Xorg segfault: kicks out to login screen

Did your screen freeze or did it kick you back to the login prompt? I have had a random issue of waking from suspend and then after a minute or 2 getting kicked out to the login prompt. I have a similar backtrace in my /var/logXorg.0.log.old file.

Fom me this happening with a Thinkpad T520 with Intel graphics. I see you have AMD tagged, so I don't match with you there.

I asked a "question" on launchpad here:

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+question/203802

iveand

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

having the same problem with my aspire 1810tz. mostly after suspend, sometimes also while i'm working. thrown back to login. problem first appeared with an update somewhen in july.

graphics from lspci:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device 029b
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 0
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 43
        Region 0: Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
        Region 2: Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Region 4: I/O ports at 30d0 [size=8]
        Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
        Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
                Address: fee0300c Data: 4171
        Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 3
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
        Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device 029b
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 0
        Region 0: Memory at d2400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
        Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 3
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

Andy, you describe exactly what I'm seeing and I'm on a T520 with Intel Graphics as well.

It just happened again shortly after coming out of suspend. Kicked me back login screen with a segfault in the X log. Same stack trace as the first one.

I've installed xserver-xorg-core-dbg xserver-xorg-video-intel-dbg now, hopoing it'll get me a better stack trace.

BTW amd64 is just another name for x86_64 and so doesn't necessarily imply an AMD based machine.

Oh, and for what it's worth I didn't see on either 10.04 or 11.10 after extensive use.

Lasse,

Interesting that you are on a T520 Intel graphics machine as well. So we clearly are having the same issue. I have a 32 bit install to be consistent with some other older desktop machines I support that cannot handle 64 bit.

I got this machine new a few months ago so have only seen the problem on 12.04.

Andy

OK, I have done a bit more testing.

In either Ubuntu (3D) or Ubuntu 2D, if I close the lid, wait for it to fully suspend, then re-open it, wait for it to fully connect and stop disk activity, then repeat, the 3rd time I do this the suspend light that blinks until it suspends (normally blinks about 2-3 seconds until going solid when fully suspending) continues to blink after closing the lid. It will continue blinking until opening the lid, at which time I am already kicked out to the login window (the crash has happened: window decorations are gone, etc on the shutdown prompt from the login screen).

So, this is happening w/o compiz (I am assuming when in Unity 2D that compiz is not actively loaded).

This behavior (3rd consecutive suspend then kicking to the login prompt) seems consistent (again in 3D or 2D), with no additional apps running (except the daemons I have running which include a few add-ons like classicmenu-indicator and glippy: I would be happy to disable these if anyone feels it may be relevant).

I would be happy to install the debug versions of xserver-xorg, but then after doing that then what do I do to get the stacktrace that may be of use to someone?

This bug affects me. I have a Lenovo X301 with Intel graphics. The description just above from iveand (#8) is identical to my symptoms.

I have reported what I think is the same bug here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1027619

Output from lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:03.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset MEI Controller (rev 07)
00:03.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset AMT SOL Redirection (rev 07)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M-E LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 4 port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh] Network Connection

Bug 1027619 does seem identical. I will mark the other as a duplicate as we have a bit more testing in the comments listed here, but good summary of problem in the other listing as well.

Again, I am happy to install the debug versions for xserver-xorg but would appreciate any help on how to best access the extended stack trace that may be generated.

Good idea. I'm going to paste the two descriptions from 1027619 here too:

OP:

I am running xubuntu 12.04 on a Thinkpad X301. Since I first installed 12.04 a few months ago, everything worked fine for a couple of months. But a few weeks ago (i.e. early July 2012), I started getting xorg crashes.

The crashes happen when the computer is attempting to sleep (suspend, not hibernate), either because I closed the lid or because I left it on long enough for sleep to kick in automatically. It happens about 1 time in 5 that sleep is attempted. I get returned to the login screen. Sleep does not complete. The flashing moon light continues to blink. I can log in again and continue, but nothing works properly... no wireless, docky will not launch, everything is very slow, etc.

These frequent crashes make xubuntu 12.04 completely unusable. I hope that a solution can be found soon.

