[arch-general] mce after linux-3.11.5-1 on NP900X3C

[Rasmus Liland]

On 2014-11-19 18:16, Rasmus Liland wrote:
> On 2014-11-17 00:19, Rasmus Liland wrote:
> > On 2014-11-15 18:28, Mark Lee wrote:
> > > On 11/15/2014 12:20 PM, Rasmus Liland wrote:
> > > > On 2014-11-15 15:21, LoneVVolf wrote:
> > > > > On 15-11-14 06:57, Rasmus Liland wrote:
> > > > > > On 2014-11-15 06:10, Mark Lee wrote:
> > > > > > > On 11/14/2014 10:29 PM, Rasmus Liland wrote:
> > > > > > > > On 2014-11-15 04:01, Mark Lee wrote:
> > > > > > > > > Are you booting with the new intel u-code?
> > > > > > > > Are you fairly sure this is a Intel microcode issue?
> > > > > > > I'm not completely certain; but it would make sense. I'd test
> > > > > > > it out.
> > > > > > Thank you for your help thus far. I'll examine this further
> > > > > > tomorrow, g'night.
> > > > > From rasmus first post:
> > > > > > I'm experiencing machine check exceptions since every kernel
> > > > > > after package linux-3.11.5-1 (Oct 14 2013)
> > > > > New intel microcode was only introduced with kernel 3.17 ... It's
> > > > > unlikely to have to do with this issue.
> > > > > 
> > > > > install mcelog, run it as the log tells you and post the result.
> > > > [ ... output, see previous messages ... ]
> > > > I never did use the mcelog tool before, but to me it looks like not
> > > > much of an analysis, perhaps I'm doing it wrong.
> > >Looks like a microcode error, please try to add the intel-ucode to
> > >your kernel cmdline.
> > Bah, just as I was finished enabling syslinux using syslinux-install_update
> > and rebooted, the system did not respond, just a blank screen and lighting
> > shutting off, then rebooting again. 
> > 
> > Thus, this system needs an overhaul -- apparently some difficulty with the
> > bootcode or the MBR, though I am able to mount the old partitions and chroot
> > into them using arch-chroot. 
> > 
> > I tried installing grub using the standard method grub-install according to
> > the wiki, with little success -- some good news at least relevant to previous
> > topic in this thread is that grub recognized and added the intel-ucode file I
> > had copied to the /boot directory, when running grub-mkconfig.
> > 
> > The plan forward is to forget about generating new mbr using gpart and
> > install Debian at the end of the disk to, hopefully, restore some boot
> > related stuff that might have come crashing down after meddling with
> > syslinux.
> 
> A breakthrough in this thread has happened. 
> 
> I ended up taking a backup of the disk to an external hdd using
> 
> > # dd if=/dev/sda of=/mnt/angrist-sda-18nov14.img
> 
> then I booted FreeBSD 10.1 memstick, entered shell and entered some commands:
> 
> > # gpart delete -i 1 ada0
> > # gpart delete -i 2 ada0
> > # gpart delete -i 3 ada0
> > # gpart destroy ada0
> > # gpart create -s mbr ada0
> > # gpart add -s 20g -t linux-data ada0
> > # gpart add -t linux-data ada0
> 
> Then I rebooted into ArchLinux iso memstick to install Arch on the 20G
> partition and using the other one as /home. So now Syslinux works,
> unfortunately I don't know why. And I was able to install all new packages
> including linux 3.17.3-1 and intel-ucode 20140913-1, loading it in Syslinux
> according to the wiki.
> 
> I got a new mce after exactly three hours: 
> 
> > [ snip ]
> 
> I am also making this output an attachment. There is a lot of more
> information in this new mce compared to the other one I sent.
> 
> Perhaps some of you got some new suggestions.
> 
> Meanwhile, I am downgrading back to 3.11.5-1.

It is dead.

Yesterday, as I tried to suspend to ram using systemd on old working kernel,
supending did not work completely.

So I tried moving up to new kernel 3.17.something to see if things worked out
better there; as now I was more optimistic, since e.g. chrony were syncing
the rtc based on statistical methods and not only NTP protocol.

Suspend to ram was able to complete with new kernel, and everything was good
for a while -- Until yesterday when I suspended on very low battery and after
that I think the battery went flat during suspend. This has not been a
problem in the past, but when I tried to charge the laptop afterwards, the
charge LED did not light up even though the light on the charger said it was
active.

So, no power connection there, thus I guess most parts of the system are
still working as before, something related to the delivery of power is broken
-- probably a capasitor of some sort or other things that wear out over time,
I have little knowledge on this, but I guess if this was a desktop I would
probably swap the power supply unit for a fresh one.

Honestly, I was hoping this laptop would last me at least four years of
intensive everyday use, as the price tag was quite high.

I am going to try to email the vendor to try to get a decent refund, as I
think Norwegean law permits a three-year-warranty on consumer electronics, no
matter what the Samsung company says.

-- 
Rasmus Liland, jrl at jrl.dyndns.dk, jens.rasmus.liland at nmbu.no 
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