Bug#971343: Animated background/wallpaper (changing over time) causes system freeze on Nouveau

[Leandro Cunha]

>
> Control: found -1 3.36.6-1
> Control: found -1 3.38.0-2
>
> This is on a GT218M GPU, which is a Tesla 2.0 device from 2007.
> https://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-310M.22439.0.html suggests
> that this is comparable in performance to Intel integrated graphics from
> the Ivybridge (2012) generation, but probably with a much higher power
> consumption.
>
> I don't think we can necessarily treat GNOME freezing on
> more-than-10-year-old hardware as release-critical, particularly since
> there's a workaround (not using the animated background).

Gnome works well on this hardware that was on the market for years,
devices from 2011 and 2012 were still sold with this hardware is the
case with mine. Who still likes it and who knows even the rest of the
laptop. The problem may be occurring for several reasons that may not
be related to the age of the hardware. This problem only occurs in the
latest versions of Gnome.

> Some other questions I should have asked:
>
> * Are you using any GNOME Shell extensions? (If yes, please try
>   disabling them all and see whether the problem persists.)

The problem still persists.

> * Is this a new installation, or have you been using this hardware with
>   Linux for a while? If you've been using it previously, have you had
>   other graphics- or freeze-related issues with it?

Only in version 3.36.3 onwards, if I'm not mistaken. But it is the first time.

> * Has the animated/changing background worked in earlier versions of
>   Debian and/or GNOME, or is 3.36 the oldest version you've tried?

All previous versions work normally.

> * Are you able to do an installation of the Debian 10 'buster' stable
>   release on this hardware, if you haven't already tried that? That would
>   give us a baseline for whether this is a situation that has been there
>   for a while.

In the Buster (stable current) version it works normally.

> On Tue, 29 Sep 2020 at 16:48:21 -0300, Leandro Cunha wrote:
> > Graphics:
> >   Device-1: NVIDIA GT218M [GeForce 310M] driver: nouveau v: kernel
> >   Device-2: Suyin type: USB driver: uvcvideo
>
> Is this Suyin USB device an input (camera), or an output (display)?
> Is it part of the laptop, or a removable device?

I have no idea what this is.

> If it's a removable output device, please check whether this issue still
> occurs with the USB device disconnected and just the NVIDIA graphics
> device, to keep things as simple as possible.

There is only one mouse and one USB network adapter.

> Also, if you have external screens attached, please check whether it
> still occurs with just the laptop's built-in screen, again to try to
> keep things as simple as possible.
>
> > Sep 29 10:50:17 debian-pc kernel: [   60.247471] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: firmware: failed to load nouveau/nva8_fuc084 (-2)
> > Sep 29 10:50:17 debian-pc kernel: [   60.247475] firmware_class: See https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware for information about missing firmware
> > Sep 29 10:50:17 debian-pc kernel: [   60.247478] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for nouveau/nva8_fuc084 failed with error -2
> > Sep 29 10:50:17 debian-pc kernel: [   60.247492] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: firmware: failed to load nouveau/nva8_fuc084d (-2)
> > Sep 29 10:50:17 debian-pc kernel: [   60.247494] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for nouveau/nva8_fuc084d failed with error -2
> > Sep 29 10:50:17 debian-pc kernel: [   60.247497] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: msvld: unable to load firmware data
> > Sep 29 10:50:17 debian-pc kernel: [   60.247499] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: msvld: init failed, -19
>
> This firmware blob is not available in Debian (it seems we cannot legally
> distribute it, even in non-free, although it can be extracted from
> proprietary NVIDIA drivers) but apparently it's for 2D video encoder/decoder
> acceleration (VDPAU) rather than anything GNOME Shell would need, so this
> warning is probably harmless?

Even without it it still occurs.

> > Sep 29 10:54:53 debian-pc gnome-shell[1633]: 0xa000f6: frame_complete callback never occurred for frame 3729
> > Sep 29 10:54:54 debian-pc gnome-shell[1633]: 0xa000f6: frame_complete callback never occurred for frame 3735
> > Sep 29 10:55:01 debian-pc gnome-shell[1633]: 0xa000f6: frame_complete callback never occurred for frame 3766
>
> (and lots more)
>
> This is maybe interesting. If the Shell isn't reliably getting frame
> completion notifications back from the driver or hardaware, that might be
> related to the display freezing.
>
> > With Wayland it completely crashed and got no response to force the
> > boot and had to use the on and off button. In Xorg I was able to
> > restart with keyboard via tty, but after locking it would only start
> > if I restored the original system settings and this is necessary for
> > both. Now I am with wayland.
>
> What do you mean by "restored the original system settings"?

