kernel 2.6.9-rc4 crashes on massive memory allocation

From: Martin Roos (martin_at_vision.ee)
Date: 01/31/05

  • Next message: Jens Axboe: "Re: 2.6.11-rc[1,2]-mmX scsi cdrom problem, 2.6.10-mm2 ok" 
    Date:	Mon, 31 Jan 2005 15:50:07 +0200
To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org

    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 :

    kasutaja@martin:~$ 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

    kasutaja@martin:~$ 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

    kasutaja@martin:~$ uname -a
    Linux martin 2.6.9-rc4 #1 Tue Oct 12 16:18:24 EEST 2004 i686 GNU/Linux

    kasutaja@martin:~$ 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)

    kasutaja@martin:~$ 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

    kasutaja@martin:~$ 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)

    kasutaja@martin:~$ 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

    kasutaja@martin:~$ cat /proc/version
    Linux version 2.6.9-rc4 (root@martin) (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
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