is the controller just telling the device that yeah, I hear ya and I am going to do something EINPROGRESS) and then nothing. The mouse appears to continue to function at least the circuit which senses movement and turns the LED into bright mode. And under Windows I have had no problems at all.
The only solution that always works is to disconnect the USB cable and then reconnect it, which grabs a new device file /dev/input/event7 and probably does some other magic registers with the USB controller, and a bunch of other stuff and then the mouse starts working again.
The only other consistent problem I have noted is the IOAPIC stuff complains about a bug, and sometimes it won't boot and panics, other times it figures out a way to get by and does so. Because of this I have tried booting with noapic and other than changing the way /proc/interrupts looks there seems to be no change in the problem. Eventually under usage the mouse stops responding entirely. Even looking at cat /dev/input/mice there is nothing getting there.
I have upgraded the BIOS to 1.0.3 that had no effect. And also turned off the Cool and Quiet support in the bios.
Any thoughts, recommendations of how to proceed, or any other suggestions are appreciated.
Thank you,
Kevin
Anyone else try running Linux (in my case Ubuntu 6.06) on the E521 with the AMD 64 X2 processor? I am having a problem when using xorg where my USB devices, more often my mouse, but my keyboard has had the problem as well stops working. It is almost like the interrupts start getting masked, but it isn't that. Because when the mouse stops working I am usually able to still use the keyboard.
It happens after a while, and usually in times of heavy use. I guess really instead of heavy I would say normal. But it has never happened that it will be working and then I let it lay idle for a while and then reach for it again and it be frozen.
This started happening under the amd64 version of Ubuntu but I have tried several different versions by now and the problem continues to happen.
As far as troubleshooting it has been a real pain. There is never a message in the kernel log or shown by running dmesg. Actually once or twice I have seen the irq status -71 received, but I am pretty sure that is not the cause, becuase it has only happened about twice out of maybe 40 occurances. And there is no message in the Xorg log either.
I have tried the default amd64-generic kernel the latest amd64-generic, the latest amd64-k8 kernel (I think 2.6.15-27.48) I have tried running the i386 uniprocessor kernel and the latest k7-smp kernel. All of them have the same problem.
In an effort to get to the bottom of it I have re-compiled the kernel according to the directions here: http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Kernel_Compilation_Dapper and turned on debugfs and collected data, but there doesn't seem to be anything of interest. It seems I get hundreds of thousands of lines of -115 status (Which I believe is the controller just telling the device that yeah, I hear ya and I am going to do something EINPROGRESS) and then nothing. The mouse appears to continue to function at least the circuit which senses movement and turns the LED into bright mode. And under Windows I have had no problems at all.
The only solution that always works is to disconnect the USB cable and then reconnect it, which grabs a new device file /dev/input/event7 and probably does some other magic registers with the USB controller, and a bunch of other stuff and then the mouse starts working again.
The only other consistent problem I have noted is the IOAPIC stuff complains about a bug, and sometimes it won't boot and panics, other times it figures out a way to get by and does so. Because of this I have tried booting with noapic and other than changing the way /proc/interrupts looks there seems to be no change in the problem. Eventually under usage the mouse stops responding entirely. Even looking at cat /dev/input/mice there is nothing getting there.
I have upgraded the BIOS to 1.0.3 that had no effect. And also turned off the Cool and Quiet support in the bios.
Any thoughts, recommendations of how to proceed, or any other suggestions are appreciated.
Thank you,
Kevin
BELL BOY
1.1K Posts
0
October 19th, 2006 22:00
Fairly specialised subject, assume you have tried Ubuntu forums, & tried Google search?
Note you have been advised to post your query in other DELL forums, albeit not same PC product/model there is a PowerEdge Linux forum here, probably better posting there, for example searching this forum for USB mouse problems provides this short list.
jmaier
2 Posts
0
October 21st, 2006 20:00
yes I encounter the same problems with my brand new E521. I first tried OpenSuse 10.1 but it is unusable because of the mouse problem. The keyboard shows sometimes strange effects of character duplication: you press a button once but it appear 3-5 times on the screen.
So I decided to try kubuntu 6.06 and 6.10 (beta): With 6.06 the keyboard work properly but the mouse hangs from time to time, just like you described. 6.10 is unusable: after booting (in save graphic mode) no mouse and keyboard are available at all. The red mouse light keeps dark.
