client specific problem

John Hupp edubuntu at prpcompany.com
Sat Dec 8 21:45:23 UTC 2012 

On 12/7/2012 7:07 PM, John Hupp wrote:
>
> On 12/7/2012 2:20 PM, John Hupp wrote:
>>
>> On 12/7/2012 11:16 AM, John Hupp wrote:
>>>
>>> On 12/5/2012 5:48 AM, Valerio Pachera wrote:
>>>> 2012/12/4 Alkis Georgopoulos<alkisg at gmail.com>:
>>>>> I haven't yet seen a single case where NBD compression caused problems.
>>>>> But I've seen numerous cases where NBD compression made *another*
>>>>> problem move obvious, due to the data validation it does.
>>>> The first thing I've done was testing the ram memory by memtest and it was ok.
>>>> I've been testing the client connecting it directly to the eth0 of the
>>>> server, so no possible switch issues;
>>>> the behavior is the same of the class room.
>>>> I also tried to add a simple rtl8129 network card and boot by
>>>> etherboot. No changes.
>>>> I tried to change video card or force vesa. No significant changes
>>>> I tried another pc with the same motherboard and it behaves the same.
>>>> I also updated the bios.
>>>>
>>>> To esclude ndb related problem I reverted to nfs, but no changes there either.
>>>>    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LTSPWithoutNFS
>>>>
>>>> Here is my lspci
>>>> ----------
>>>> 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express DRAM
>>>> Controller (rev 10)
>>>> 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31 Express
>>>> Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 10)
>>>> 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family High
>>>> Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express
>>>> Port 1 (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express
>>>> Port 2 (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI
>>>> Controller #1 (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI
>>>> Controller #2 (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI
>>>> Controller #3 (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI
>>>> Controller #4 (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB2 EHCI
>>>> Controller (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
>>>> 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC
>>>> Interface Bridge (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE
>>>> Controller (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SATA
>>>> Controller [IDE mode] (rev 01)
>>>> 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
>>>> 01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc.
>>>> AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet (rev b0)
>>>> -----------
>>>>
>>> Regarding what seems like the same LTSP client problem that I'm 
>>> still troubleshooting here: One of the PC's that fails to boot as an 
>>> LTSP client also has enough resources to boot the Lubuntu 12.10 Live 
>>> CD, so I tried that, and I found that it fails to boot with the same 
>>> stalled blank, black screen after the Lubuntu splash screen.  I left 
>>> it like that for ~ 15 minutes to check for an 8-minute stall (which 
>>> another user reported elsewhere), and it didn't budge.
>>>
>>> Since you are troubleshooting what seems like the same behavior with 
>>> LTSP clients on Edu/Ubuntu 12.04 servers, and since I show the same 
>>> behavior also on a Lubuntu 12.10 Live CD, I now wonder if this is a 
>>> *buntu 12.04/12.10 problem related to certain chipsets or video 
>>> chips.  Complicating that observation somewhat, I note this machine 
>>> that I just ran the Live CD on had run both Lubuntu and Ubuntu 12.04 
>>> without such a behavior.
>>>
>>
>> To give my supposition a bit more weight, I removed the discrete 
>> video card from a working Lubuntu 12.10 machine and installed it in 
>> the machine that fails both as a client and a 
>> standalone-with-Live-CD.  It then successfully booted the Live CD.
>>
>> The card that worked was an old PCI Matrox Millennium II MGA 2164W.
>>
>> The card that failed was a slightly newer AGP card with a Trident 
>> 3DImage 9850 chip.
>>
> An expanded list of what works and doesn't work for me (not 
> double-tested, and where not specified I'm listing chips rather than 
> card mfr/model):
>
> Worked:
> - PCI Matrox Millennium II MGA 2164W (PCI card)
> - Intel 82810E (integrated)
> - An ATI-based AGP card sold as a MIC E-G012-02-1214(B)
> - ATI Rage 128 Pro (AGP card)
> - ATI Rage 128 (AGP card)
> - HP VectaVL PC w/ integrated video, probably either:
>         Matrox G250 2X AGP
>         Matrox Millennium G400 4X AGP
>
> Partially Worked (got past the blank, black screen but then failed 
> somehow):
> - Diamond STL III S540 XTRM32M 82 (AGP card)
> - Diamond Spdstr A50 with SiS 6326AGP chip (AGP card)
>
> Failed:
> - Trident 3DImage 9850 (AGP card)
> - S3 Trio64V+ (PCI card)
> - Diamond Viper with Power Weitek 9000/9001 and Oak Technology T9351 
> chips (PCI card)
> - ATI Mach64 (PCI card)
> - eMachines eTower 500i w/ integrated video, probably:
>         ATI Rage Pro Turbo 2X AGP
I have been continuing to work the angle that this is a video driver 
problem.  New observations:

I already have the Xorg meta-package installed (xserver-xorg-video-all) 
that installs their whole suite of drivers.

I installed the linux-firmware-nonfree package, rebooted, and re-tested 
the non-working hardware.  No change in results.

There are other proprietary binary drivers available for some video 
cards.  E.g. for ATI, there is fglrx and fglrx-updates.  So those are an 
option, though I think I read somewhere about complications uninstalling 
those when they don't work.

I'm now wondering how to troubleshoot xorg on the client.  On the 
server, I have /var/log/Xorg.0.log, and though I don't know how to read 
that very well, I can tell that it selects a certain set of drivers to 
try to load, and provides various kinds of information about how they 
loaded (or didn't) and with what settings.  But with the LTSP clients, 
though I have syslog messages being forwarded from the clients to the 
server, that does not include the xorg log messages, right?  If that's 
so, then I would want to ssh in to /var/log/Xorg.0.log on the client, 
but my recollection is that ssh to the client fails with these stalled 
startups.  I want to double-check that.

Can I force usage of a certain driver?  I read that this was supported 
with xorg.conf, but that does not exist by default now, and Xorg uses an 
automated configuration system called KMS (Kernel Mode Setting), about 
which I know next to nothing.  But perhaps a configuration via xorg.conf 
is still respected/supported?

-----------------

In any case, after running lspci and lshw with several setups, I now 
have a better identification of some of the hardware:

Worked:
- PCI Matrox Millennium II MGA 2164W (PCI card)
- Intel 82810E (integrated)
- ATI RV200 QW [Radeon 7500]
- ATI Rage 128 Pro AGP
- ATI Rage 128 RF/SG AGP
- HP VectaVL PC w/ integrated video, probably either:
         Matrox G250 2X AGP
         Matrox Millennium G400 4X AGP

Partially Worked (got past the blank, black screen but then failed):
- Diamond STL III S540 XTRM32M 82 (AGP card)
- Diamond Speedstar A50 with SiS 6326AGP chip (AGP card)

Failed:
- Trident 3DImage 9850 (AGP card)
- S3 Trio64V+ (PCI card)
- Diamond Viper with Power Weitek 9000/9001 and Oak Technology T9351 
chips (PCI card)
- ATI 210888GX [Mach64 GX] (PCI card)
- ATI 3D Rage Pro AGP 1x/2x
- Intel Corporation 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller 
(rev 10) [from your lspci]
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