Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
4 Posts
0
942257
XPS 13 / Ubuntu 15.04 Freezes with Caps Lock Blnking
I have an XPS 13 (2015) Developer's Edition. The initial Ubuntu 14.04 install from Dell suffered all kinds of issues with the trackpad and with Wifi. Dell recommended upgrading to Ubuntu 15.04 which I did. The trackpad and wifi function much better under 15.04 however, I started getting random system freezes where everything hangs and the caps lock continuously blinks.
After many weeks of trial and error, I finally found kernel 3.19.0-16 works well. Today after an upgrade to kernel version 3.19.0.18, the freezes with Caps Lock blinking. One final data point is that even with the 3.19.0-16 kernel, the system freezes with blinking caps lock when the command "sudo reboot" is issued.
Can anyone offer any insight as to the source of the issue here.
Thank you,
BP
pdxtabs
13 Posts
0
May 27th, 2015 23:00
Do you have a source for this? I don't doubt it.
I just saw my first kernel panic running ubuntu with 3.19.0-18 and A04. I'm thinking about compiling 3.19.0-18 with the USB serial console enabled as per wiki.ubuntu.com/.../KernelDebuggingTricks
jnruby
3 Posts
0
May 28th, 2015 13:00
I wanted to give a positive followup to my own experiences with multiple daily kernel panics on this machine.
I took the plunge and went from kernel 3.19.0-15 on 15.04 to kernel 4.1-rc5.
I had to recompile the kernel with a patched broadcom wifi driver in order to get wifi to work. I used links found here to get this working: forthescience.org/.../installing_ubuntu_14_04_on_the_new_dell_xps_13
Everything else functions correctly (touchpad, sound, keyboard, etc).
I have not had a single kernel panic in the 3 days that I've been on 4.1-rc5. I wish I could provide more technical information to support why this is working, but these are my experiences so far.
JR
Mike A2
39 Posts
1
May 28th, 2015 21:00
Per this post
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19634054
I blacklisted kernel modules mei and mei_me and added the suggested kernel option by modifying this line in /etc/default/grub (then ran update-grub)
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_ips=0"
and I am 99.9% sure my kernel panics are fixed.
It used to panic maybe 1/3 of the time I would put it to sleep, and today I put it to sleep many times to test and it never panicked once. It also fixed the flickering video during startup and shutdown.
pdxtabs
13 Posts
0
May 30th, 2015 23:00
Thanks! I have suspended/resumed a least a dozen times today and I haven't seen a kernel panic since blacklisting mei and mei_me. I will report back if I do.
pdxtabs
13 Posts
0
May 31st, 2015 14:00
I had a kernel panic going into sleep (suspend) mode earlier today even though I have mei and mei_me blacklisted. However, it only happens ~5% of the time which makes it hard to reproduce for debugging.
Mike A2
39 Posts
0
May 31st, 2015 16:00
Were you by chance changing anything with regards to your wireless card? I went for a couple of days without a panic, and yesterday had 3 in a row. I was setting a manual IP address on my wireless interface and also changing SSID's. Once I stopped messing with the wireless card settings, the panics stopped.
MRC01
80 Posts
0
May 31st, 2015 20:00
Good point - I was pondering the same thing. It's hard to tell whether crashes on wake from suspend are due to waking from suspend, or from wireless (perhaps the Broadcom driver) because when it wakes, it immediately re-connects to wireless.
dkeathley
2 Posts
0
June 2nd, 2015 06:00
I have exactly the same issue, but running Kubuntu 15.04, kernel 3.19.0-18-generic. I notice it in the exact same scenarios. It seems to me that the changing wireless problem is even worse than for suspend.
janpf
32 Posts
0
June 2nd, 2015 23:00
+1 same problem with Ubuntu 15.04 (3.19.0-18-generic kernel) here. Still A03 bios.
And the screen goes completely blank randomly.
tgalopin
6 Posts
0
June 3rd, 2015 02:00
I have the same problem, and there seems to be a fix here :
bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=192287&p=4
bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=523326#c24
I'll try it and give feedbacks.
MRC01
80 Posts
0
June 3rd, 2015 10:00
Great info - thanks. Looks like a C pointer bug with a 2-line fix.
Two questions:
1. When will this fix be applied to the PPA so we all get it in the next update?
2. How to apply this fix (build & install the broadcom driver locally)?
janpf
32 Posts
0
June 4th, 2015 10:00
(Disclaimer, I'm no expert, not sure this is right)
So I kind of followed the instructions here:
bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php;p=5
I added the patch (http://pastebin.com/pATazP6K) to /usr/src/bcmwl-6.30.223.248+bdcom/patches/1234-crash.patch -- careful not to convert the tabs to spaces.
Then I edited /usr/src/bcmwl-6.30.223.248+bdcom/dkms.conf by adding the line:
PATCH[9]="1234-crash.patch"
And I removed/build/installed (using dkms) and I assume I got the patched module.
$ sudo dkms remove bcmwl/"6.30.223.248+bdcom" --all
$ sudo dkms build -m bcmwl -v "6.30.223.248+bdcom"
$ sudo dkms install -m bcmwl -v "6.30.223.248+bdcom"
But no luck ... I did that yesterday, and today I already got a kernel panic (which with me often comes together with a sudden blank screen, so it may be something different?).
$ uname -a
Linux bit 3.19.0-18-generic #18-Ubuntu SMP Tue May 19 18:31:35 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Quite frustrating ... I wish I could return the laptop, I've lost too much time on it already to get these things running (both on windows and on ubuntu, neither works quite right), and I still got a laptop that occasionally crashes :(
MRC01
80 Posts
0
June 4th, 2015 12:00
<< Quite frustrating ... I wish I could return the laptop, I've lost too much time on it already to get these things running (both on windows and on ubuntu, neither works quite right), and I still got a laptop that occasionally crashes >>
My Intel wireless card is on its way. From what I read, this may be the solution. Everything else on my XPS-13 is working fine and I do like this machine. So if I can fix the occasional wireless glitches it would be great. I'll report back after it's installed.
janpf
32 Posts
0
June 4th, 2015 15:00
Agreed with you, other than the crashes I like the machine.
The problem is that I'm also having occasional video breaks:
en.community.dell.com/.../20772290
and
https://bugs.launchpad.net/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/1432194
And bluetooth doesn't work ... :(
MRC01
80 Posts
0
June 4th, 2015 17:00
I got BT working by downloading the Windows driver, extracting firmware from it, and installing it. I found the instructions here:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/533043/bluetooth-not-working-on-ubuntu-14-04-with-dell-inspiron-15-3521
After I replace the Broadcom card with the Intel, I won't need this hack, nor the Broadcom driver patch, and it should work better. The Intel is the card Dell should have installed in all the Ubuntu versions of the XPS-13.