as far as i can analyze, kernel tries to allocate memory but somehow fails to do it, but as opposed to a ENOMEM or some message alike, a crash follows.
to describe to situation more clearly, i was wise enough to open a webpage with tons of images in my browser, and the browser started to grab enormous amounts of memory to draw them in. the kernel swapping element seemed to go berserk and after listening to the harddrive crying out loud for a mere minute, the system freezed and stopped to respond (yes, even the sysrequests didn't respond anymore).
this is not the first time this has happened :
Part I
machine && kernel information :
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 5 model name : Pentium II (Deschutes) stepping : 2 cpu MHz : 398.812 cache size : 512 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 2 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr bogomips : 786.43
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ cat /proc/modules nvidia 3460128 12 - Live 0xc8c8e000 snd_pcm_oss 45608 0 - Live 0xc88c8000 snd_mixer_oss 16160 1 snd_pcm_oss, Live 0xc889d000 snd_cmipci 25124 0 - Live 0xc8895000 snd_pcm 79136 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_cmipci, Live 0xc88a4000 snd_page_alloc 7272 1 snd_pcm, Live 0xc886e000 snd_opl3_lib 7776 1 snd_cmipci, Live 0xc886b000 snd_timer 19168 2 snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib, Live 0xc8886000 snd_hwdep 6880 1 snd_opl3_lib, Live 0xc884d000 snd_mpu401_uart 5440 1 snd_cmipci, Live 0xc883a000 snd_rawmidi 18400 1 snd_mpu401_uart, Live 0xc8872000 snd_seq_device 6212 2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi, Live 0xc8837000 snd 43844 10 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_cmipci,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_timer,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device, Live 0xc887a000 soundcore 6752 1 snd, Live 0xc8834000 usbhid 22208 0 - Live 0xc8846000 uhci_hcd 28040 0 - Live 0xc883e000 usbcore 97812 4 usbhid,uhci_hcd, Live 0xc8852000 msdos 6816 0 - Live 0xc8831000 msr 2404 0 - Live 0xc8829000 cpuid 2116 0 - Live 0xc882b000
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ uname -a Linux martin 2.6.9-rc4 #1 Tue Oct 12 16:18:24 EEST 2004 i686 GNU/Linux
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ gcc -v
Reading specs from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i386-linux/3.2.3/specs
Configured with: ../src/configure -v --enable-languages=c,c++,java,f77,objc,ada --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/3.2 --enable-shared --with-system-zlib --enable-nls --without-included-gettext --enable-__cxa_atexit --enable-clocale=gnu --enable-java-gc=boehm --enable-objc-gc i386-linux
Thread model: posix
gcc version 3.2.3 20030415 (Debian prerelease)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ cat /proc/meminfo MemTotal: 126688 kB MemFree: 32960 kB Buffers: 1432 kB Cached: 30368 kB SwapCached: 0 kB Active: 65220 kB Inactive: 16984 kB HighTotal: 0 kB HighFree: 0 kB LowTotal: 126688 kB LowFree: 32960 kB SwapTotal: 157208 kB SwapFree: 157208 kB Dirty: 0 kB Writeback: 0 kB Mapped: 57036 kB Slab: 5400 kB Committed_AS: 63884 kB PageTables: 604 kB VmallocTotal: 909236 kB VmallocUsed: 21680 kB VmallocChunk: 884656 kB
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ lspci 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03) 00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02) 00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01) 00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01) 00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02) 00:0c.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10) 00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11DDR [GeForce2 MX 100 DDR/200 DDR] (rev b2)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ lsmod Module Size Used by nvidia 3460128 12 snd_pcm_oss 45608 0 snd_mixer_oss 16160 1 snd_pcm_oss snd_cmipci 25124 0 snd_pcm 79136 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_cmipci snd_page_alloc 7272 1 snd_pcm snd_opl3_lib 7776 1 snd_cmipci snd_timer 19168 2 snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib snd_hwdep 6880 1 snd_opl3_lib snd_mpu401_uart 5440 1 snd_cmipci snd_rawmidi 18400 1 snd_mpu401_uart snd_seq_device 6212 2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi snd 43844 10 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_cmipci,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_timer,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device soundcore 6752 1 snd usbhid 22208 0 uhci_hcd 28040 0 usbcore 97812 4 usbhid,uhci_hcd msdos 6816 0 msr 2404 0 cpuid 2116 0
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ cat /proc/version Linux version 2.6.9-rc4 ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) (gcc version 3.2.3 20030415 (Debian prerelease)) #1 Tue Oct 12 16:18:24 EEST 2004
Part II here are the details from the kernel log, until the first line here, everything was as it normally is (no failures or error messages whatsoever)
