Want uni-processor kernel on FC5 x86_64

[Harald Grossauer]

Hi,

since the upgrade to FC5.x86_64 (from FC3.x86_64) Thunderbird sometimes 
locks up when downloading large emails (not always reproducible), 
Firefox frequently hangs (irreproducibly) without apparent reason. 
Starting both programs with "strace -f ..." shows that the last system 
call before lockups are futex syscalls. So I thought there might be some 
race condition? Maybe it has to do with the SMP kernel used by default 
in 64bit FC5? Is there a way to get a "FC5.x86_64-standard kernel" 
without SMP?

Regards,
Harald

[Andy Green]

Harald Grossauer wrote:
> Hi,
>
> since the upgrade to FC5.x86_64 (from FC3.x86_64) Thunderbird sometimes 
> locks up when downloading large emails (not always reproducible), 
> Firefox frequently hangs (irreproducibly) without apparent reason. 
> Starting both programs with "strace -f ..." shows that the last system 
> call before lockups are futex syscalls. So I thought there might be some 
> race condition? Maybe it has to do with the SMP kernel used by default 
> in 64bit FC5? Is there a way to get a "FC5.x86_64-standard kernel" 
> without SMP?
>
> Regards,
> Harald

Workaround to simulate this might be to add the following to the SMP 
kernel commandline

isolcpus=1

But it seems there is a deeper problem somewhere that it locks up at all.

-Andy

[Harald Grossauer]

Andy Green wrote:
> Harald Grossauer wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > since the upgrade to FC5.x86_64 (from FC3.x86_64) Thunderbird
> > sometimes locks up when downloading large emails (not always
> > reproducible), Firefox frequently hangs (irreproducibly) without
> > apparent reason. Starting both programs with "strace -f ..." shows
> > that the last system call before lockups are futex syscalls. So I
> > thought there might be some race condition? Maybe it has to do with
> > the SMP kernel used by default in 64bit FC5? Is there a way to get a
> > "FC5.x86_64-standard kernel" without SMP?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Harald
>
> Workaround to simulate this might be to add the following to the SMP
> kernel commandline
>
> isolcpus=1
>
> But it seems there is a deeper problem somewhere that it locks up at all.
>
> -Andy

Thanks for the advice, did not change anything though :-(
So the problem seems to be somewhere else.

[Andy Green]

Harald Grossauer wrote:
> > isolcpus=1
> >
> > But it seems there is a deeper problem somewhere that it locks up at all.
> >
> > -Andy
> Thanks for the advice, did not change anything though :-(
> So the problem seems to be somewhere else.

Try to stop cpuspeed or better disable it

chkconfig cpuspeed off
service cpuspeed stop

this has a chequered history with causing trouble with AMD CPUs (I guess 
that is your situation)

-Andy

[Harald Grossauer]

Harald Grossauer wrote:
> Andy Green wrote:
> > Harald Grossauer wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > since the upgrade to FC5.x86_64 (from FC3.x86_64) Thunderbird
> > > sometimes locks up when downloading large emails (not always
> > > reproducible), Firefox frequently hangs (irreproducibly) without
> > > apparent reason. Starting both programs with "strace -f ..." shows
> > > that the last system call before lockups are futex syscalls. So I
> > > thought there might be some race condition? Maybe it has to do with
> > > the SMP kernel used by default in 64bit FC5? Is there a way to get a
> > > "FC5.x86_64-standard kernel" without SMP?
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Harald
> >
> > Workaround to simulate this might be to add the following to the SMP
> > kernel commandline
> >
> > isolcpus=1
> >
> > But it seems there is a deeper problem somewhere that it locks up at all.
> >
> > -Andy
>
> Thanks for the advice, did not change anything though :-(
> So the problem seems to be somewhere else.

Also tried your adivce from
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-list/2006-August/msg03134.html,
did not change anything either.
Thanks for your help, though!

[Chong Yu Meng]

On Fri, 2006-08-25 at 15:04 +0200, Harald Grossauer wrote:
> Harald Grossauer wrote:
> > Andy Green wrote:
> > > Harald Grossauer wrote:
> > > > Hi,
> > > >
> > > > since the upgrade to FC5.x86_64 (from FC3.x86_64) Thunderbird
> > > > sometimes locks up when downloading large emails (not always
> > > > reproducible), Firefox frequently hangs (irreproducibly) without
> > > > apparent reason. Starting both programs with "strace -f ..." shows
> > > > that the last system call before lockups are futex syscalls. So I
> > > > thought there might be some race condition? Maybe it has to do with
> > > > the SMP kernel used by default in 64bit FC5? Is there a way to get a
> > > > "FC5.x86_64-standard kernel" without SMP?
> > > >
> > > > Regards,
> > > > Harald

Hi Harald,

Can you give us the model and make of your motherboard? You ma want to
Google a bit to see if your motherboard has any known bugs.

