client specific problem

[John Hupp]

On 12/8/2012 4:45 PM, John Hupp wrote:
> 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]
>
Several more video chipsets worked with the VESA driver instead of 
whatever Xorg was trying to autoconfigure.  The easiest way to set that 
up is with the XSERVER=vesa option in lts.conf, either in the default 
section to apply to all clients, or in a per-client section.
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