Follow-up from joeaguy:

I have a ThinkPad t420s and have the same issue.

I can suspend to ram successfully several times, but under normal usage, after the 3rd or 4th time Xorg crashes and I am sent back to the login screen. The moon icon flashes and then stops. Once on the login screen, logging in does not work, control-alt-F1 (etc) do not get me to a login terminal. If I select shutdown, the computer goes to sleep during shutdown, and I have to wake it order to finish shutdown. The computer is generally not usable until I reboot.

I have tried booting and then putting my computer to sleep and waking it up repeatedly, running different programs in between each cycle, to try and find some trigger that reproduces the problem. I could not reproduce the problem this way. The crash has only happened for me after continuous normal usage. I have not been able to artificially create the conditions for the crash.

Let me know if there are any logs or other data I can provide to help diagnose.

Do other people get a crash report with this title:

Xorg crashed with SIGABRT in XIChangeDeviceProperty()

?

I was getting these Xorg crashes after an upgrade yesterday. It also caused some connectivity/network issues. The network issues seemed to revolve around my "vpnc" being active (not sure if that was upgraded yesterday too), but after reconfiguring the VPN, all is fine. No more Xorg crashes. Could have been a coincidence.
Thinkpad W510 (Xubuntu 12.10, all updates applied)
Linux 3.2.0-27-generic #43-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 6 14:25:57 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

bfrancom,

Any chance you have the time to try 3-4 successive "lid close, wait for full suspend, lid open, wait until all settled" sequences? I can consistently re-create the problem doing this and wonder if anyone can confirm.

this bug seems to be related to gnome network manager; the x session terminates in the moment when wifi connection is re-established after wakeup. i wonder if it is related to suspend at all...

FYI, I am using KDE as my desktop and have experienced this problem.

Re #15, for me this is NOT when the crash happens. For me, the crash happens while trying to suspend. I can tell this because the half-moon light keeps blinking, which means that the computer never actually goes properly into suspend (at which time that light would normally become solid).

It is pretty clear that this bug affects mostly Thinkpads. Also obviously has nothing to do with desktops, because it is reported on gnome, KDE, xfce, unity.... doesn't matter.

I should note that I have seen the issue in 2 ways:

1. The manual 3 times suspend / wake leads me to the type of hang that smwilsonau reports: nameile the "half-moon light keeps blinking" when the lid is closed and it is attempting to suspend. Then, when opening the lid, I am already back to the login prompt.

2. After waking from a suspend (long suspend.... maybe a few hours) I do "normal computing" for about 30 seconds, after which I am then immediately kicked to the login screen.

Number 2 above is harder for me to reproduce as it is when I am "not trying". I will try to check dmesg after each type of problem to confirm they seem similar.

I will also try disalbing wireless and then trying number 1 above (3 suspend cycles) to see if the error still exists. This should address the possible issue mentioned in #15.

I would also be keen to give a better "stacktrace" or log output using the debug pieces, but don't exactly know where to look for the extended info they would generate. Any help in this regard is welcomed.

I wonder if anyone who actually works on X is reading any of this? Sadly, I am now using Windows... can't use ubuntu when it crashes five times a day.

I have confirmed that the "kick out to login" still is a problem even with wifi disabled (via hardware switch).

Stephen, I have the machine set to not suspend (due to inactivity) when plugged in. So, we are shutting it down overnight, but keeping it active during the day. Windows just isn't an option for me!

i also confirmed that the bug doesn't appear switching on and off the wifi by hardware switch..
still, last time the bug appeared for me, i was waiting for the wifi connection due to bad signal; as soon as it got connected, i was kicked to the login. strange bug...

I think this is the bug I have noticed since some point in July.

As a distinction, this is not on a Thinkpad - it's a Samsung NC10 Netbook. I've been using this as you would a netbook - suspend by shutting the lid, then start up, get the login prompt and back to where you were before the suspension happened.
In the last month, often a short period after restoring - so you can switch windows in Chromium or go to look at mail, I get dumped out to the login screen.
Noticed the Segfault error with Xorg in /var/log/kern.log.

segfault at 9 ip b76fdb28 sp bf821000 error 4 in Xorg

What other info would it be useful to gather?