[Harald Grossauer]

Chong Yu Meng schrieb:
> On Fri, 2006-08-25 at 15:04 +0200, Harald Grossauer wrote:
> > Harald Grossauer wrote:
> > > Andy Green wrote:
> > > > Harald Grossauer wrote:
> > > > > Hi,
> > > > >
> > > > > since the upgrade to FC5.x86_64 (from FC3.x86_64) Thunderbird
> > > > > sometimes locks up when downloading large emails (not always
> > > > > reproducible), Firefox frequently hangs (irreproducibly) without
> > > > > apparent reason. Starting both programs with "strace -f ..." shows
> > > > > that the last system call before lockups are futex syscalls. So I
> > > > > thought there might be some race condition? Maybe it has to do with
> > > > > the SMP kernel used by default in 64bit FC5? Is there a way to get a
> > > > > "FC5.x86_64-standard kernel" without SMP?
> > > > >
> > > > > Regards,
> > > > > Harald
>
> Hi Harald,
>
> Can you give us the model and make of your motherboard? You ma want to
> Google a bit to see if your motherboard has any known bugs.

Here is the output of PC Wizard:

Motherboard:

Product :    A8N-SLI Premium
Version :    1.02
Serial Number :    123456789000
Support MP :    Yes, 1 CPU(s)
Version MPS :    1.4

BIOS:

Manufacturer :    Phoenix Technologies, LTD
Version :    ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ACPI BIOS Revision 1009
Date :    21 Oktober 2005
Address :    0xE000 on 512 KB
Copyright :    Copyright (C) 2005, Phoenix Technologies, LTD
ID :    10/21/2005-NF-CK804-A8NSLI-P-00
OEM Signature :    ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ACPI BIOS Revision 1009
DMI Version :    2.3

Chipset:

General Information :     
NorthBridge :    nVidia nForce4
NorthBridge :    AMD Athlon 64 / Opteron Bridge
SouthBridge :    nForce4 PCI to ISA Bridge

NorthBridge Information :     
Architecture :    HUB
Manufacturer :    nVidia (ASUSTeK Computer Inc)
Codename :    CK8-04
Revision :    A3

NorthBridge Information :     
Architecture :    HUB
Manufacturer :    AMD
Revision :    0
HTT Frequency :    201 MHz
Memory Bus Speed :    201 MHz

APIC Information :     
Version :    1.01
Maximum Interrupts :    24
IRQ Handler enabled :    No

[James Wilkinson]

Harald Grossauer wrote:
> Motherboard:
>
> Product :    A8N-SLI Premium
> Version :    1.02
> Serial Number :    123456789000
> Support MP :    Yes, 1 CPU(s)
> Version MPS :    1.4

I'm using the non-premium version of this motherboard without problems.
They're very similar (I think it just has extra SATA ports, a software
SLI switch and a PCI Express x4 where I have an x1 slot).

Do you have a dual-core processor? (What's the Athlon 64 model number?)
If you do, you *might* want a BIOS upgrade.

Hope this helps,

James.

[Jay Cliburn]

Harald Grossauer wrote:
> Hi,
>
> since the upgrade to FC5.x86_64 (from FC3.x86_64) Thunderbird sometimes 
> locks up when downloading large emails (not always reproducible), 
> Firefox frequently hangs (irreproducibly) without apparent reason. 
> Starting both programs with "strace -f ..." shows that the last system 
> call before lockups are futex syscalls. So I thought there might be some 
> race condition? Maybe it has to do with the SMP kernel used by default 
> in 64bit FC5? Is there a way to get a "FC5.x86_64-standard kernel" 
> without SMP?
>
> Regards,
> Harald

Similar symptoms for me -- including occasional core dumps on 
thunderbird startup (and other odd behavior) -- turned out to be a bad 
DIMM.  It failed memtest86 repeatedly.

[Harald Grossauer]

Jay Cliburn schrieb:
> Harald Grossauer wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > since the upgrade to FC5.x86_64 (from FC3.x86_64) Thunderbird 
> > sometimes locks up when downloading large emails (not always 
> > reproducible), Firefox frequently hangs (irreproducibly) without 
> > apparent reason. Starting both programs with "strace -f ..." shows 
> > that the last system call before lockups are futex syscalls. So I 
> > thought there might be some race condition? Maybe it has to do with 
> > the SMP kernel used by default in 64bit FC5? Is there a way to get a 
> > "FC5.x86_64-standard kernel" without SMP?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Harald
>
> Similar symptoms for me -- including occasional core dumps on 
> thunderbird startup (and other odd behavior) -- turned out to be a bad 
> DIMM.  It failed memtest86 repeatedly.

Checked that for my computer too. memtest did not report any errors 
after running for three days consecutively.