5.2-BETA on IBM T20 latop locks up hard when starting X

[Jesse Guardiani]

Alan Evans wrote:

> When I start the X server the machine locks up hard. I
> have to remove the battery to get it going again.
> Anyone
> running 5.2-BETA, could you send the XF86Config file?
> 
> I was running 4.3 without any problems but the same
> config file wouldn't work on 5.2-BETA. I've attached
> the
> old config file.

This is perhaps unrelated, but my X11 was locking up on my IBM
Thinkpad A30p with 5.2-BETA. I discovered a problem (not sure yet
if it was THE cause of the lockup) by switching back to the
console (CTRL+ALT+F1) immediately after X11 initialized my normal
screen resolution and my mouse started working.

I discovered that the kernel was dumping an error message and a
backtrace about dsp.c while my machine loaded X. I sent the backtrace
to -CURRENT, and after a few days someone sent me a patch that
seems to eliminate the kernel backtrace (not sure what the term
is for that backtrace. Panic maybe?).

Anyway, the short term workaround was to make sure that all of
my virtual pcm channels were getting set up correctly on boot from
/etc/sysctl.conf with these lines:

hw.snd.pcm0.vchans=4
hw.snd.maxautovchans=4

I had these settings in my original FreeBSD 5.1-RELEASE's /etc/sysctl.conf,
but apparently the 5.2-BETA binary install doesn't restore /etc/sysctl.conf
from /var/tmp/etc like it does with rc.conf.

I just thought it might be worth mentioning. Please disregard if you
didn't raise the number of virtual pcm channels in your old 4.3
configuration.

BTW, maybe you should run 5.1-RELEASE instead of 5.2-BETA. There
have been a number of MAJOR architectural changes since 5.1-RELEASE
(ATAng for example) and I'm not convinced that all of the regressions
have been worked out yet. I've personally had relatively good success
on 5.2-BETA. My 2.5" external USB disk drive is now detected and works
decently whereas it DIDN'T under 5.1-RELEASE or 4.x, but my APM
suspend/resume no longer works and my entire system locks up under
heavy sustained load or a lengthy uptime. I'm sure all of these things
will be worked out in time, but I don't personally consider 5.2-BETA
to be production worthy. Hopefully these issues will be corrected
before -RELEASE... but if not, it'll probably be 5.3-RELEASE before
everything is back to normal...

-- 
Jesse Guardiani, Systems Administrator
WingNET Internet Services,
P.O. Box 2605 // Cleveland, TN 37320-2605
423-559-LINK (v)  423-559-5145 (f)
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