Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Quick Search: in
iMac (x86) spontaneously reboots
View unanswered posts
View posts from last 24 hours

 
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Kernel & Hardware
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
wdreinhart
Guru
Guru


Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 569
Location: 4QFJ12345678

PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2013 2:35 pm    Post subject: iMac (x86) spontaneously reboots Reply with quote

I have a iMac 4,1 (2006, first generation of Intel architecture Macs) that has started rebooting spontaneously.

Things known (or at least suspected) so far:

The reboots began after switching from the generic desktop profile to desktop/kde
If there are any helpful log entries, they're lost before being written to disk. /var/log/messages has normal operating logs before a reboot, then normal boot messages afterward.
It seems like the reboot happens right after a display mode change: screen on/off, starting/stopping X, playing games, etc.
I'm using the new radeon (kms) kernel and xorg drivers, not fglrx.
The machine was running kernel 3.8.8 when I first encountered the reboots, I've tested 3.9.0 and back as far as 3.8.4, and they still happen.
It's not caused by a kernel panic, I have /proc/sys/kernel/panic set to 0, so no rebooting after a panic.
My memtest86 disc won't boot thanks to Apple's insanely great (:roll:) EFI implementation.

Any ideas? It's driving me crazy!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ulenrich
Veteran
Veteran


Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1480

PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2013 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is only special to profile kde/use.force
consolekit
policykit
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ant P.
Watchman
Watchman


Joined: 18 Apr 2009
Posts: 6920

PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2013 5:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Check your hardware sensors - iMacs are infamous for poor build quality (far too much thermal paste) causing CPUs to overheat past their hardware thresholds.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
wdreinhart
Guru
Guru


Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 569
Location: 4QFJ12345678

PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2013 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmmm, the CPU temp is getting up to 62C in the middle of emerging LibreOffice. Intel docs say it should be OK up to 100, but that sounds very hot to me. I'll bump the minimum fan speeds up and see if it helps.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ant P.
Watchman
Watchman


Joined: 18 Apr 2009
Posts: 6920

PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2013 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

62°C under load sounds perfectly reasonable - that's probably not the cause then.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Voltago
Advocate
Advocate


Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 2593
Location: userland

PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2013 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you can get hold of two usb-to-serial adapters and a null-modem cable, you could build yourself a serial console viewable from another machine, and hope that the error message still gets transmitted (if not, chances are your hardware is broken anyways I'd say...). Or another way (which I'm not sure will work though): Mount /var/log on a non-system drive (maybe a reasonably fast usb key might work) with mount-option 'sync', again hoping that the write operation will complete before the system goes down.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Hu
Moderator
Moderator


Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 21489

PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2013 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If a second system is available, using netconsole is probably easier than trying to create a serial console on a machine that lacks serial.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Voltago
Advocate
Advocate


Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 2593
Location: userland

PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2013 10:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hu wrote:
If a second system is available, using netconsole is probably easier than trying to create a serial console on a machine that lacks serial.

There is a netconsole nowadays? Truly, this is the future! (Coming to think of it, it probably has been around for a long time)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
wdreinhart
Guru
Guru


Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 569
Location: 4QFJ12345678

PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2013 5:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hu wrote:
If a second system is available, using netconsole is probably easier than trying to create a serial console on a machine that lacks serial.


Definitely easier, since the only machine I have with serial ports is headless. I'll build a kernel with netconsole tonight and see what it captures.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Kernel & Hardware All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum