Re: Kernel crash while copying big files since kernel 3.18

["François Valenduc" <francoisvalenduc@gmail.com>]

Le 05/01/15 18:25, Larry Finger a écrit :
> On 01/05/2015 01:12 AM, François Valenduc wrote:
>> Hello everybody,
>>
>> Since kernel 3.18, I encounter a kernel crash each time when I copy a
>> big file (around 12 Gb) from an external USB drive to the harddrive of
>> my laptop.
>> I tried a bisection between kernels 3.17 and 3.18 and I was surprised to
>> find that this has to do with the driver of the wireless card
>> (rtl8188ee). However, I don't have problems if I copy the file while the
>> rtl8188 module is not loaded. Unfortunately, the results of git-bisect
>> are not totally conclusive because the kernel crash during boot when the
>> wireless connection is established. Here are the last steps of the
>> bisection:
>>
>> # bad: [c151aed6aa146e9587590051aba9da68b9370f9b] rtlwifi: rtl8188ee:
>> Update driver to match Realtek release of 06282014
>> git bisect bad c151aed6aa146e9587590051aba9da68b9370f9b
>> # good: [fd09ff958777cf583d7541f180991c0fc50bd2f7] rtlwifi: Remove extra
>> workqueue for enter/leave power state
>> git bisect good fd09ff958777cf583d7541f180991c0fc50bd2f7
>> # skip: [9afa2e44f4d8f9d031f815c32bb8f225f0f6746b] rtlwifi: Modify
>> base.{c,h} for new drivers
>> git bisect skip 9afa2e44f4d8f9d031f815c32bb8f225f0f6746b
>> # skip: [3c67b8f9f3b5bb1207c9bb198e5ef04ff56921dd] rtlwifi: Modify
>> cam.{c,h} and efuse.{c,h} for new drivers
>> git bisect skip 3c67b8f9f3b5bb1207c9bb198e5ef04ff56921dd
>> # skip: [f7953b2ad66cc5fc66e13d5c0a40e61b45cdfca8] rtlwifi: Modify
>> core.c for new drivers
>> git bisect skip f7953b2ad66cc5fc66e13d5c0a40e61b45cdfca8
>> # skip: [d3feae41a3473a0f7b431d6af4e092865d586e52] rtlwifi: Update
>> power-save routines for 062814 driver
>> git bisect skip d3feae41a3473a0f7b431d6af4e092865d586e52
>> # skip: [38506ecefab911785d5e1aa5889f6eeb462e0954] rtlwifi: rtl_pci:
>> Start modification for new drivers
>> git bisect skip 38506ecefab911785d5e1aa5889f6eeb462e0954
>> # skip: [f3a97e93814aeac3f13e857a0071726acc9bd626] rtlwifi: Finish
>> modifying core routines for new drivers
>> git bisect skip f3a97e93814aeac3f13e857a0071726acc9bd626
>> # only skipped commits left to test
>> # possible first bad commit: [c151aed6aa146e9587590051aba9da68b9370f9b]
>> rtlwifi: rtl8188ee: Update driver to match Realtek release of 06282014
>> # possible first bad commit: [f3a97e93814aeac3f13e857a0071726acc9bd626]
>> rtlwifi: Finish modifying core routines for new drivers
>> # possible first bad commit: [d3feae41a3473a0f7b431d6af4e092865d586e52]
>> rtlwifi: Update power-save routines for 062814 driver
>> # possible first bad commit: [3c67b8f9f3b5bb1207c9bb198e5ef04ff56921dd]
>> rtlwifi: Modify cam.{c,h} and efuse.{c,h} for new drivers
>> # possible first bad commit: [9afa2e44f4d8f9d031f815c32bb8f225f0f6746b]
>> rtlwifi: Modify base.{c,h} for new drivers
>> # possible first bad commit: [f7953b2ad66cc5fc66e13d5c0a40e61b45cdfca8]
>> rtlwifi: Modify core.c for new drivers
>> # possible first bad commit: [38506ecefab911785d5e1aa5889f6eeb462e0954]
>> rtlwifi: rtl_pci: Start modification for new drivers
>>
>> Can somebody explain what's happening ? I do the copy via Dolphin in KDE
>> and the screen becomes black and the computer becomes totally
>> unresponsive. So, I don't have access to the logs to see the trace of
>> the problem.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your help,
>
> There is a bug in 3.18 that is triggered when an O(3) memory
> allocation fails. There is a patch to fix this at
> http://marc.info/?l=linux-netdev&m=141999680927473&w=2 that has been
> merged into wireless-drivers as commit
> e9538cf4f90713eca71b1d6a74b4eae1d445c664. It will be applied to 3.18.X
> when it makes it into mainline 3.19-rcY, but that has not yet happened.
>
> You could manually apply that patch to your kernel source, or you
> could pull the git repo at http://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new.git.
> That code has this patch already applied.
>
> If this patch does not fix the problem, you might be able to capture
> at least part of the backtrace by starting the transfer and then
> switching to the logging console. When a crash happens, photograph the
> screen. On my system, I display it with CTRL-ALT-F10. I return to the
> normal graphical console with CTRL-ALT-F7, but your distro may use
> different virtual consoles.
>
> Larry
>
>
Thanks for your help, it seems that your patch solves the problem. Now,
the system doesn't crash anymore after copying the same large file than
yesterday. I also see this message in the log:
rtl_pci: Allocation of new skb failed in _rtl_pci_rx_interrupt which is
added by your patch.
Should I worry about this failure ? Or is it expected ?

François Valenduc