I also tried knoppix 5.0 (which is another debian based live linux): so far it works stable, no mouse frezzing anymore. I must admit knoppiy is not so "stylish" as ubuntu. But at least the USB problem seems not to exist there. I think i am going to install it.
Anyway, if you find a solution under ubuntu I would be pleased to here from you in this thread.
Regards,
Jürgen
Lobotomik
20 Posts
0
October 22nd, 2006 08:00
Just got my new E521, tried to install Ubuntu Edgy beta. Gnome popped up with the pointer already frozen. Unplugging/replugging achieved nothing.
I installed Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (the current version). The mouse pointer worked for a while, but it eventually froze. Unplugging and replugging the mouse recovers control for a while. Installing the k7-smp kernel gets me a frozen login screen, as with Edgy.
I have been around Ubuntu forums, and I know the problem appears also in SUSE, and that it has nothing to do with Xorg, because the pointer freezes also in a text terminal with a gpm mouse with no X necessarily running.
So there is a bad problem with the kernel code, in a place that appears in many different versions, whether optimized for 386/k7/k7-smp. It does not look as it should be very difficult to correct, because it *almost* works, but it really needs fixing.
I find it UNBELIEVABLE that Dell has not bothered to try and install Linux in just one of these machines. It seems reports of decaying quality control have more meat than I thought. These machines seemed to have a great price/performance ration, and I was considering buying them for my small company, which ships to customers about 150 systems per year, but we need Linux to run, so I'll have to look for something else.
mclazarus
10 Posts
0
October 22nd, 2006 15:00
Here is the ubuntu forums thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=279626
Lobotomik
20 Posts
0
October 23rd, 2006 05:00
It starts to look evident that Dell have not tried to install A SINGLE Linux distro in this computer before shoving it out; the problem is really evident, and shows within 5 minutes using any distro. Even a live CD would have been enough to notice. What an amazing show of good engineering and quality control!
I want my money back. We should all ask for our money back on this computer, and maybe next time they'd act differently.
Qujo
7 Posts
0
October 24th, 2006 21:00
mclazarus
10 Posts
0
October 25th, 2006 00:00
Also has anyone actually run a 64 bit Microsoft OS on this machine, It would actually be very great if the problem happened there, because it would ensure a BIOS fix would be forthcoming.
The thread over on the Ubuntu forums has had some good work done by people trying with newer kernels, but most of the results have been frustrating thus far.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1631643 Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to really do my own testing. I am hoping for a miracle that the Edgy Kernel will magically work, but it looks like a buggy BIOS.
mclazarus
10 Posts
0
October 25th, 2006 00:00
jrminter
10 Posts
0
October 25th, 2006 01:00
Dell Dimension C521
BIOS 1.0.3
AMD 64X2 Dual Core 4200+
2GB RAM
250 GB HD
nVidia GeForce 6150LE Graphics card
Dell USB Optical mouse
Dell USB Keyboard
using Mandriva 2007 Powerpack. This is NOT good.
I tried turning disabling ACPI (couldn't install otherwise) The mouse froze during install. Happily, I remember keyboard shortcuts and was able to finish the install. I did a search on the Mandriva Forum and saw their suggestion to disable APIC as well. I tried this and verified it was set on reboot. The mouse still freezes after a while. Interestingly, the keyboard (also a USB device) is fine.
mclazarus
10 Posts
0
October 25th, 2006 13:00
Qujo
7 Posts
0
October 25th, 2006 14:00
Qujo
7 Posts
0
October 25th, 2006 16:00
jrminter
10 Posts
0
October 27th, 2006 23:00
Bugzilla Bug 7397 USB mouse pointer freezes with nVidia nForce 430 chipset
Lobotomik
20 Posts
0
October 28th, 2006 09:00
>Bugzilla Bug 7397 USB mouse pointer freezes with nVidia nForce 430 chipset
Yeah, I did it; anyone can file a bug in the kernel Bugzilla. However, it's been almost a week, and it seems that not a single kernel developer has taken any interest in it whatsoever. I don't know if the description I provided is enough to get the ball rolling, but no one has acknowledged it, much less asked for more details.
You can watch it at bugzilla.kernel.org
jrminter
10 Posts
0
October 28th, 2006 10:00