gcc causing system hangs

[Annirak]

Whenever I try to do an $emerge gnome , I have troubles with gcc crashing. And I don't mean segfaults either.

I'm running:
X2 4400+ @ stock
DFI LP NF4 Ultra-D
2x512MB @ 2-2-2-8, 200MHz
WD 200GB SATA
AX800XL 256MB
LG 4163
Benq FP 783 LCD (DVI 1280x1024)

When I tried to do a stage 1 install, gcc segfaulted every time I tried. So I backed up to a stage 3 install, and managed to get my OS installed. I succeeded in compiling my kernel, and rebooted into my fresh OS.
Then I emerged ati-drivers and xfce4, which worked.
xfce4, however, wouldn't start, and $X -configure failed every time.
after running fglrxconfig which comes with the ati-drivers package, I managed to startxfce4.

$emerge gnome still causes the system to hang.

I tried to do an $emerge -e system; emerge -e system; emerge -e world; emerge -e world so that my system would be running with everything compiled for my hardware, but the system hung.

I emerged atanks, and ran it in xfce4, but it segfaults too much to make it really playable.

Could all this be because of my kernel config? What can I do?

[cokey]

Post some of the errors so we have a clue what we are dealing with.

Also post emerge info so we have a clue about gcc and glibc versions

[Annirak]

When I say the system hangs, I mean just that. It hangs. There is no error message. The cursor blinks, but the keyboard is non-functional. Numlock doesn't cause the LED status light to change, I can't switch terminals. PS/2 and USB keyboards behave the same way.

I'll post emerge info in a few hours when I have access to the machine again.

[cyrillic]

When I tried to do a stage 1 install, gcc segfaulted every time I tried. So I backed up to a stage 3 install, and managed to get my OS installed.
...
I emerged atanks, and ran it in xfce4, but it segfaults too much to make it really playable.

This sure sounds like a hardware problem.

Even though you are not overclocked, you could have bad RAM, a bad power supply, cooling problems, etc. that would be causing your segfaults.

[hielvc]

Me votes for BAD ram. Run memtest86 from the live cd

[Annirak]

How many passes of Memtest86 do you want me to run? (my BIOS has it built-in )
I doubt that it is bad RAM or PSU as I have been running F@H for 2 months under WinXP x64 without dropping more than ~3 WUs.
I've run 2 passes on memtest86 with no errors before--but that won't stop me from doing it again.
My system sits at 38-40C reported--even while gaming.

I've run a 4.25 hour prime95 test with no errors.

It's possible that some of my RAM timings are too aggressive, but I don't think so because of the above.

Anyway, I'll go run a few passes of memtest86.

[Annirak]

I ran 6 passes of memtest86 Ver. 1.55 with no errors.

Here is the output of $emerge --info:

Code: Select all

Gentoo Base System version 1.6.12
Portage 2.0.51.22-r3 (default-linux/amd64/2005.1, gcc-3.4.3, glibc-2.3.5-r0, 2.6.12-gentoo-r6 x86_64)
=================================================================
System uname: 2.6.12-gentoo-r6 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+
dev-lang/python:     2.3.5
sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.11
sys-devel/autoconf:  2.13, 2.59-r6
sys-devel/automake:  1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.5
sys-devel/binutils:  2.15.92.0.2-r10
sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.18-r1
virtual/os-headers:  2.6.11-r2
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"
AUTOCLEAN="yes"
CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-O3 -march=k8 -pipe"
CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/lib/X1 /usr/lib64/mozilla/defaults/pref /usr/share/config /var/qmail/control 1/xkb"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d"
CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=k8 -pipe"
DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"
FEATURES="autoconfig distlocks sandbox sfperms strict"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo"
MAKEOPTS="-j16"
PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="amd64 X alsa audiofile avi berkdb bitmap-fonts bzip2 crypt cups eds emboss encode esd exif expat fam foomaticdb fortran gif glut gnome gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 imlib ipv6 jpeg kde lcms lzw lzw-tiff mng mozilla mp3 mpeg ncurses nls opengl pam pcre pdflib perl png python qt quicktime readline sdl spell ssl tcpd tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts udev usb userlocales xml2 xpm xv zlib userland_GNU kernel_linux elibc_glibc"
Unset:  ASFLAGS, CTARGET, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, LINGUAS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY

[cokey]

disconnect the power from all the hard drives except the one you want to boot off and try again

[nixnut]

Moved from Installing Gentoo to Portage & Programming.
Not an installing gentoo problem

[limn]

You might consider reducing:

MAKEOPTS="-j16"

[cokey]

You might consider reducing:

MAKEOPTS="-j16"

jesus christ, how did i not see that?

