New Installation LinuxCNC Crashes/Hangs computer w

Newbie here, needing some help getting LinuxCNC running please. I have installed LinuxCNC but when I run it, it crashes/hangs the computer and needs a reboot to recover. Steps I have followed are:

I Downloaded ubuntu-10.04-linuxcnc3-i386.iso from this site, burnt the ISO disk and installed it afresh on computer. It installed Ubuntu 10.04 and LinuxCNC 2.5.0, with no updates or upgrades (network disconnected).

I ran the Stepconf wizard ok but when I tried the Test Axis panel it failed with a Broken Pipe error. I read thru the troubleshooting guide and found I was getting the LAPIC error "error inserting '/usr/realtime-2.6.32-122rtai/modules..." .

I followed the steps to fix the LAPIC error and after reboot I could run the Test Axis panel in Stepconf and jog the axes around, hooray ! However when I run LinuxCNC proper it just crashes/hangs the computer, and needs a reboot to recover.

I connected the network and let ubuntu update manager apply updates (not upgrading from 10.04). I now have LinuxCNC 2.5.2 on Ubuntu 10.04. However when I run LinuxCNC it still crashes/hangs the computer. The kernel is 2.6.32-122-rtai.

When I run LinuxCNC the message window shows 9 lines before it hangs.

1: ( AXIS "splash g-code" Not intended for actual milling )
...
7: ( LinuxCNC 19/1/2012 2:13:51 PM )
8: G21 G90 G64 G40
9: G0 Z3.0

and then it freezes.

I've repeated the install from scratch and still get the same problem. I've read the Troubleshooting guide but can't find any further help there. I've scanned the forum, but also haven't found any further help for this problem.

Hands up I'm probably missing something, but it's new, I don't understand what's wrong and I'm no linux guru. So I'd appreciate any help/guidance to troubleshoot the problem and get it working please.

Hi

There was a problem with axis.ngc which is run by default when Axis starts, locking it up, but I can't remember which version it was with or if it was fixed properly.

Go to /usr/share/axis/images

Copy axis.ngc to axis.ngc.old

Open axis.ngc and delete everything except the final M2 line and save it

Then try opening linuxcnc again

If the problem was that file it should work fine, if not start linuxcnc from a terminal and cut and paste the output in a post so we can see what is happening.
(Another possibility is an openGL error as soon as it tries to render a plot.)

regards

>There was a problem with axis.ngc

Thanks ArcEye I will investigate that.

I forgot to mention that I ran glxgears when running the the latency test without any problem, so openGL seems to work ok, and the ubuntu installation does otherwise seem ok, although I've not given it an exhaustive test.

Thanks for your help.

Is there also a problem with just jogging around, or running a regular ngc file?
If not it would seem axis.ngc is the problem, as there is no reason to run it seems like no reason to worry about it.

Or perhaps I misunderstood your post. Are you saying Linuxcnc hangs when starting or when you try to run the splash screen?

You can also edit the Display section of your ini file to use tkemc to see if the problem goes away.
www.linuxcnc.org/docs/2.4/html/config_ini_config.html

Rick G

I've tried modifying the axis.ngc file as suggested by ArcEye but it hasn't helped sadly. When I run LinuxCNC the message window shows

1: M2

and then the computer freezes.

I've tried starting LinuxCNC from a terminal and all I get is

Starting LinuxCNC...

and then the computer freezes.

I've installed from scratch again, no updates or upgrades (network disconnected), Linux 2.5.0. Fixed the Lapic error and performed the above tests again with the same results. The computer freezes.

The Ubuntu installation itself seems to work fine. When it has been connected to the network I can browse the web, watch YouTube videos, run glxgears and so on.

One thing I noted, is when starting LinuxCNC from a terminal it prompts me to choose a conf file, e.g. my-mill. It then freezes the computer whatever conf file I choose.

Rick G: Yes LinuxCNC hangs/freezes/crashes the whole computer when it is started. I have not yet got LinuxCNC to run at all, to try anything else with it. I have jogged the axes using the test panel in the stepconf wizard.

Thanks for your help so far, but I'm still stuck so any other suggestions please.

What's involved in building from source is that worth a try ?

Thanks for the suggestion JT.

I am totally new to LinuxCNC, and CNC in general. How/where do I identify a config that uses a non-open gl driver ?

How/where do I identify a config that uses a non-open gl driver ?

Try Sample Configurations > sim > tklinuxcnc or xlinuxcnc

You will recall I did say it could be the actual rendering of the plot rather than the file it was loading, that caused the problem
But we had to eliminate the file first.

Sometimes running glxgears is not a good indication of openGL problems
It is not a very extensive or sophisticated rendering.

This seems especially true when using a nvidia card or chip, their proprietary drivers GL rendering can cause huge problems.
If you have nvidia, consider using the opensource nv driver or even changing to the vesa one and see if that allows the plot rendering to work.

I don't think that switching to the software openGL libraries is likely to be the answer, because the situation that requires this normally produces a
blank black square or broken lines in Gremlin and never gets as far as rendering a plot.
But it is another option if the other ones don't apply / don't work

regards

PS
Really need the output from dmesg after the computer locked (dmesg > dmesg.text)
That should show a segfault and the library access that caused it

Sorry for the delay, and thanks for your help. I tried some of the non OpenGL configs and they seemed to work ok, and more importantly didn't crash the machine.

The gfx card isn't NVidia but an ATI Rage128 Pro 32MB. Synaptic reported the Xorg Rage driver was installed so I uninstalled that and rebooted to the ubuntu generic vga driver.

I then run LinuxCNC with a graphics config and it seems to run ok, no crash/hang. I have been able to run the LinuxCNC test program and the mill seems to be doing the right things. So this has worked around the problem but left me with a rather poor graphics display. Hence I need to do some further investigation on the gfx card/driver issue and possibly replace the card.

The machine I'm using is quite old, as the requirement for a desktop machine with a parallel port to connect to the mill has limited what I have available. So if I replace the gfx card I'm looking for something that will go in an AGP 1/2/4x slot. Any advice on what AGP cards are known to work would be appreciated.

Thanks again for your help.

Hi

At least that has narrowed down the problem to the openGL one suspected

I have no personal knowledge of working AGP cards but the latency test wiki does list the graphics cards used for the most part
If you spot one on there you can acquire that seems to be linked with good latency, might be one way to choose

wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Latency-Test

One thing I would try before doing this, is the software based openGL libraries
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Troubl...oftware_based_OpenGL

It is as simple as going into synaptic package manager and searching for and selecting libgl1-mesa-swx11

Select apply and you will be notified that libgl1-mesa-XXX will be removed, just make a note of the exact names

If that does not work better with your card, then go back into synaptic and install the libraries which were removed and libgl1-mesa-swx11 will be removed.
Then have a look for an AGP card

regards