ACPI causing trouble for X in 5.2

[David Cramblett]

Robert Watson wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Jan 2004, David Cramblett wrote:
> 
> 
>> >>> I have problem with X on 5.2-RC2. Sometimes the whole
>> >>> system hangs when I start X by startx or 'setpmac mls/equal startx'
>> >>> (with MAC policies loaded). In about 30% of attempts it hangs on
>> >>> XFree startup messages and hard reset is required.
>> >>> The problem occurs a little bit too often for some unrelated
>> >>> accident and it doesn't occur at all on 5.1-RELEASE (the same
>> >>> hardware and configuration).
>> >>>
>> >>> Does anyone have similar problem ?
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >> Yes, see my post from earlier today called "Can't shutdown, logout, or
>> >> restart cleanly."  I have not run 5.1-RELEASE before, so I can't say
>> >> if it didn't happen there, but it definitely happens with
>> >> 5.2-CURRENT.  I'm at my wit's end trying to find out why!
>> >>
>> >Per a post I received on bsdforums.com, try booting up with ACPI turned
>> >off.  This can be done in 5.1 and later by choosing option 2 in the >boot
>> >menu (Boot FreeBSD with ACPI disabled).  Once I did this, it worked >like
>> >a champ.  I'm not sure why earlier versions may not have been affected
>> >by this or if it only affects certain hardware.
>>
>> >Let me know if this worked for you.
>>
>>I have the same problem on two builds of 5.2, one is a Sony Vaio 
>>PCG-F360 Laptop (PII 400MHz) and the other is a newer P4 system with 
>>Asus mother board.  Both worked fine with 5.1 and both broke with 5.2. 
>>I was able to work around this problem by booting up with ACPI disabled. 
>>  Is there a known issue with ACPI that is being worked on for 5.2 or
>>did someone already submit a bug report?  Thanks, David
> 
> 
> 
> I was seeing this on my Dell Latitude notebook from a couple of years ago
> (C600).  I found that the problem "went away" when I switched off either
> ACPI or device apic, so it looks like it's basically an interrupt problem
> of some sort.  I'm running with the r128 kernel module for DRI, and John
> Baldwin suggested that it might be part of the problem.  I've also been
> experiencing continuing ATA problems, so it may well be that a combination
> of ACPI and apic changes has resulted in improper handling/routing/... of
> interrupts on the box.
> 
> You might want to check and see if there are any BIOS upgrades available
> for your system -- as ACPI support evolves, older systems with more
> questionable ACPI sometimes work less well.  A number of vendors have
> released BIOS updates to address this.
> 
> Robert N M Watson             FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Projects
> robert at fledge.watson.org      Senior Research Scientist, McAfee Research
> 
> 
> 

Seems kinda strange that it would work fine in 5.1 and then break in 
5.2, if it were hardware/bios related.  Keep in mind, one of my systems 
is less than a year old P4 system (you seem to just be referencing my 
older laptop), so were not just talking about old pre-ACPI hardware/bios 
either.  I may be wrong, but it seems something has changed for ACPI 
between 5.1 and 5.2, either in the FreeBSD implementation or in the 
specification that would require a BIOS update on my newer hardware and 
make the older hardware need it disabled.

-- 
David Cramblett
Multnomah Education Service District
phn 503-257-1535
fax 503-257-1538