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614766
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
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20 Posts
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January 17th, 2007 18:00
> 3 - Execute the .exe (somthing like xxx-010104.exe)
I suggest the following alternative(it is A LOT easier)
1- Boot your system with Windows XP
2- Download the upgrade executable file from DELL.
3- Execute the .exe
Lobotomik
1 Rookie
•
20 Posts
0
January 17th, 2007 18:00
USB hubs are cheap, but not all of them solve the problem completely:
I've got a powered USB hub of a more or less well known brand that is not correctly initialized by the Dell's BIOS (yeah, that BIOS s, we all know by now) so the keyboard does not respond until the OS has booted.
The consequence? It is impossible to choose between Grubs boot options, so you've got to unplug the hub in order to run Windows, and replug to run Linux.
Would I recommend the E521? After all this pain, definitely NOT. Dell has released untested hardware, then dragged its feet when having to fix the problem. Months have passed before the BIOS changes enabling 32bit Linux have been published, and even then Dell has not even acknowledged that the BIOS changes do indeed enable 32b Linux. Linux 64b still does not work, and Dell has yet to publicly acknowledge any problem with Linux (let alone actually offer support to its customers). See how this thread has grown over 200 messages long, but there is NOT A SINGLE MESSAGE from Dell.
I think the E521 and Dell BOTH , and you should really look elsewhere. The system is cheap but not only as in "inexpensive". Dell has also been cheap.
Message Edited by NRios on 01-17-200702:31 PM
dmoroian
7 Posts
0
January 18th, 2007 05:00
I run Suse 10.1, with acpi enabled, it sees both cores, and scales corectly the frequency of the cpu according to the computational request. The kernel is 2.6.19.1 vanilla.
Just to put a number: I have an uptime of more than 30 days without any problems.
Dragos
Duli
31 Posts
0
January 18th, 2007 09:00
Yes, but in order to do that one must have Windows XP installed.
bensow
2 Posts
0
January 18th, 2007 13:00
I found out that windows was still on the computer, altough I was told it wasn't. So it was no problem upgrading the BIOS and I've had no problems with the mouse since then. It seems this solves the problem thus.
But I also tried the FreeDOS approach without succeeding. I only tried to run from the boot-CD and it did not find my linux disks, guess it can only read fat? Can anyone elaborate on how to do this BIOS-upgrade with FreeDOS? I guess I might run into a situation where there is no windows but a similar upgrade needs to be done.
/Rickard
Duli
31 Posts
0
January 18th, 2007 21:00
Sure it cannot read linux partitions... In order to do the upgrade, you would need a floppy disk that contained the update file (.exe) or you would need the update file on the boot CD itself.
You could master the freedos image (.iso), including in it the update file (.exe), using, for example, isomaster for linux (http://littlesvr.ca/isomaster/screenshots.php).
Then boot the system with freedos and run the update app from the CD.
Message Edited by Duli on 01-18-200705:01 PM
mwette
38 Posts
0
January 19th, 2007 00:00
I then downloaded lots of stuff from freedos.org and searched around to
put together a bootable USB stick. I did finally get something working.
I have a zip file that has the image but I have no place to post it.
Instructions:
1. insert your usb stick into a port
2. note device (type mount), say it's /dev/sdh
3. unmount the device
4. copy the attached image onto the drive: "dd if=fdos0A.img" /dev/sdh"
5. remove USB device / reinsert USB device
6. copy DELL BIOS 1.1.4 update onto mounted device
7. reboot, hold F12 key during boot process
8. choose boot from USB.
9. run DELL BIOS update code.
Do this at your own risk. I have not tried it. I did download all the freedos
stuff and did a lot of work to get something put together.
Also, the attached zip file must be unzipped ("unzip fdos0A.zip) to generate
the image file "fdos0A.img".
[EDIT: fdos0A.img is hosted here thanks to tip from Duli]
Message Edited by mwette on 01-23-200705:41 PM
Message Edited by mwette on 01-23-200706:21 PM
raym0nd
1 Message
0
January 21st, 2007 16:00
My machine (Dimension E521) has been WORKING FINE without mouse or keyboard freezes SINCE I UPGRADED THE BIOS from version 1.0.3 (2006-10-02) to 1.1.4 (2007-01-01) nine days ago. The USB mouse and keyboard are directly connected without a hub. Before upgrading the BIOS I had had frequent mouse and rare keyboard lockups. I am using 64-bit openSUSE 10.2. I still need to use kernel option "acpi=noirq" to boot successfully. Power off and suspend works. Sound inputs (line and microphone) still do not work.
SYSTEM INFORMATION:
Processor (CPU): AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
Distribution: openSUSE 10.2 (X86-64)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.18.2-34-default x86_64
dmoroian
7 Posts
0
January 21st, 2007 23:00
Dragos
vincecate
11 Posts
0
January 22nd, 2007 14:00
-- Vince
mwette
38 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2007 00:00
I went through the same experience. My guess is that the offenders image is set
up to be run from "C:" and the Dell boot gives you "A:" or vice versa. But I'm
not sure. I went through the pain of generating another image that would boot.
It does not have the enire image, but you should be able to find it here here.
I believe I posed use instruction in this thread. If not check here.
Message Edited by mwette on 01-22-200708:12 PM
Message Edited by mwette on 01-22-200708:12 PM
noisefan
7 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2007 09:00
Regards
vincecate
11 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2007 10:00
The freedos did work for me. I was able to boot freedos from a USB and then run the BIOS update from the same USB. So the BIOS update does run from DOS. It seems to have fixed my hanging problem too. The instructions/links that mwette posted on Jan 22, 2006 worked for me.
vincecate
11 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2007 10:00
Thanks again.
UNOmar
3 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2007 19:00
I tried the above fix, but my mouse still froze after about an hour. No keyboard lockups yet, but those are less frequent anyway. My system will boot with the default options (nothing else required).
I still haven't tried the USB hub. Trying to force the boss to buy it since she picked Dell in the first place.
System:
Dell Dimension E521
AMD Athlon 64 3800+
openSuse 10.2
Linux 2.6.18.2-34-default x86_64