Bug 454194 - System crash when connecting monitors via a USB hub
Summary: System crash when connecting monitors via a USB hub
Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: 5.24.5
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR crash
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2022-05-22 05:44 UTC by Miguel Guthridge
Modified: 2022-06-25 04:35 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Latest Commit:
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Sentry Crash Report:


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Description Miguel Guthridge 2022-05-22 05:44:40 UTC
SUMMARY
Sometimes, when I plug my laptop into my USB-C dock, my system crashes, taking me back to the login screen and killing all my active tasks. This doesn't happen all the time, and is quite unpredictable, but seems to happen the most after startup. Since I get no error popups, I'm not sure where to get a traceback from, but if someone can tell me, I can try to grab one the next time I get a crash.

If it helps, this is the list of other bugs I get with my dock:
* Ethernet is broken unless I reconnect my dock after logging in.
* The external displays frequently lose their settings, meaning I need to reconfigure my entire desktop for those displays again (I think this is 353975 or 427861).
* Sometimes audio from the dock is very stuttery, and can only be fixed after a restart.
* My system tray keeps removing its configuration so all the icons reappear, even though I've permanently hidden them.

The crash seems to be more likely to happen if I connect the dock to a different USB port to usual.

My dock is a Lenovo ThinkPad Hybrid USB-C with USB-A Dock.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Connect dock

OBSERVED RESULT
Everything crashes and I lose all my work, or my desktop loses all its settings, or my audio becomes stuttery, or the system tray resets.

EXPECTED RESULT
My external displays connect normally, keeping their standard settings and not breaking massively.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Kubuntu 22.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.94.0
Qt Version: 5.15.3
Kernel Version: 5.15.0-30-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 12 × Intel® Core™ i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz
Memory: 15.4 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2022-05-23 19:20:13 UTC
If something crashed, we need a backtrace of it so we can figure out what's going on. See https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Debugging/How_to_create_useful_crash_reports

Can you please attach one? Thanks!
Comment 2 Miguel Guthridge 2022-05-24 04:46:24 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> If something crashed, we need a backtrace of it so we can figure out what's
> going on. See
> https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Debugging/
> How_to_create_useful_crash_reports
> 
> Can you please attach one? Thanks!

Sadly I can't figure out how to get a backtrace on my system since I don't get the error pop-up when the crash happens. It simply takes me straight back to the login screen. I did notices that it displays some error messages on the screen right before showing the login screen though, so I've uploaded a quick video of that. The error messages should be readable.

https://youtu.be/8ZNDS-n4Aug

If there is any info on how I can access the backtraces? Since all my running apps get killed, I imagine that GDB would be taken down with it, so the advice in the linked article desn't really help.
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2022-05-24 15:21:30 UTC
You may be able to retrieve a backtrace using `coredumpctl`. See https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Debugging/How_to_create_useful_crash_reports#Retrieving_a_backtrace_using_coredumpctl

This strikes me as likely to ultimately be caused by an issue in the graphics drivers or the kernel, though.
Comment 4 Miguel Guthridge 2022-05-26 06:21:03 UTC
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3)
> You may be able to retrieve a backtrace using `coredumpctl`. See
> https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Debugging/
> How_to_create_useful_crash_reports#Retrieving_a_backtrace_using_coredumpctl
> 
> This strikes me as likely to ultimately be caused by an issue in the
> graphics drivers or the kernel, though.

It looks like basically everything crashed over the course of 3 seconds or so, due to a combination of SIGABRT and SIGSEGV errors.

The first program to crash is Xorg, then 5 instances of drkonqi, a bunch of other random apps, and then near the end kwin_x11.

All of them have an accessible corefile except for Xorg (which is marked as inaccessible). Should I try installing a few more debug symbols to try to get more info on Xorg in particular, since it appears to be the first program to crash (although if it's a kernel issue, I'm not sure if it would appear in this list?).
Comment 5 Nate Graham 2022-05-26 16:00:14 UTC
Yes please.

If Xorg itself is crashing though, it's very likely an Xorg issue or a kernel issue, not a KDE issue.
Comment 6 Bug Janitor Service 2022-06-10 04:35:38 UTC
Dear Bug Submitter,

This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least
15 days. Please provide the requested information as soon as
possible and set the bug status as REPORTED. Due to regular bug
tracker maintenance, if the bug is still in NEEDSINFO status with
no change in 30 days the bug will be closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
due to lack of needed information.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the
wiki located here:
https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging

If you have already provided the requested information, please
mark the bug as REPORTED so that the KDE team knows that the bug is
ready to be confirmed.

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!
Comment 7 Bug Janitor Service 2022-06-25 04:35:34 UTC
This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least
30 days. The bug is now closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
due to lack of needed information.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the
wiki located here:
https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!