Ok. I followed your instructions (including the initial backup). I jumped into mining with all four gpu's again. Now to see if it crashes again after some time. I suppose if it does, I can make save another log file.
Something else that is different, is that I put a big fan on top of the computer (blowing into it of course). Average of the four gpu's is about 70C. I will try to cool them more, but it is tolerable enough for this test run I think. The most itme I think I had it running all four before was about 20 minutes.
Where did you learn to read that file that you asked me to upload? Would you point me to the line item in it where you saw an issue? And how you knew it was a problem...I'd love to learn more about linux.
p.s. Your patience and help is appreciated. Where can I donate to you? I only have about .75 BTC in my bitcoin wallet, but it's something.
If you look at line 4577, it says "Segmentation Fault". Seg faults are when a program accesses memory that it shouldn't, so Linux has to kill the process. (Ever see the "This program has encountered an error and needs to close" in windows? Same thing.)
The backtrace starts at line 4559. The backtrace is basically a list of functions that were called when the program accessed memory it's not allowed to. (A list of all functions on the stack at that time.)
If function 1 calls function 2, and function 2 seg faults, the backtrace would look like:
Function 2
Function 1
So, if you look at your backtrace, you see that miPointerUpdateSprite (updating the pointer, name is self explanatory) eventually calls into /usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules/modules/drivers/fglrx_drv.so (AMD's driver), which is where the Seg Fault occurs. Using, SWCursor, AMD's driver doesn't worry about anything pointer specific, thus avoiding the bug.
Wikipedia can probably explain these concepts better than I can. I program in my spare time, so these things aren't too foreign to me. Also, this isn't my first battle with the X Server.
If you want to learn more about configuring X, you can look for documentation online:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Confighttp://www.x.org/archive/X11R6.8.0/doc/ati5.htmlAlso, a great resource is the manpages. You can find a manual for almost any command or config file by typing:
man xorg.conf
obviously replacing xorg.conf with the name of the config file/command
If you'd really like to donate, there's an address in my sig. (or at least I think there is. I see it at least.) All donatoins are appreciated, thanks.
drawoc...
Assuming the software cursor fix works, doesn't it seems a bit of a odd work around way of fixing it. I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem (noteworthy I think).
Anyway, do you think a seperate/independent option could have been to just unplug the mouse and monitor and log remotely using SSH? (i.e. without having to change the conf file)
Regardless, I guess there's always more than one way, and really the fact that I haven't read of anyone else experiencing this issue (yet) in mining has caught my attention.
...systems still going... been about 40 minutes now.
Well, you're not the first person with this bug - I found it here originally:
http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?51726-AMD-Catalyst-11.5-Linux-Driver-Released/page4Anyway, as to why no miners have found this before, I guess it's because the gut reaction is to assume your card is overheating. In other words, miners may have been affected by this bug before, and just assumed they overclocked too much or had a defective fan, etc. (Just a theory)
Yes, using SSH should fix it because the bug happens when moving the mouse cursor, so if you never move the cursor, you never experience the bug. You could also just unplug your mouse, and just use the keyboard for control (and leave the monitor in).
I was also going to suggest disabling your screen saver because it seems to be connected with the problem (Hiding/Showing the pointer could be triggering the bug).
Another option would be to use the open source drivers, which don't have this bug. (No miner will go for this option because of the lack of opencl support)
Anyway, I suggested SWcursor first because it seemed like the best option - if you're willing to edit the config file, you really don't give anything up by having software draw the cursor.
Anyway, I hope the fix works! Good luck mining!