I delete the configuration file.

> What do you mean by "it would only start if [...]"? GNOME would only
> start if you did that? The laptop would only boot up if you did that?
> Something else?

The answer is yes. Somehow you can't log in to a section.

> > > If Ctrl+Alt+Delete doesn't work, does the system respond to
> > > the "magic sysrq key" sequences, in particular AltGr+SysRq+o
> > > (immediate power off) and AltGr+SysRq+b (immediate reboot)? (See
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key for more details)
> >
> > I manage to force the shutdown that way.
>
> OK, so the kernel is still working to at least some extent, otherwise
> those key sequences wouldn't work. The problem could be in (from highest
> to lowest level) GNOME Shell; libmutter or some other library it uses;
> the Mesa user-space graphics driver; or the Nouveau kernel-side graphics
> driver.
>
> > Log attached, after the problem occurs this log.
>
> You opened a gnome-terminal at 12:44 and the Nautilus file manager at
> 12:46, a block of zero bytes was written at 12:47 (possibly corruption
> caused by a system reset to recover from a freeze), and then the machine
> rebooted at 12:49. Does 12:47 sound about the right time for when you
> reproduced the bug?

But I remember that I reproduce the bug and restarted the machine to
generate the log because it was frozen without responding to any
command.

> Unfortunately there aren't any particularly obvious warnings near there.
> I did notice this:
>
> Sep 29 12:46:21 debian-pc gnome-shell[1633]: meta_window_set_stack_position_no_sync: assertion 'window->stack_position >= 0' failed
>
> which might be near enough to be relevant? But from an upstream bug
> report https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/issues/930 about the same
> assertion warning, it seems to be usually harmless.
>
> Using AltGr+SysRq+s to synchronize disk writes, followed by AltGr+SysRq+o
> to power off or AltGr+SysRq+b to reboot, might be one way to force more
> information about the freeze to be written out to the log. I don't know
> whether that'll work.
>
>     smcv
-------------- next part --------------
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

