Bug 94709

Summary:	Virtual terminals freeze after some time or when Reaching X amount of used RAM
Product:	DRI	Reporter:	xmakerenx
Component:	DRM/Intel	Assignee:	Intel GFX Bugs mailing list <intel-gfx-bugs>
Status:	CLOSED WORKSFORME	QA Contact:	Intel GFX Bugs mailing list <intel-gfx-bugs>
Severity:	major
Priority:	high	CC:	intel-gfx-bugs
Version:	unspecified
Hardware:	x86-64 (AMD64)
OS:	Linux (All)
Whiteboard:
i915 platform:		i915 features:

Description xmakerenx 2016-03-25 23:37:12 UTC

System Environment:
OSD: 4.4.5.1-Arch
Kernel_version: 4.4.5
Xorg server version: 1.18.2
Xf86_video_intel: 1:2.99.917+587+gc186d4d-1
I am using plasma 5 with sddm.
I am using bumblebee to use switch between intel and nvidia cards.

Overview:
I am having an issue where the Virtual terminals Display freeze after the system is using about 2 Gibs of RAM , also running a game on the intel card seem to make it happen as well and in a more early stage in the game loading process.

sadly there is no error that shows in jouralctl log or the dmesg log.
I have tried running lightdm and the awesome WM but still had the issue appear.
lastly I have tried running my system only on the nvidia card and could not reproduce the issue when just running on the nvidia card leading me to suspect it is something with the intel drivers or mesa.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. login to the system with any WM
2. Run a game or just open programs till memory reach about 2 Gib RAM being used(This figure seem to be very dependent on system overall memory, seems to be about half the system memory overall RAM)
3. pass over to a tty terminal and observe it being frozen.

** also to note when my sytem is close to 2 Gib it uses a small amount of the swap
but it happens whether I have swap active or not.
*** when running the game only intel card the swap is empty.
**** The Virtual terminals appear to be frozen but still respond to login and command but I can't see the screen update.
**** most tests I did was to run Civ 5 and see if the virutal terminal freeze but the issue happen if I just fill the system memory and get to about to 2 Gib.
** links to forum threads on the archlinux forum describing the same issue.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=210362
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1615143#p1615143
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=209769

Comment 1 xmakerenx 2016-04-14 09:03:17 UTC

It seems that this was a kernel issue as updating to 4.5.0 has resolved the issue.

Comment 2 Chris Wilson 2016-04-14 09:58:15 UTC

Still not sure what the culprit would be since memory for the VT are pinned at boot. Nevertheless, if it works now and no one wants to hunt down a backport...

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