Kernal Panic

[Colin23erk]

My computer has crashed and completely locked up twice on Booting  with the following report

--- 6.603571 Kernal Panic - not syncing : Fatal exception in interrupt ----
----6.603571 drm_kms_helper: panic occurred. switching back to text console

The only way I get the laptop to shut down is to disconnect the battery as holding the power button has no effect

Colin

[N4RPS]

Hello!

I read this article about 'kernel panics' here. It does a good job of describing what they mean:

http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/d...rnel-panic

I will quote a snippet here:

"Kernel panics are generally caused by an element beyond the Linux kernel's control, including bad drivers, overtaxed memory and software bugs."

It would seem that your Linux kernel has developed itself some serious issues. Unless someone more knowledgeable than I intercedes with a better solution, you may have to reinstall Linux Lite.

What I would do is give Valtam's 2.0 beta a try, and see if THAT works better for you. If you tell me what the make and model number of the machine in question, and how much RAM you have, I can do some research online about it, and perhaps help you to discover what is giving you so many problems with it and running LL.

What I'm about to say isn't really related to your problem, but if you hold down the power button for at least four seconds (I'd give it five myself), your laptop SHOULD shut off. It's a feature of most all modern PCs, be they laptop or desktop...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[Colin23erk]

Hi Rob
It has only happened on 2 separate occasions without any other symptoms . What really concerned me was that in spite of holding the Power button for 30 secs it would not power down my Samsung-NC110 . I assume it is only a button operated software controlled switch not a proper physical on/off switch and I had to remove the battery to get a full power off situation .

Unless it becomes a regular problem do not think it is worth finding the cause . Just for your interest this is the RAM info 
===========================================================
RAM SPEED: Speed: 667 MHz
# dmidecode 2.11
SMBIOS 2.5 present.
Handle 0x000F, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x000E
Error Information Handle: No Error
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 2048 MB
Form Factor: SODIMM
Set: 1
Locator: J6G1
Bank Locator: DIMM 0
Type: DDR2
Type Detail: Synchronous
Speed: 667 MHz
Manufacturer: 48spaces                                       

[N4RPS]

Hello!

It's weird to have an error that requires removing the battery to clear.

You are correct - it just triggers a firmware routine in the BIOS. It's just one of those things that they're all supposed to support. Perhaps Samsung issued a BIOS update to fix that. I don't know.

Since your laptop has 2 GB of RAM, it would probably run Windows 7 just fine. I'd definitely try some other Linux distros out, also, to see whether or not your problems are problems are specific to Linux Lite.

I have a Dell desktop that has a funny power switch issue like that. It won't shut off when you first plug it in, but if you boot it to an OS and then shut it down through that OS, it then works properly afterward. Go figure...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[Colin23erk]

Hello Rob
Thanks for the Bluetooth information I will give it a try soon .

re the Kernal Panic problem - it has no reoccurred since I made the post . The trouble with intermittent faults is they can go away on their own so you never know if you have sorted them or not .

I had quite a lot of experience faulting in electro-mechanical  telephone exchanges  for 30 years until BT went fully digital  20 years ago . Now I am what you would call a silver-haired surfer .

Colin

[N4RPS]

Hello!

Small world. I worked for my local telco (at the time, BellSouth) here for five years, on Lucent 5ESS and Nortel DMS-10/DMS-100 digital switches.

I'll never forget the day I tested for the job. A whole room full of people started. You failed a test, you left. I took, like, six different tests. At the end of the day, me and one other guy were left standing. I guess we both got hired!

73 DE N4RPS
Rob