Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[sebastien.dinot-GANU6spQydw]

Hi,

I am encountering random keyboard and mouse freezes which can only be resolved by a hard reset (by pushing the power switch of the computer case).

I have this frequent and irritating issue with two differents Ivy Bridge platforms: 

1. Processor:   Intel Core i5 3450 (IGP HD 2500)
   Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G43 (with uptodate BIOS)
   
2. Processor:   Intel Core i5 3570K (IGP HD 4000)
   Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LX (with uptodate BIOS)

I use Debian on these platforms and I tried several Linux kernels:
  
  * linux-image-3.2.0-3-amd64   (package from Debian testing)
  * linux-image-3.4-trunk-amd64 (package from Debian experimental)
  * linux-image-3.5-trunk-amd64 (package from Debian experimental)

I pointed out this bug to the Debian kernel team:

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=689368

The mouse and keyboard are both USB devices and it seems that the bug is coming from the echci-hcd module:

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=689368#24

I attached the dmesg output and the kern.log file to my first message to Debian:

* http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?msg=35;filename=dmesg.20121001-231244;att=1;bug=689268
* http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?msg=35;filename=kern.log.20121001-232320.gz;att=2;bug=689268

As mentioned to the Debian maintainers, this bug is very frequent (I had up to four freezes in an hour) and my PC are really unusable!

Can I run additional tests or give you additional informations to help you resolve this painful bug?

Sebastien

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Re: Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[Alan Stern]

On Wed, 3 Oct 2012 sebastien.dinot-GANU6spQydw@public.gmane.org wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I am encountering random keyboard and mouse freezes which can only be
> resolved by a hard reset (by pushing the power switch of the computer
> case).

> The mouse and keyboard are both USB devices and it seems that the bug
> is coming from the echci-hcd module:

> Can I run additional tests or give you additional informations to
> help you resolve this painful bug?

Please build a kernel with CONFIG_USB_DEBUG enabled.  When a hang
occurs, get a list of hang tasks (Alt-SysRq-w probably won't work, but
"echo w >/proc/sysrq-trigger" from a network login should).  Then send
the dmesg output

Alan Stern

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Re: Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[Jonathan Nieder]

Alan Stern wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Oct 2012 sebastien.dinot@free.fr wrote:

>> I am encountering random keyboard and mouse freezes which can only be
>> resolved by a hard reset (by pushing the power switch of the computer
>> case).
[...]
> Please build a kernel with CONFIG_USB_DEBUG enabled.  When a hang
> occurs, get a list of hang tasks (Alt-SysRq-w probably won't work, but
> "echo w >/proc/sysrq-trigger" from a network login should).  Then send
> the dmesg output

Sebastien: for reference, here's a way to build a kernel with
CONFIG_USB_DEBUG enabled.

	# prerequisites
	apt-get install git build-essential

	# get the kernel history, if you don't already ahve it
	git clone \
	  git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git

	# configure
	cd linux
	cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config; # current configuration
	scripts/config --disable DEBUG_INFO
	make localmodconfig; # optional: minimize configuration
	scripts/config --enable USB_DEBUG

	# build, test
	make deb-pkg; # can use -j<num> for parallel build
	dpkg -i ../<name of package>; # as root
	reboot

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[Sébastien Dinot]

Hi,

Jonathan Nieder a écrit :
> Sebastien: for reference, here's a way to build a kernel with
> CONFIG_USB_DEBUG enabled.

Thank you for these useful instructions, I had not compiled a kernel for
some years.

Sébastien

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Re: Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[Alan Stern]

On Thu, 4 Oct 2012, Sébastien Dinot wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Alan Stern a écrit :
> > Please build a kernel with CONFIG_USB_DEBUG enabled.
> 
> Done (3.6.0+ kernel)
> 
> > When a hang occurs, get a list of hang tasks (Alt-SysRq-w probably
> > won't work, but "echo w >/proc/sysrq-trigger" from a network login
> > should). Then send the dmesg output
> 
> The mouse and the keyboard froze four times tonight in half an hour :
> 
> - at 20:42:05
> - at 20:53:44
> - at 20:58:21
> - at 21:15:19
> 
> But the SysRq command (executed through a remote SSH connection)
> displayed nothing. :(

No tasks were hung.  That's okay.

> In attachment, you will find the kern.log file.
 
The log file shows lots and lots of low-level communication errors.  
They could be caused by bad cabling or by bad USB hardware in your
computer.  It's unlikely that they were caused by the mouse or
keyboard, because the log shows errors for both of them starting at
exactly the same times.
 
You could try getting a USB-2 hub and attaching your mouse and
keyboard through the hub.  That might help ... or it might not.