Here's lspci, in case that helps:

andy@andy-NC10:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GSE Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GSE Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7-M Family) SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 13)

Andy Holyer, are you indicating this bug happens when hibernating as well? If you are "suspending" and that is fully shutting down your computer, starting again and logging in back to the place you were before it seems like you are referring to "hibernating".

Regardless, it does seem like the same bug.

Just checked the exact details - I suspend the machine when I shut the lid. Looking on the Power control panel, "hibernate" is greyed out. ISTR I need more swap than I have core in order to hibernate?? - that wasn't deliberate, I simply used the settings 12.04 applied when I installed clean.

So no, I do mean suspend, not hibernate. But I do think this is the same bug. Might do some digging to see if I cn turn on hibernation to see if that changes matters. I would guess not, since the machine comes up to full functionality, then Xorg seggies to log me out.

Addendum to the above. I have upped the swap to 4GB and enabled Hibernate (it's disabled by default in 12.04).

First impression is that it simply makes the sleep/wake cycle take a hell of a lot longer, but I don't have the flashing power LED which will probably be an advantage if I take the machine to bed with me.

No log-out yet using hibernate, but I'll monitor behaviour over the next few days. Watch this space.

News at 11: Just restored from Hibernate: 33 seconds (I make it) after restore, I was logged out. Xorg error as anticipated.

I've snaffled what looks to me to be the kern.log lines during hibernation and restore. They, plus the Xorg Seg fault line, re attached.

anyone tried a fresh install/start from live system yet? where 12.04 live system should be ok as this bug was first reported in july

probably it is related to one of these xorg updates:
xserver-xorg-core:amd64 (1.11.4-0ubuntu10.3, 1.11.4-0ubuntu10.5)
xserver-xorg-core:amd64 (1.11.4-0ubuntu10.5, 1.11.4-0ubuntu10.6)

I should note that the machine I am having issues with is running 32 bit, so is not just 64bit related.

I just tried from a live CD on a stick (12.04 32 bit), and couldn't reproduce the problem (not 100% sure it wouldn't crop up, but it successfully woke from suspend 10 times in a row without kicking to login screen). So, seemed good.

I then went into synaptic and forced xserver-xorg-core to be at version 1.11.4-0ubuntu10 (I think this is what shipped with base 12.04 according to this link: http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/pm/xserver-xorg-core). I then rebooted, and the kick out to login screen appeared on the first suspend wake I tried!

Other packages suggested to downgrade? I'll try again with the thumbdrive (12.04 base) to see if I can get it to fail, but at this point I can't.

This issue affects me as well. I have a ThinkPad T410. Though I haven't tried the successive sleep-wakeup experiment, I suspect the crash occurs as described by comment #18 above.

Here's my lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset KT Controller (rev 06)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 06)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 06)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1000
0d:00.0 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd MMC/SD Host Controller (rev 01)
0d:00.1 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd Memory Stick Host Controller (rev 01)
0d:00.3 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 PCIe IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 01)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)

Has anyone found a workaround for this?

