After a while, dolphin, konqueror (and other KDE apps) won't start... (or, in my case, freeze)

[Roberto Ragusa]

On 12/22/2011 02:13 PM, Rex Dieter wrote:
> Steven P. Ulrick wrote:
> 
>> Let's say I login to a fresh KDE session.  All of the above listed
>> applications start and function perfectly.  Then, let's say I have
>> closed all instances of the "offending" KDE applications.  If I attempt
>> to start one of them from KRunner, it just does not start. 
> 
> One guess is that your dbus session has stopped responding for some reason.

I'm seeing something maybe related on F14 KDE 4.6.5.

Everything works, than suddenly all KDE applications get stuck and do not
refresh the screen anymore; the clock is stopped, desktop switching only
happens with Ctrl-F{1-...}, but non KDE applications (Firefox, Pidgin) still
run perfectly.
The KDE processes are all stuck in D state: typically kded4, konqueror, konsole.
strace is impossible, kill -9 is impossible.
Killing X doesn't remove the applications and the new KDE session does not
manage to start them correctly.

I suspected a kernel bug (maybe related to Nouveau), but after having upgraded
to the current F16 kernel (on F14) it still happens, so I would think it is
not kernel related.

Some signs point to sync being involved. I've seen sync_supers stuck in D state.

When trying a echo "t" >/proc/sysrq-trigger I manage to find only a partial
output in /var/log/messages (msg buffer overflow?).

Yesterday some processes were "D", but only a non KDE process was logged (mencoder,
possibly locked because of konsole); I'm not sure what the trace is saying,
but there is again some arrows pointing to "sync".
Where can I file a bug? Is someone able to offer any insight?

Best regards.

mencoder        D 000000c8     0 31572  31135 0x00000080
 d1d43c9c 00000086 0000847c 000000c8 00000000 ffffffff c0b71540 c5568000
 c0b71540 042f5527 0000847c c54e2e00 00000000 ebfe8000 005acb0a f1d01dd8
 f1d01dd8 d1d43c5c c0417577 d1d43c6c c0418173 00000000 f1d09658 d1d43c8c
Call Trace:
 [<c0417577>] ? paravirt_write_msr+0x8/0xb
 [<c0418173>] ? intel_pmu_enable_all+0x81/0xce
 [<c041b068>] ? x86_pmu_enable+0x1ba/0x22c
 [<c0471840>] ? arch_local_irq_save+0x12/0x17
 [<c0827cdb>] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x13/0x15
 [<c0826baa>] schedule+0x4d/0x4f
 [<fb31275f>] queue_log_writer+0x69/0x8f [reiserfs]
 [<c0440c82>] ? try_to_wake_up+0x169/0x169
 [<fb316b81>] do_journal_begin_r+0x159/0x225 [reiserfs]
 [<c0423473>] ? apic_write+0x14/0x16
 [<c046c085>] ? clockevents_program_event+0xbc/0xce
 [<fb316d20>] journal_begin+0xd3/0x103 [reiserfs]
 [<c08269cf>] ? _cond_resched+0xd/0x21
 [<c0827284>] ? mutex_lock+0x11/0x2a
 [<fb302c0c>] reiserfs_write_end+0x120/0x252 [reiserfs]
 [<c0430b69>] ? __kunmap_atomic+0x8a/0xbd
 [<c04c452c>] ? activate_page+0x34/0x54
 [<c04bc6da>] generic_file_buffered_write+0x137/0x1bf
 [<c04bd452>] __generic_file_aio_write+0x267/0x28d
 [<c046e600>] ? futex_wait_queue_me+0xc1/0xd5
 [<c046ef03>] ? futex_wait_setup+0x62/0xbd
 [<c046f0b0>] ? futex_wait+0x152/0x1fc
 [<c04bd4df>] generic_file_aio_write+0x67/0xbd
 [<c046ec71>] ? get_futex_key+0x90/0x1fe
 [<c04f7e57>] do_sync_write+0x96/0xcf
 [<c082691e>] ? __schedule+0x609/0x670
 [<c0462836>] ? __run_hrtimer+0xda/0x127
 [<c059409f>] ? security_file_permission+0x27/0x2b
 [<fb30503f>] reiserfs_file_write+0x67/0x76 [reiserfs]
 [<c04f850a>] vfs_write+0x8f/0xd7
 [<fb304fd8>] ? reiserfs_sync_file+0xc1/0xc1 [reiserfs]
 [<c04f86cc>] sys_write+0x42/0x63
 [<c082da9f>] sysenter_do_call+0x12/0x28
 [<c0820000>] ? panic+0xd6/0x15f


-- 
   Roberto Ragusa    mail at robertoragusa.it