System alternately freezes and unfreezes

[Munguanaweza]

Hi,
this is my first post on this forum, it is too bad that I have problems to discuss right away. To start out on a positive note, I have to say that PC-BSD is pretty neat. I was able to install it for the first time as a new user without any prior bsd experience, and get my ethernet and wireless working right out of the box.

I am an average user, and have no training in computers other than what I have picked up over the last five or so years. Before that I never used a computer, I was living where a straight line was high tech. Last year I began to experiment with Suse Linux and have come to enjoy it. I just decided to give bsd a go, and after doing a little reading I decided to start with PC-BSD.

Okay, now on to the problems.

Problem One.

The system boots and works normally, but when I try to install some new software by downloading a port or running the CVS server update it then starts to freeze up and then unfreeze about every five seconds or so. I looked at top in terminal and found this when it was unfrozen after trying to download and install a port:


last pid: 3325; load averages: 0.56, 0.50, 0.30 up 0+00:07:44 05:12:20
59 processes: 1 running, 58 sleeping
CPU states: 10.1% user, 0.0% nice, 5.8% system, 1.2% interrupt, 82.9% idle
Mem: 65M Active, 47M Inact, 64M Wired, 836K Cache, 60M Buf, 313M Free
Swap: 512M Total, 512M Free

PID USERNAME THR PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE TIME WCPU COMMAND
1419 root 1 97 0 30444K 28092K select 0:11 6.49% Xorg
1722 bsdmark 1 96 0 26904K 22004K select 0:23 2.98% kdeinit
3052 bsdmark 1 96 0 28456K 23568K select 0:02 1.52% kdeinit
1699 bsdmark 1 96 0 21280K 16668K select 0:06 0.88% pbbattery
1694 bsdmark 3 20 -76 12088K 8804K kserel 0:06 0.00% artsd
1602 bsdmark 1 96 0 29844K 24288K select 0:03 0.00% kdeinit
1630 bsdmark 1 96 0 28004K 24036K select 0:03 0.00% kdeinit
1720 bsdmark 1 96 0 30360K 23988K select 0:03 0.00% kdeinit
1053 root 1 8 0 1724K 1244K wait 0:02 0.00% sh
1012 haldaemon 1 96 0 4908K 3764K select 0:02 0.00% hald
1632 bsdmark 1 96 0 28824K 24356K select 0:02 0.00% kdeinit
1090 root 1 8 0 1316K 912K nanslp 0:02 0.00% powerd
1619 bsdmark 1 96 0 27032K 21500K select 0:02 0.00% kdeinit
1723 bsdmark 1 96 0 33996K 27444K select 0:01 0.00% kdeinit
1533 bsdmark 1 96 0 3760K 2584K select 0:01 0.00% gam_server
1026 root 1 96 0 2788K 1628K select 0:01 0.00% hald-addon-storage
1734 bsdmark 1 96 0 24416K 19600K select 0:00 0.00% kdeinit
1232 root 1 96 0 1432K 900K select 0:00 0.00% moused
3073 bsdmark 1 96 0 2468K 1720K RUN 0:00 0.00% top
1584 bsdmark 1 96 0 23436K 17692K select 0:00 0.00% kdeinit
1696 bsdmark 1 96 0 24084K 18848K select 0:00 0.00% kdeinit
1618 bsdmark 1 96 0 24068K 18816K select 0:00 0.00% kdeinit


I wasn't able to copy the display from terminal after I tried to install a port and it began to freeze and unfreeze, so I had to copy some of the information by hand. I think that this is the pertinent stuff:

last pid11983: load averages 9.08 10.92 9.55
79 processes: 15 running 71 sleeping 1 stopped
CPU states: 1/1% user 0.0% nice 62.0% system 0.2%interrupt 34.4% idle
MEM: 150M active 206M Inact 74M wired 21M cache 60M buffer 39M free
Swap: 512 total, 512M free

PID Username THR PRI Nice Size Res State WCPU Command

1026 root 1 131 0 2788k 1424k select 70.17% hald-addon-storage

It seems that something is drawing a lot of power and locking up the system, other than the downloaded port and the attempt to install the software, I haven't changed anything in the system. My only solution to this has been to shut down and restart the computer, then it will run normally until I try to install a port, or update via the cvs server.

Anyone have any ideas on what is going on and how to fix it?

My computer is an Inspiron 5000 laptop with a PIII 600, 40G hd, 512M ram, 8M video card. Yes, it is old, I use it for experimenting with new systems before installing them on other computers that I use daily.

Problem Two.

I am not sure if this is a problem or the normal mode of operation, but when I shut down the computer the shutdown sequence begins. I read text of everything shutting down until I get to

all buffers synced
uptime: 14m34s

then the system hangs up. To complete the shutdown I have to hold the start button down for six seconds to get the computer to power off. Is this normal? If not, what do I do to fix it?

Thanks for your help.

[DragnLord]

disabling powerd might fix this, the line to change should be in /etc/rc.conf

powerd_enabled="NO"

[Munguanaweza]

Hi,
I tried altering the line as you suggested, but unfortunately it didn't affect either problem. Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks

[Munguanaweza]

Hi,
I guess that I posted too soon, it appears to have fixed the freezing and unfreezing problem after two reboots. The problem of hanging on shutdown still persists.

Great job on fixing the freezing problem!

[DragnLord]

Hi,
I guess that I posted too soon, it appears to have fixed the freezing and unfreezing problem after two reboots. The problem of hanging on shutdown still persists.

Great job on fixing the freezing problem!

this is usually caused by an ACPI coding, however, it can also be caused by specifying -p with shutdown
example:

shutdown -p now

if it does not power down when specifying -p, then try booting without ACPI and see if that helps

[Munguanaweza]

Hi,
the computer hangs on shutdown when using shutdown -p now. It also hangs with ACPI disabled.

[DragnLord]

as root try:

sysctl hw.acpi.disable_on_poweroff=0

then

shutdown -p now

if that works for you, then add
hw.acpi.disable_on_poweroff=0
to /etc/sysctl.conf

[Munguanaweza]

Hi,
I think that I have found the problem, but I don't know what exactly is happening. I took a credit card modem out of the pcmcia slot and booted, and when I shutdown again the computer shut down normally. I have tried this a couple of times to verify it, and it is what is causing the problem. I don't use dialup anymore, so I haven't configured the card for an ISP.

I guess that I will just take the card out of the slot and leave it out.

[DragnLord]

laptops can be fickle, good to see you reached a solution

[supercobrajet]

this also happens to my desktop: Asus P5PE-VM, nVidia 6200 256Meg.
in fact, I get the "exact" problems as you.

Note: This never happened with PC-BSD 1.3...?

so I think, with all due respect, there is a serious bug somewhere in PC-BSD 1.4 with powerd?, ACPI,.... I'm guessing here
but (with or without the 1.4 patch) it still "freezes" everythin every few minutes and unfreezes.
I've tried disabling ACPI from bios and boot-up,... but nada.

are we the only ones.
-there is nuthin' noteable in /var/log/messages, or dmesg -v,...either.