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614716
October 19th, 2006 14:00
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
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Lobotomik
1 Rookie
•
20 Posts
0
November 7th, 2006 15:00
Yeah, that sort of works, but not just any hub will do. The one I've got (an Ovislink) is not properly initialized by the BIOS, so the keyboard does not work until the OS has booted. To boot linux I plug the keyboard into the hub and wait for Grub to automatically launch the first entry; to boot Windows, I plug the mouse directly into a port, and scroll down Grub's menu to the last entry.
The built-in hub in the Dell ultrasharp screens works fine, but I was too cheap to shell out the extra € (and now I regret it).
As for the PCI solution, I'm sure it would work fine but one of the PCI slots is already taken by my Wifi card, and losing the other makes me uncomfortable. Plus, I agree, I don't want to pay extra, and jump through yet more hoops.
myfreeforum
14 Posts
0
November 7th, 2006 16:00
I got a c521 today and installed fedora core 6 and have endless mouse seizures and one keyboard freeze :(
I also found that following the install fc6 booted X to a resolution the monitor would not accept, which at least with the rescue boot I managed to edit xorg.conf to fix.
But this mouse issue is a killer :(
mwette
38 Posts
0
November 12th, 2006 20:00
I am running Fedora Core 6 i386.
If I boot w/ no args I can run but I only get one cpu running.
I get messages in /var/log/{dmesg,messages} of the following type:
CPU1 irqstacks, ...
Not responding.
...
CPU #1 not responding - cannot use it.
...
MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC
...trying to set up timer (IRQ0) through the 8259A ... failed.
...trying to set up timer as Virtual Wire IRQ ... failed.
...trying to set up timer as ExtInt IRQ... works.
Brought up 1 CPUs.
Now, if I boot with acpi=off, I get both processor cores,
but I get the hanging mouse problem.
I am currently booting with "nolapic". I don't get the MP-BIOS bug
message but I do get "spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ7."
I think this whole mess has something to do with ACPI or APIC
interrupts not getting mapped properly. I am wondering if we
can boot to WinXP, find the interrupt mappings and somehow get
this mapping set up for linux. I am not experienced here. Is
there an easy way to get the interrupt mapping on WinXP.
(I have a dual boot set up.)
donnyr3
5 Posts
0
November 13th, 2006 02:00
By downloading, you accept the terms of the Dell Software License Agreement.
File Name File Size Download Time (56K) File FormatR132919.EXE5 MB14.3 minHard-Drive
Criticality
Urgent Dell highly recommends applying this update as soon as possible. The update contains changes to improve the reliability and availability of your Dell system
I'm not an expert, but Windows was not able to operate and could not find drivers to solve the problem on regular installation sites. Only Dell's driver above for the Nvidia Chipset would allow the mouse to work normally with windows XP Pro.
Hope that is some help.....
Thanks,
Don
lawrence1234
1 Message
0
November 13th, 2006 06:00
cannot boot with usb flash drive in screen hub.
After a period of time loose keyboard and mouse. In my case plugged into screen HUB.
Have problems recognising a USB connected hard drive as well.
Sounds as if USB BUS totally flackey to me.
myfreeforum
14 Posts
0
November 13th, 2006 07:00
Lobotomik
1 Rookie
•
20 Posts
0
November 13th, 2006 12:00
I unplugged the USB hub and plugged my wireless mouse/keyboard combo directly into a USB port and rebooted. My computer booted the new kernel just fine, and unlike Edgy's 2.6.17, it reached GDM with a fully functional mouse and keyboard, which was already an improvement on the previous situation (reaching GDM with BOTH already locked).
I have not given it very extended use, but have used it for about 45 minutes with no apparent problems, which I don't think I ever could with Dapper's kernel.
What I don't know is what functionality have I given up by not running Ubuntu's kernel. What patches have they added to 2.6.17 that are absent from 2.6.18.2?
NTFS-3g works OK (an advantage of user-mode drivers). The on-board network connection works OK, but I have not yet tested the Ralink PCI wifi card. I have not tested audio yet, either. I do know that my iPod works OK from Rhythmbox, and I can read *and write* to it.
nVidia's proprietary driver does not work, unfortunately, as it is built for Ubuntu's 2.6.17; I'll have to rebuild it later for 2.6.18. However, the open-source nv driver works more or less ok and, though it does not seem to like the 1280x1024 resolution, windows move around fast with no tearing as suffered with the VESA drivers.
If anybody is interested, I've generated .deb packages that may be installed *and uninstalled* effortlessly in any Edgy installation. The entry in Grub is automatically added, and an alternative kernel (or XP) may be chosen at boot time.
thermostat
7 Posts
0
November 14th, 2006 18:00
jbquenot
4 Posts
0
November 15th, 2006 04:00
Does it solve your problem on Linux too? I was advised to install this driver from the Dell support, but the mouse still freezes on Linux, so I guess the recommended update is a Windows-specific driver update, not a firmware update.
Does the latest Linux kernel fix the problem as some of you are reporting?
Message Edited by jbquenot on 11-15-200612:49 AM
My_spece
5 Posts
0
November 15th, 2006 07:00
It's sooooo annoying and frustrates me big time.
What's the point of having this discussion here? Anybody from DELL reads these threads? If the problem is not with their hardware, why don't they officially say so?
myfreeforum
14 Posts
0
November 15th, 2006 07:00
I know I have never had a less stable Linux system that I have now with the C521 :(
mwette
38 Posts
0
November 15th, 2006 11:00
The linux.dell.com website has email lists. One of them
is for linux on desktop systems. There is a Dell person
who seems to be reading these. I have just started subscribing.
FC6 came out with a new kernel last week marked 2.6.18-1.2849.
With this one I can't boot with the "nolapic" options I was
using before.
donnyr3
5 Posts
0
November 15th, 2006 13:00
Donnyr7
5 Posts
0
November 15th, 2006 14:00
myfreeforum
14 Posts
0
November 15th, 2006 15:00
I did do some superficial research and did read people were using Fedora Core 6 on a C521 and there was no mention of issues, I also saw those same links. so I felt I was on a safe bet.