[Annirak]

I only posted it in "installing" because I don't consider that I've finished installing yet, but if this forum fits it better, so be it.

It was originally set to -j3, but I saw the same problems. The -j16 provides a very significant boost in compiling performance on my X2. Someone I know with an FX-55 has seen massive performance increases with -j32.

[cokey]

I only posted it in "installing" because I don't consider that I've finished installing yet, but if this forum fits it better, so be it.

It was originally set to -j3, but I saw the same problems. The -j16 provides a very significant boost in compiling performance on my X2. Someone I know with an FX-55 has seen massive performance increases with -j32.

system performance or compile time?

[Annirak]

I have not been using a swap partition. Is it possible that it's a question of needing swap?

Would this work:

Code: Select all

$ dd if=/dev/null of=/swap.file count=4M
$ swap -a /swap.file 0 4194304 

[Annirak]

system performance or compile time?

Compile time.

[Annirak]

Code: Select all

$ dd if=/dev/null of=/swap.file count=4M
$ swap -a /swap.file 0 4194304 

make that:

Code: Select all

$ dd if=/dev/zero of=/swap.file bs=1M count=2048
$ mkswap /swap.file
$ swapon /swap.file

[cokey]

I have not been using a swap partition. Is it possible that it's a question of needing swap?

depends how much ram you have. what does cat /proc/meminfo say?

[masseya]

I have found that anything over -j4 is risking some compile errors for very large programs on my dual opteron 880 system. However, it doesn't cause a system hang so I don't think the number of jobs is really the issue either. If you haven't used the system reliably before are you sure that its not a cooling issue?

[Annirak]

I have 1GB of RAM.
masseya: I'll try dropping the -j argument entirely, and see what happens.

[cokey]

-j is supposed to enable the unused cycles to be used to greater efficiency, once you get into -j4 -j5 -j6 etc you are just making things slower and risking errors because the cpu is distributing it's own power and cycles instead of having other processes and actions designating cycles (distcc)

[Annirak]

Well, tonight, I'm going to add swap and revert to single-threaded compiling and see if anything changes.

[Annirak]

I tried enabling some swap, and disabling the multi-threaded compiling, but I still get the system hang.
The package that fails is

Code: Select all

>>> emerge (1 of 34) media-plugins/gst-plugins-ffmpeg-0.8.4 to /

Here's my make.conf:

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# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically built this stage
# Please consult /etc/make.conf.example for a more detailed example
CFLAGS="-O3 -march=k8 -pipe"
CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
# MAKEOPTS="-j16"

Here's /proc/meminfo

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MemTotal:      1023476 kB
MemFree:        570676 kB
Buffers:         78096 kB
Cached:         191048 kB
SwapCached:          0 kB
Active:         237616 kB
Inactive:        95028 kB
HighTotal:           0 kB
HighFree:            0 kB
LowTotal:      1023476 kB
LowFree:        570676 kB
SwapTotal:     2097144 kB
SwapFree:      2097144 kB
Dirty:             276 kB
Writeback:           0 kB
Mapped:          91720 kB
Slab:            89280 kB
CommitLimit:   2608880 kB
Committed_AS:    85708 kB
PageTables:       2052 kB
VmallocTotal: 34359738367 kB
VmallocUsed:    145980 kB
VmallocChunk: 34359592227 kB
HugePages_Total:     0
HugePages_Free:      0
Hugepagesize:     2048 kB

[masseya]

masseya: I'll try dropping the -j argument entirely, and see what happens.

cokehabit is right about the -j option. In general, I use -j2 on dual processor systems and -j4 on dual processor dual core systems without any issue. These are nice options to have for large compiles because it can really save you some time. However, if you do more than that, you are really not doing yourself any favors.

[masseya]

Are any errors getting logged in /var/log?

[cokey]

boot up off a livecd and try memtest86.

Masseya, put the old pic of the kitten back on, i used to like that