I finally managed to get a core dump and a better stacktrace:
(gdb) bt full
#0 XIGetDeviceProperty (dev=0x7f962cfb5760, property=<optimized out>, value=0x7fff8ba11458) at ../../Xi/xiproperty.c:852
        handler = <optimized out>
        prop = 0x7f962cfba920
        rc = <optimized out>
#1 0x00007f962b69f422 in get_property (dev=<optimized out>, property=304, type=19, offset=<optimized out>, length=<optimized out>, bytes_after=0x7fff8ba11528, type_return=0x7fff8ba1152c, format=0x7fff8ba11520,
    nitems=0x7fff8ba11524, length_return=0x7fff8ba1151c, data=0x7fff8ba11510, delete=<optimized out>, client=<optimized out>) at ../../Xi/xiproperty.c:290
        n = <optimized out>
        len = <optimized out>
        ind = <optimized out>
        rc = <optimized out>
        prop = <optimized out>
        prop_value = <optimized out>
#2 0x00007f962b69fa2a in get_property (data=0x7fff8ba11510, length_return=0x7fff8ba1151c, nitems=0x7fff8ba11524, format=0x7fff8ba11520, type_return=0x7fff8ba1152c, bytes_after=0x7fff8ba11528, length=1,
    offset=0, delete=0 '\000', type=19, property=304, dev=0x7f962cfb5760, client=<optimized out>) at ../../Xi/xiproperty.c:272
No locals.
#3 ProcXGetDeviceProperty (client=0x7f962d488420) at ../../Xi/xiproperty.c:991
        stuff = 0x7f962d488800
        dev = 0x7f962cfb5760
        length = <optimized out>
        rc = <optimized out>
        format = <optimized out>
        nitems = <optimized out>
        bytes_after = <optimized out>
        data = <optimized out>
        type = <optimized out>
        reply = {repType = 200 '\310', RepType = 141 '\215', sequenceNumber = 11159, length = 32662, propertyType = 727490564, bytesAfter = 32662, nItems = 731368368, format = 150 '\226', deviceid = 127 '\177',
          pad1 = 0, pad2 = 731352512, pad3 = 32662}
#4 0x00007f962b5c58a1 in Dispatch () at ../../dix/dispatch.c:442
        clientReady = 0x7f962cee9470
        result = <optimized out>
        client = 0x7f962d488420
        nready = 0
        icheck = 0x7f962b97cbd0
        start_tick = 117780
#5 0x00007f962b5b47ba in main (argc=9, argv=<optimized out>, envp=<optimized out>) at ../../dix/main.c:287
        i = <optimized out>
        alwaysCheckForInput = {0, 1}
(gdb)

The device in question seems to be the touchpad:

(gdb) p dev->name
$1 = 0x7f962cfb64b0 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
(gdb)

Those of you who are seeing similar problems; could you try to get a core dump and a full stack trace?

Here's how I managed to do it:

1. Prevent X from trapping SIGSEGV by putting the following in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-no-trap-signals.conf:

Section "ServerFlags"
 Option "NoTrapSignals" "true"
EndSection

2. Tell X to dump core by adding the following to the [SeatDefaults] section of /etc/lightdm.conf:

xserver-command=X -core

3. Make sure the X is allowed to dump core:
 - log out from your session
 - switch to another VT (ctrl-alt-f1)
 - sudo stop lightdm
 - ulimit -c unlimited
 - sudo lightdm

4. Check that the changes kicked in:
$ ps -fp $(pidof X)
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
root 16043 6885 1 08:44 tty7 00:01:34 /usr/bin/X -core :7 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:7 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch
$ cat /proc/$(pidof X)/limits | grep core
Max core file size unlimited unlimited bytes
$

5. Switch back to VT7, log in and wait for X to crash again.

6. To get meaningful stacktraces, you'll want debug symbols installed for X and friends (adjust for different video drivers):

sudo apt-get install libc6-dbg xserver-xorg-core-dbg xserver-xorg-video-intel-dbg

7. If/when X crashes, check for /etc/X11/core. If it exists, copy it to your home dir and run:

gdb /usr/bin/Xorg core

8. In gdb, say "bt full" to get a stacktrace.

Lasse,

I followed the above steps, but am not getting a /etc/X11/core created after a crash. I did install the dbg versions of core and video-intel.

One minor adjustment to the above instructions is that lightdm.conf is in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf (just forgot the lightdm folder)

Hmm.... Interesting... The same thing actually happened to me. First crash after going through the above didn't produce a core dump. A couple of days later though, crash + core dump. Don't know why it wouldn't work the first time but maybe trying again will get you a core, like it did for me.

The dbg packages won't matter for getting a core dump - only for generating a meaningful stacktrace with gdb afterwards.

Having the same problem on a Thinkpad T410s, also Intel graphics (Core i5).
I just tried to create a core dump, following the instructions of Lasse. However when trying to reproduce the crash, I had a total lockup, with hard reset needed. No /etc/X11/core was generated.