Alan Stern

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Bug#689368: Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[Sébastien Dinot]

Alan Stern a écrit :
> The log file shows lots and lots of low-level communication errors.
> They could be caused by bad cabling or by bad USB hardware in your
> computer. It's unlikely that they were caused by the mouse or
> keyboard, because the log shows errors for both of them starting at
> exactly the same times.

In my humble opinion, this issue is not caused by a bad USB hardware
because I am encountering it with two different motherboards (MSI
Z77A-G43 and ASUS P8Z77-V LX), both with an uptodate BIOS.

May be it is caused by a bad cabling but my mouse and my keyboard worked
fine with my previous PC. They are connected to USB2 ports in both
cases. But to clear up this point, I will try new mouse and keyboard.

A last question: if it is a cable failure, why does it disappear
temporarily when I unload then reload the module? I do not have deep
experience and knowledge of hardware, may be there is a rational
explanation to it.

> You could try getting a USB-2 hub and attaching your mouse and
> keyboard through the hub. That might help ... or it might not.

Sorry, I do not understand the aim of this operation. Could you explain
me it?

Thanks for your help,

Sébastien

-- 
Sébastien Dinot, sebastien.dinot@free.fr
http://sebastien.dinot.free.fr/
Ne goûtez pas au logiciel libre, vous ne pourriez plus vous en passer !

Re: Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[Alan Stern]

On Thu, 4 Oct 2012, Sébastien Dinot wrote:

> Alan Stern a écrit :
> > The log file shows lots and lots of low-level communication errors.
> > They could be caused by bad cabling or by bad USB hardware in your
> > computer. It's unlikely that they were caused by the mouse or
> > keyboard, because the log shows errors for both of them starting at
> > exactly the same times.
> 
> In my humble opinion, this issue is not caused by a bad USB hardware
> because I am encountering it with two different motherboards (MSI
> Z77A-G43 and ASUS P8Z77-V LX), both with an uptodate BIOS.

Maybe they have something in common.  I don't know.  All I can do is
explain to you what your kernel log indicates -- and it strongly
indicates a hardware error.  Didn't you notice all those "detected 
XactErr" lines in the log?  There were more than 70000 of them!

> May be it is caused by a bad cabling but my mouse and my keyboard worked
> fine with my previous PC. They are connected to USB2 ports in both
> cases. But to clear up this point, I will try new mouse and keyboard.
> 
> A last question: if it is a cable failure, why does it disappear
> temporarily when I unload then reload the module? I do not have deep
> experience and knowledge of hardware, may be there is a rational
> explanation to it.

That's a good point, and a cable failure indeed seems less likely than
some of the other possibilities (such as a failure of the internal
"rate-matching" hub).

One possible explanation is that an occasional noisy signal (caused by
a slightly faulty cable) triggers a bug in the internal hub, and that
bug causes all communication to fail until the hub is reset when you
reload the module.

> > You could try getting a USB-2 hub and attaching your mouse and
> > keyboard through the hub. That might help ... or it might not.
> 
> Sorry, I do not understand the aim of this operation. Could you explain
> me it?

In addition to what Sarah said, it's possible that your problem is
related to the fact that the keyboard and mouse operate at low speed.  
If you connected them through a hub then that hub would communicate
with the internal hub at high speed, not low speed.

Alan Stern

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Re: Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[Sébastien Dinot]

Hi,

Alan Stern a écrit :
> In addition to what Sarah said, it's possible that your problem is
> related to the fact that the keyboard and mouse operate at low speed.
> If you connected them through a hub then that hub would communicate
> with the internal hub at high speed, not low speed.

I had no freeze since I bought wireless keyboard and mouse ten days ago.

Obviously, I am satisfied by this happy end but I am surprised too
because my previous keyboard and mouse still work fine with older
hardware...

Jonathan, as far as I am concerned, you can close this bug!

A big thanks to all of you.

Sebastien

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Re: Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[Jonathan Nieder]

Hi Sébastien,

Sébastien Dinot wrote:
> Alan Stern a écrit :

>> In addition to what Sarah said, it's possible that your problem is
>> related to the fact that the keyboard and mouse operate at low speed.
>> If you connected them through a hub then that hub would communicate
>> with the internal hub at high speed, not low speed.
>
> I had no freeze since I bought wireless keyboard and mouse ten days ago.
>
> Obviously, I am satisfied by this happy end but I am surprised too
> because my previous keyboard and mouse still work fine with older
> hardware...

Thanks, that's interesting.  If you have time to test connecting the
old keyboard and mouse through a hub, that would still be useful.

Jonathan
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Re: Mouse and keyboard freeze on Ivy Bridge platform

[Sébastien Dinot]

Jonathan Nieder a écrit :
> Thanks, that's interesting.  If you have time to test connecting the
> old keyboard and mouse through a hub, that would still be useful.

Ok, I am going to ask for a hub to my friends and to test my hardware
through it.

Sebastien

-- 
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