mQINBF9maJUBEADs8Y/AQuM2cW0pKynIRkUj9qFvnn/HICLJ+MYjPk2/lzJGjepY
YzQjkrNOpB5FlnDy0kfAI/ZAFIirytsH1JYx+4XEwBwlofGzS9hl9655u19n2iqp
f4CPhXMkbjKQuQMSL+MC8Kn9rWibmcFri415yW0nhiqL//f+Z+9TRYXynKOLdGnE
B4zi8l5TVh104rnP+vTChMHnnhBRRx1DNG6vaP+pkV6agHcaTVxcvIThu05+ngwR
sPGBpdr/G3Rt9Ltf5O9uiksKa7aD6OX6no4xS+NO4O+Vr5487LYKEpiaEGNjh2/d
eAdkqtjmH9lht16sUzqGTgq+Wdqtt0TX5ba5jClWvFcPMU3EVHZ5NsXuD9GQ5Vbx
H+j+kNBSaaWZeILPM9DI3qUaQlHGZIL4SIQNBT533CMO9ceOyjG/MQAGvyvov7Li
SasyQ65C89ExZhu1R/Z9M4vcWJX3QXf83CYgxoSANaU2eN+Pl9/tzIM+D/xy1O6A
FuuaTQKi66kBJv9Ub3/BnEFzcYlbgAZXNly6Ft3T2LYLM9rYJ7cFVCZzSaEd9Hg8
PwiD5SGQN4iqi8AFbRA6IpCd2I35jU5BONyCwvzO4ifuXBZ8dkRYycJvEwS/Wfkx
zRUnJx8GWRi6cdd9z4esw2AbzVoIR/cejOaY+DuQ5S2q46ImD56hwELWMwARAQAB
tClMZWFuZHJvIEN1bmhhIDxsZWFuZHJvY3VuaGEwMTZAZ21haWwuY29tPokCTgQT
AQoAOBYhBJzBewgVKcdfbNX/b2JhzmlCOdYYBQJfZmiVAhsDBQsJCAcCBhUKCQgL
AgQWAgMBAh4BAheAAAoJEGJhzmlCOdYYLNcP/0YcO+abhoTXiU7r6yoeRGsI2x1q
NBtpJZlaeF7KqDS0gyewQPpOGGMuFxfSvjUJp1MDig/+PyWToTw2uJZGOsDy7aqk
Mas90k/UBeH50G7BMmmlOalYCCM/VMPpt0l4n6QxU6ONuQrieZCjIYPPcSBNPIKp
I9WbNDSxbE/nb6n7Z2yYNYXXtHTjiPp4bs6Waoi9y5jxc7aTeKh8eI/Nz19w/3sB
t3UOxFONVcZldwRiW6F6y32x938K7aBRH/9lB4vTLrejVXEkkAFfJdW+BO+PWKRS
Ydnx9+UxtzPH2h2yT68bR4lL9WcEsqSz26s7a27hz4bqHBoLz5BohM8xDtv1eTSp
XKCofNASSJ/lGyJ/yjB/hsSQgpt1X/GsyCd21NVKOGjFCW0DU6ZAcx2X0sBrIjDt
iV8lUoTum7tW5HEtw1UJ5WY0Iik8wv32gXRaitRP+be1Kvcee4/Cqp0nHRBlO05R
4PG91g6kNOfSKHxH8FcZQ37F6e+dCHuK8Cx8XBegPVShQOFqWBGq7hQ/Uc2teUww
B6xRoDIxJPQRTmh+zrHJhYd4r36TJxHQo9oEBJ086NiBW6QRJg7kfnR6p0/nekDs
Wpw/lnivGToSDCJrZaOlMhnhZ+jWooH+fEPdnmcJDIByoOwh4hD+S5r9dy+kMlUp
gfeT/anhKh/sW54muQINBF9maJUBEACzpPahcamBaALztTnXBnm9C+SNzIhgHvBN
MDou32oVt1O42pKl4fa1JHsCS8+4TGPRvYvNqfB/vceEKjKvb5KXIltXR9B+cc4z
SycM3srmwmSqGyiNG+oAfmGC0uKtci2vNOdM5J4lBJyn+aSbSLCIaS2hy1ATF4wt
S4mnDJQlkWabiL6Nu8gLYup+rly8EwgH7EDIlRHHsZQGxVEXBrcXwqik29/CFZsy
6bA/sQAI9nreLNoexLucIJZGPEw+Wpk1y8vkdvxSZ3dxbQSK+sY4tINR4vp7hqiv
NduCyYEoPUu3Vc1vqkxJncUqxjejXYdfS7rt2SqwqkXJeyQbNwlxtAgf3dNWwSCA
fWwsL4Tw4ABXE9dy1SlZ1bbLaD4R8lLjY3iLArzDjTda0Lvwxr0+MIpryZevJD3w
uikLWKgPqFzNov88jz+n0VSUbIO4Yqm0UnWM7maYx60r2boU9WebvvDoBOcEoNjl
2P/eCHGrExJQ51fVBxfMyHnFsY6r9vLTz1G2KjAjaTWE3DlKZmjib5p3xPJIPQcR
V/4Lw8ILgUkGALbnoBQ2NWbRp3As1El5ANSJPWD52PdCEJ7leHIHNjSERvbpvXPM
xV6/q5g2e3cSKMFmzyaFCMrsWAnMp5lfBb02u1LREnxBuzJtrtrBBbztMxt3G4r3
yApwqOzOywARAQABiQI2BBgBCgAgFiEEnMF7CBUpx19s1f9vYmHOaUI51hgFAl9m
aJUCGwwACgkQYmHOaUI51hh55w//VhNmT8enopY+FW5seVLUf8nqHP3OtDIt5/RP
hLnyqU+Vr/EXcYOuNleJr7DhbgWmVroQajow8kzEgJWbgUjuwDON4IjoAUHFqNRn
1qInbQ7hbL8ohL5z05RtCRjWfAE620bda7hWP8Y5EgqKXB5auT1RddJAKthRerrO
u7gnehNW1X2CbZHEHTQOFUlXBnhL6Q6NtnT6Fi+t4sIQaRuXtqIBP/Hh88RdwxJk
1eYd0KSgDe7RG3DgQ5da+GRdAyqhNrKrsRjA1Re7poSFevSXyr5hYVvqGhmarpNp
wfiTtKC0Wlubgyhzbz53ZFsRAMvOBc+kId+rb74Xs7SrJzr1+lXUuWte9ErIKaaD
S/QHzShup9FOBY/WIU1tYAcSL83UkD6NFCzx+R48AG4Hfo25jg7/emj1vseNrfYB
mPo/tnYteUXcXUs6wH0JSMmVVBJJtcURH+KgQI9aPtyNFvDlpxtpJFXCDZE7LYZt
gUA8owrx1f/XuuLrgM+sS7beS7Z81JcEjBmBDGTNDxYFvO6/Lof9TyVScz4zLdLl
MdvV4hIVReH1Cv9vDiQN9BbgMTWcT6RQM5QVArTMIICu5JmTYqVJi3nQOyuvJ2u/
UkqN1M3P724hldLD529LUcWOqeRCQTRRGZy4/l++xCj/KXbZJ4BI8MDkst8bpRBz
XXnYczk=
=ZmJB
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----