Jan 31 15:32:00 martin kernel: swapper: page allocation failure. order:0, mode:0x20 Jan 31 15:32:01 martin kernel: [__alloc_pages+442/832] __alloc_pages+0x1ba/0x340 Jan 31 15:32:01 martin kernel: [__get_free_pages+31/64] __get_free_pages+0x1f/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:01 martin kernel: [kmem_getpages+25/192] kmem_getpages+0x19/0xc0 Jan 31 15:32:01 martin kernel: [cache_grow+142/272] cache_grow+0x8e/0x110 Jan 31 15:32:01 martin kernel: [cache_alloc_refill+179/480] cache_alloc_refill+0xb3/0x1e0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [ip_rcv+767/1024] ip_rcv+0x2ff/0x400 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__kmalloc+97/112] __kmalloc+0x61/0x70 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [alloc_skb+65/240] alloc_skb+0x41/0xf0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_rx+248/816] rtl8139_rx+0xf8/0x330 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [pg0+143574195/1069769728] rm_isr+0x13/0x30 [nvidia] Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_poll+66/208] rtl8139_poll+0x42/0xd0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [net_rx_action+97/224] net_rx_action+0x61/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__do_softirq+124/144] __do_softirq+0x7c/0x90 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_softirq+39/48] do_softirq+0x27/0x30 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_IRQ+198/224] do_IRQ+0xc6/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [common_interrupt+24/32] common_interrupt+0x18/0x20 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+36/64] default_idle+0x24/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cpu_idle+48/64] cpu_idle+0x30/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [start_kernel+298/336] start_kernel+0x12a/0x150 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [unknown_bootoption+0/416] unknown_bootoption+0x0/0x1a0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: eth0: Memory squeeze, dropping packet. Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: swapper: page allocation failure. order:0, mode:0x20 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__alloc_pages+442/832] __alloc_pages+0x1ba/0x340 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [ide_dma_intr+0/176] ide_dma_intr+0x0/0xb0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__get_free_pages+31/64] __get_free_pages+0x1f/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [kmem_getpages+25/192] kmem_getpages+0x19/0xc0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cache_grow+142/272] cache_grow+0x8e/0x110 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cache_alloc_refill+179/480] cache_alloc_refill+0xb3/0x1e0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [call_console_drivers+144/288] call_console_drivers+0x90/0x120 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__kmalloc+97/112] __kmalloc+0x61/0x70 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [alloc_skb+65/240] alloc_skb+0x41/0xf0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_rx+248/816] rtl8139_rx+0xf8/0x330 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [pg0+143574195/1069769728] rm_isr+0x13/0x30 [nvidia] Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_poll+66/208] rtl8139_poll+0x42/0xd0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [net_rx_action+97/224] net_rx_action+0x61/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__do_softirq+124/144] __do_softirq+0x7c/0x90 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_softirq+39/48] do_softirq+0x27/0x30 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_IRQ+198/224] do_IRQ+0xc6/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [common_interrupt+24/32] common_interrupt+0x18/0x20 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+36/64] default_idle+0x24/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cpu_idle+48/64] cpu_idle+0x30/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [start_kernel+298/336] start_kernel+0x12a/0x150 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [unknown_bootoption+0/416] unknown_bootoption+0x0/0x1a0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: eth0: Memory squeeze, dropping packet. Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: swapper: page allocation failure. order:0, mode:0x20 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__alloc_pages+442/832] __alloc_pages+0x1ba/0x340 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__get_free_pages+31/64] __get_free_pages+0x1f/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [kmem_getpages+25/192] kmem_getpages+0x19/0xc0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cache_grow+142/272] cache_grow+0x8e/0x110 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cache_alloc_refill+179/480] cache_alloc_refill+0xb3/0x1e0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [call_console_drivers+144/288] call_console_drivers+0x90/0x120 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__kmalloc+97/112] __kmalloc+0x61/0x70 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [alloc_skb+65/240] alloc_skb+0x41/0xf0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_rx+248/816] rtl8139_rx+0xf8/0x330 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [pg0+143574195/1069769728] rm_isr+0x13/0x30 [nvidia] Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_poll+66/208] rtl8139_poll+0x42/0xd0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [net_rx_action+97/224] net_rx_action+0x61/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__do_softirq+124/144] __do_softirq+0x7c/0x90 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_softirq+39/48] do_softirq+0x27/0x30 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_IRQ+198/224] do_IRQ+0xc6/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [common_interrupt+24/32] common_interrupt+0x18/0x20 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+36/64] default_idle+0x24/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cpu_idle+48/64] cpu_idle+0x30/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [start_kernel+298/336] start_kernel+0x12a/0x150 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [unknown_bootoption+0/416] unknown_bootoption+0x0/0x1a0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: eth0: Memory squeeze, dropping packet. Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: swapper: page allocation failure. order:0, mode:0x20 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__alloc_pages+442/832] __alloc_pages+0x1ba/0x340 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__get_free_pages+31/64] __get_free_pages+0x1f/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [kmem_getpages+25/192] kmem_getpages+0x19/0xc0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cache_grow+142/272] cache_grow+0x8e/0x110 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cache_alloc_refill+179/480] cache_alloc_refill+0xb3/0x1e0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [call_console_drivers+144/288] call_console_drivers+0x90/0x120 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__kmalloc+97/112] __kmalloc+0x61/0x70 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [alloc_skb+65/240] alloc_skb+0x41/0xf0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_rx+248/816] rtl8139_rx+0xf8/0x330 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [pg0+143574195/1069769728] rm_isr+0x13/0x30 [nvidia] Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_poll+66/208] rtl8139_poll+0x42/0xd0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [net_rx_action+97/224] net_rx_action+0x61/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__do_softirq+124/144] __do_softirq+0x7c/0x90 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_softirq+39/48] do_softirq+0x27/0x30 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_IRQ+198/224] do_IRQ+0xc6/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [common_interrupt+24/32] common_interrupt+0x18/0x20 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+36/64] default_idle+0x24/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cpu_idle+48/64] cpu_idle+0x30/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [start_kernel+298/336] start_kernel+0x12a/0x150 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [unknown_bootoption+0/416] unknown_bootoption+0x0/0x1a0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: eth0: Memory squeeze, dropping packet. Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: swapper: page allocation failure. order:0, mode:0x20 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__alloc_pages+442/832] __alloc_pages+0x1ba/0x340 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__get_free_pages+31/64] __get_free_pages+0x1f/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [kmem_getpages+25/192] kmem_getpages+0x19/0xc0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cache_grow+142/272] cache_grow+0x8e/0x110 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cache_alloc_refill+179/480] cache_alloc_refill+0xb3/0x1e0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [call_console_drivers+144/288] call_console_drivers+0x90/0x120 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__kmalloc+97/112] __kmalloc+0x61/0x70 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [alloc_skb+65/240] alloc_skb+0x41/0xf0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_rx+248/816] rtl8139_rx+0xf8/0x330 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [pg0+143574195/1069769728] rm_isr+0x13/0x30 [nvidia] Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [rtl8139_poll+66/208] rtl8139_poll+0x42/0xd0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [net_rx_action+97/224] net_rx_action+0x61/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [__do_softirq+124/144] __do_softirq+0x7c/0x90 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_softirq+39/48] do_softirq+0x27/0x30 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [do_IRQ+198/224] do_IRQ+0xc6/0xe0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [common_interrupt+24/32] common_interrupt+0x18/0x20 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+0/64] default_idle+0x0/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [default_idle+36/64] default_idle+0x24/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [cpu_idle+48/64] cpu_idle+0x30/0x40 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [start_kernel+298/336] start_kernel+0x12a/0x150 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: [unknown_bootoption+0/416] unknown_bootoption+0x0/0x1a0 Jan 31 15:32:02 martin kernel: eth0: Memory squeeze, dropping packet. Jan 31 15:35:52 martin syslogd 1.4.1#11: restart.
hope that helps. as for now i'll probably try to get 2.6.10 into my box and see if the problem occurs again.
-- ###################################### Martin Roos Vision Group OY / Software Developer martin (at) vision.ee Kontor/Office: +372 7 407 736 Mobiil/Mobile: +372 55 911 526 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
