X System clock haywire ...

[twoHats]

Hi - I have posted this b4 in (first) hardware ... Later - Mandriva - and now I believe the problem to be in X.

I am using X Window System Version 6.8.99.900 (6.8.0 RC 0)

The build os and the Current os are both Linux 2.6.12-12mdksmp X86_64

I am using Mandriva 2006.0 x86_64 smp

the desktop is KDE 3.4.2

The hw is an HP a1250n - athlon64 X2 3800+ with ati mobo with BIOS crippled by HP.

If any more info is needed - just let me know... Now to the problem.

When i first start X everything is fine - then slowly over time - the sytem clock speeds up! What i mean is the time between "seconds" becomes smaller so that my clock gets faster and faster - until you can watch the minuts go by like seconds. Thids only seems to occur in X (there is a little gained time over a day at the console but nothing like i see in X).

I have been unable to pin down a specific trigger for this behavior. My system will occasionaly lock up (keyboard) after exiting from X in this condition.

btw - the other indicator is the keyboard. It also speeds up - ie the delay b4 auto-repeat becomes shorter to the point of unusability. This is usually why i kill X.

Any ideas, leads or just comiseration would be highly appreciated...

[dark_lord_kodd]

have you tried leaving the system running without x? like at init 3? Does it still happen?

Also, is your system overclocked at all?


Have you tried replacing the bios battery?

Um...thats weird...

[Game master pro]

That is really weird...although i have the same problem with the keyboard, but my clocks fine

[twoHats]

Hi - Thanks for the quick replies ...

Things seem ok when X has not been started...clock seems good after 24 hours-

No over clocking, by me anyway . As i mentioned the BIOS has been dumbed down by HP - I may get another mobo (and case) b4 this is over.

I have been working on this problem since mid Nov or so. I finally found a distro that had all the things i wanted, But there is this little clock thing ...

I tried running FC4 x86_64 but the smp version hung and the regular version has the clock running exactly twice as fast (due tot the 2 processors updating it i suppose) ...

[twoHats]

That is really weird...although i have the same problem with the keyboard, but my clocks fine

did you solve the kbd problem?

If so - what did you do?

If not ... Have you tried setting the threshhold higher - the one that begins the key-repeat?

[dark_lord_kodd]

well, as a really lame way to solve the symptoms (not the problem!), why not use the ntp client as a cron job or somthing to update your system time once every hour? Even more freaquently if its really bad.


I have no idea why this would happen, its way over my head...but I would guess its somthing to do with either 2 cores, or maybe something like cool n quiet where the cpu freq is not constant???

[qwaszzz]

I have the same system (HP a1250n) with Mandriva 2006 x64 and googling led to the following solultion which solved my fast-clock and hyper-responsive keyboard problems:
Add "notsc" to the append line in /etc/lilo.conf. Remember to run lilo as root to apply the changes.

[twoHats]

I have the same system (HP a1250n) with Mandriva 2006 x64 and googling led to the following solultion which solved my fast-clock and hyper-responsive keyboard problems:
Add "notsc" to the append line in /etc/lilo.conf. Remember to run lilo as root to apply the changes.

Hey qwaszzz - Thanks!

I am trying this now - just rebooted. Even if it dosn't work - glad to have contact with another X86_64-X2 user

If it does work - it will end the longest hastle yet with Linux. Don't get me wrong - I like doing this stuff, but usually i get a solution off the boards in a few days - this is taking months.

Have you done anything with your case? The HD upgrade path is a little limited

I have 2 oldstyle 80G i would like to add to my system, but no 3.5 cage space available.

I'll post the results of

append="notsc"

here in a day or so

[twoHats]

qwaszzz - Thanks again - It works! 24 hours later clock is perfect!

Now i can actually use this awsum machine!

[qwaszzz]

Have you done anything with your case? The HD upgrade path is a little limited

I have 2 oldstyle 80G i would like to add to my system, but no 3.5 cage space available.

Yes twoHats, I managed to squeeze in a 160 GB IDE hard drive with some difficulty. I still dual boot off the SATA drive, but have no problems accessing the IDE.

Glad to know your timing problem is solved.

Just one problem remains. I am still stuck with
APIC error on CPU0: 40(40)
APIC error on CPU1: 40(40)
errors (see if you get these too using "dmesg"). The "noapic" boot parameter option was of no help - system refused to boot. I have the 2.6.12 kernel but believe the 2.6.14 kernel fixes this problem. Haven't tried that yet.