<html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> On 12/7/2012 7:07 PM, John Hupp wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:50C284B1.9010300@prpcompany.com" type="cite"> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/7/2012 2:20 PM, John Hupp wrote: </div> <blockquote cite="mid:50C24176.1070303@prpcompany.com" type="cite"> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/7/2012 11:16 AM, John Hupp wrote: </div> <blockquote cite="mid:50C21650.3050301@prpcompany.com" type="cite"> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/5/2012 5:48 AM, Valerio Pachera wrote: </div> <blockquote cite="mid:CAHS0cb_p+DgCmuhNme6toibwZQvzH_Jby1-WeQ-W2mWWtGD7Fg@mail.gmail.com" type="cite"> <pre wrap="">2012/12/4 Alkis Georgopoulos <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:alkisg@gmail.com"><alkisg@gmail.com></a>: </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap="">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. </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap="">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. <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LTSPWithoutNFS">https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LTSPWithoutNFS</a> 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) ----------- </pre> </blockquote> 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. </blockquote> 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. </blockquote> 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 </blockquote> 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] </body> </html>