Update:
I found a file "_usr_bin_Xorg.0.crash" in /var/crash which contains a lot of useful information, including a core dump (so I think).
Trying to get that info reported, I used apport to report an additional bug: 1032612
However the most valuable information (stack trace) seems to be missing. So I found out about the tool "apport-unpack".
Now I have a file containing a stack trace. Here it is:

#0 DeleteInputDeviceRequest (pDev=0x7ff2659e0c90) at ../../../../hw/xfree86/common/xf86Xinput.c:1004
        pInfo = 0x7ff200000001
        drv = 0x0
        isMaster = 0
#1 0x00007ff262712e6c in CloseDeviceList (listHead=0x7ff262ad4f08) at ../../dix/devices.c:997
        freedIds = {0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0 <repeats 27 times>}
        dev = <optimized out>
#2 0x00007ff262713411 in CloseDownDevices () at ../../dix/devices.c:1027
        dev = 0x0
#3 0x00007ff262862887 in SigAbortServer (signo=11) at ../../os/log.c:472
No locals.
#4 0x00007ff2628634b3 in FatalSignal (signo=11) at ../../os/log.c:603
        beenhere = 1
#5 <signal handler called>
No symbol table info available.
#6 0x00007ff25c339678 in ?? () from /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/synaptics_drv.so
No symbol table info available.
#7 0x00007ff26273a5d7 in BasicComputeAcceleration (dev=<optimized out>, vel=0x7ff2659e36d0, velocity=<optimized out>, threshold=<optimized out>, acc=<optimized out>) at ../../dix/ptrveloc.c:744
        result = <optimized out>
#8 0x00007ff26273afe6 in ComputeAcceleration (acc=<optimized out>, threshold=<optimized out>, vel=0x7ff2659e36d0, dev=0x7ff2659e0c90) at ../../dix/ptrveloc.c:778
        result = <optimized out>
#9 acceleratePointerPredictable (dev=0x7ff2659e0c90, val=0x7fff7f6ca6d0, evtime=5484544) at ../../dix/ptrveloc.c:1147
        mult = 0
        dx = <optimized out>
        dy = <optimized out>
        velocitydata = 0x7ff2659e36d0
        soften = <optimized out>
#10 0x00007ff2627320b7 in accelPointer (ms=5484544, valuators=0x7fff7f6ca6d0, dev=0x7ff2659e0c90) at ../../dix/getevents.c:793
No locals.
#11 fill_pointer_events (events=0x7ff262656b00, pDev=0x7ff2659e0c90, type=6, buttons=0, ms=5484544, flags=10, mask_in=0x7fff7f6ca8c0) at ../../dix/getevents.c:1332
        num_events = 2
        event = <optimized out>
        raw = 0x7ff262656010
        screenx = 0
        screeny = 0
        devx = 0
        devy = 0
        mask = {last_bit = 1 '\001', mask = "\003\000\000\000", valuators = {3, -21, 0 <repeats 34 times>}}
        scr = <optimized out>
#12 0x00007ff262733302 in GetPointerEvents (events=0x7ff262656010, pDev=0x7ff2659e0c90, type=<optimized out>, buttons=<optimized out>, flags=10, mask_in=<optimized out>) at ../../dix/getevents.c:1586
        ms = 5484544
        num_events = 0
        nev_tmp = <optimized out>
        mask = {last_bit = 1 '\001', mask = "\003\000\000\000", valuators = {3, -21, 0 <repeats 34 times>}}
        scroll = {last_bit = 16 '\020', mask = "\204\204e\362\177", valuators = {6.9504691622113862e-310, 0, 6.9504666643361316e-310, 6.9504668085624904e-310, 6.950466664325361e-310, 0, 6.950466613323162e-310, 0, 1.595740835078115e-311, 6.9504668069419551e-310, 6.9504692448412963e-310, 6.9504692448855...

didi_X8, I am not sure your crash is the same issue, it seems yours bombed out in BasicComputeAcceleration() while in this report it is XIGetDeviceProperty().

The original poster had XIChangeDeviceProperty+40, whereas I got XIChangeDeviceProperty+440 which is also seen in http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=681796 (440 = 0x1b8) but I think they are the same. I have a T410 running 32-bit.

This might be a duplicate of bug 956071.

Same here.

[242145.761286] Xorg[1287]: segfault at 9 ip b76d2b28 sp bf896790 error 4 in Xorg[b75b2000+1f3000]
[242145.761524] Core dump to |/usr/share/apport/apport 1287 11 0 pipe failed

Finally got the /etc/X11/core created on recent crash yesterday.

Trying the gdb command, I was first presented with an error, after which I ran the bt full command (inside gdb). Maybe I have a problem and gdb is not running well? I'll post the reply when starting gdb, and then the results of the gdb full command:

======================================================

first, just starting gdb (I had changed permissions on the "core" file to be 666):

~$ gdb /usr/bin/Xorg core
GNU gdb (Ubuntu/Linaro 7.4-2012.04-0ubuntu2) 7.4-2012.04
Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type "show copying"
and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "i686-linux-gnu".
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<http://bugs.launchpad.net/gdb-linaro/>...
Reading symbols from /usr/bin/Xorg...Reading symbols from /usr/lib/debug/usr/bin/Xorg...done.
done.
[New LWP 1253]

warning: Can't read pathname for load map: Input/output error.
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libthread_db.so.1".
Core was generated by `/usr/bin/X -core :0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitc'.
Program terminated with signal 6, Aborted.
#0 0xb7509424 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
(gdb) bt full

======================================================

Now, here is the bt full:

(gdb) bt full
#0 0xb7509424 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
No symbol table info available.
#1 0xb71a41ef in __GI_raise (sig=6)
    at ../nptl/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/raise.c:64
        resultvar = <optimized out>
        resultvar = <optimized out>
        pid = -1221496844
        selftid = 1253
#2 0xb71a7835 in __GI_abort () at abort.c:91
        save_stage = 2
        act = {__sigaction_handler = {sa_handler = 0x407,
            sa_sigaction = 0x407}, sa_mask = {__val = {3075656124, 3075668188,
              6, 8, 3217881636, 3072690606, 0, 0, 3072024909, 3073470452,
              3073470452, 10, 3217883172, 3072812426, 2, 3217881636, 8, 0,
              3217884364, 0, 7, 0, 5, 3217881740, 3217881732, 8, 3073200872,
              3073200876, 3075653632, 2, 3075806873, 3}}, sa_flags = 4,
          sa_restorer = 0xb72d2dbf}
        sigs = {__val = {32, 0 <repeats 31 times>}}
#3 0xb71df2fa in __libc_message (do_abort=2,
    fmt=0xb72d73bc "*** glibc detected *** %s: %s: 0x%s ***\n")
    at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/libc_fatal.c:201
        ap = 0xb6ebb000 ""
        ap_copy = 0xb6ebb000 ""
        fd = 2
        on_2 = <optimized out>
        list = <optimized out>
        nlist = <optimized out>
        cp = <optimized out>
        written = <optimized out>
#4 0xb71e9e42 in malloc_printerr (action=<optimized out>,
    str=<optimized out>, ptr=0xb93b1940) at malloc.c:5007
        buf = "b93b1940"
        cp = <optimized out>
#5 0xb764c88c in XIDeleteAllDeviceProperties (device=0xb93af288)
    at ../../Xi/xiproperty.c:658
        prop = <optimized out>
        next = <optimized out>
        curr_handler = ...

I should cross reference that it seems there are a few additional related bugs which seem to be very simliar, if not identical:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/956071

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/1030535

Proposed workaround offered in posts #31 and #32 from here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/956071

I have followed the suggestion from #31 and have not had any crashes since.

I think, the probnlem is this packege: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics.
This issue persists since version 1.6.2-1ubuntu1~precise1. So i forced version 1.5.99.902-0ubuntu5.
After that, i had not issue anymore with lid open/close......

Just confirming that there have been no crashes for me after reverting the xserver-xorg-input-synaptics version and locking it in synaptic package manager as well (advice from other bug #32 linked to above).

The other workarounds that have the trackpad seen as a basic ps2 mouse limit the functionality of the trackpad. But simply reverting the version has solved the crashes. So as suggested by jmalter, it does seem to be a regression in the current version.