Filed under: OS Updates, Linux, Canonical
Ubuntu alpha hits a snag
by Christina Warren Sep 26th 2008 at 3:00PM
"In some circumstances it appears possible for the 2.6.27-rc kernels to corrupt the NVRAM used by some Intel network parts to store data such as MAC addresses. This is limited to the new e1000e driver, and reports have only appeared from users of "82566 and 82567 based LAN parts (ich8 and ich9)" (to quote Intel). The reports seem to be isolated to laptops, but it is not clear if this is because desktop/server parts are not vulnerable, or if use cases simply increase the chances of laptop users being hit."
In other words, if your laptop (though it is unclear if desktops are also affected), uses the Intel 82566 or 82567 (ich8 and ich9) chipset for your on-board LAN, DO NOT INSTALL UBUNTU 8.10 ALPHA UNTIL THIS ISSUE IS RESOLVED. Check your system documentation to see what chipset you are using.
The new e1000e driver in the new kernel release candidate can potentially corupt the NVRAM in these chipsets, potentially irrevocably killing the hardware. There are reports that recovery is possible via a BIOS update, but it looks like right now hardware replacement is the most likely scenario.
I'm not one to say, "steer clear of the alpha" -- but if there is any question in your mind that you may be running one of those two Intel chipsets, stay away until this mess is cleared up.
In the bug forum, some users are asking why Ubuntu continues to keep this release up at all, or at least keep the driver in question available. The answer, it seems is, "if we take it down, we won't reach the projected release date."
You know, I get that running alpha software has potential risks, but in 99.99% of cases, those risks are to software systems and data, not to hardware -- especially not to hardware is integrated into a laptop motherboard (making it that much more expensive to replace, if you don't want to get an external adapter.
Seriously, pull the download, pull the driver, or whip up a program that can identify if the user has one of the two chipsets in question (and based on this list, that's a lot of potential gigabit ethernet cards) so that they can check before downloading. A notice in the ISO and a CYA response in the forums really doesn't help Open Source's cause for public acceptance and adoption.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bufsabre said 3:18PM on 9-26-2008
well its not an ubuntu fail, its a linux kernel fail, you should tell people to also not compile the most recent kernel for themselves like alot of people do
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Christina Warren said 3:27PM on 9-26-2008
It's a dual fail. It's a kernel fail for the driver issue. It's an Ubuntu fail for the crappy way they are reacting to the issue. Some distros pulled the driver, some didn't -- but anything as big as Ubuntu and anything that sells itself as "for the people" should do a better job handling incidents like this.
Nobodyzhome said 9:36AM on 9-27-2008
It's not an Ubuntu fail or even a Linux kernel fail. It's an Intel fail for making hardware that software can damage. If the NVRAM gets corrupt, there should be a way to undo that, but Intel engineers probably thought, hmmm... that could never happen and left it shoddily designed.
Gutter said 7:30AM on 9-29-2008
@Nobodyzhome : yeah, just like those damn Ford engineer who didn't make they car to work after they fall of a cliff!
Those damn engineer, everything is their fault
Yuli Cherkashin said 4:17PM on 9-26-2008
As the man says, it is not a Ubuntu issue. It is a Linux kernel issue.
The driver responsible for disabling the ICH8 and ICH9 integrated LAN is part of the Linux kernel (or so it seems to me, not an Intel-supplied driver).
The issue is plaguing all recent systems, from RedHat, Canonical and other distributors. First reported by either Mandriva or SUSE, or whatever.
See http://www.osnews.com/story/20318/Major_Corruption_Bug_in_e1000e_Driver_in_Linux_Kernel_2_6_27for details.
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Chad said 4:30PM on 9-26-2008
In my opinion alpha does not mean "for the people". It is for those that have the means to take risks such as developers and those that want to be on the bleeding edge.
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Vadim Peretokin said 7:43PM on 9-26-2008
The driver was blacklisted, and appropriate measures were taken by all Linux distros.
Yeah, it's a snag, but if you use the alphas - which you shouldn't unless you're keeping in touch - then you'll already know about it.
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Abhi said 3:57PM on 9-27-2008
Just echoing the sentiment: it's an Alpha, after all. It's not 'for the people'. The 'people' should stick to the last stable release. Alpha releases *are* for unearthing such bugs to begin with.
This would be newsworthy, if a final release of Ubuntu contained such a bug. Otherwise, the 'people' aren't really affected.
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David said 5:32PM on 9-27-2008
Wow, why so fat to jump on Ubuntu? Is this not a alpha? And like people keep saying this is a kernel issue, sounds to me like someone is trying to make Ubuntu look bad, gosh who could that be.
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Christina Warren said 4:09PM on 9-27-2008
For the record, my systems that run Linux run Ubuntu (UbuntuMyth and I have an Ubuntu dev server VM for web testing, my hosted servers run Debian, CentOS and OS X 10.5.5 server respectively) -- I think SuSe sucks and Novell certainly had nothing to do with this post.
I understand that this was not just limited to Ubuntu, but Ubuntu is under the spotlight, and the Ubuntu forums, were frankly insulting to anyone who might encounter a problem. Fedora took action, other distros took action, Ubuntu didn't. That's why this was written.
And in all my years of alpha and beta testing software, I have NEVER come across a public release (and this might not be hugely public, but it is still public) that can fry hardware. Especially hardware that you have to replace the motherboard to repair (try finding the actual part for your laptop motherboard, even if you want to do a DIY repair without being a vendor -- good luck -- and any repair shop will just replace the motherboard instead of trying to fix the on-board LAN). Private alphas, sure -- public alphas -- no.
It's a fail for everyone involved. Everyone.
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Steve Parker said 6:45PM on 10-16-2008
In Open Source, there is no such thing as a "private alpha" - what would that mean, exactly?
Alpha is alpha; if an upstream kernel driver could fry your hardware, that sounds like a very good reason for not running alpha software. It sounds as if it would actually just rewrite some of the nvram, which should not be terminal anyway.
If you want stable, supported Ubuntu, then use Ubuntu LTS. That's what it's for.
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maco said 2:59PM on 9-28-2008
Ubuntu has pulled the driver for the beta, and if you read the Ubuntu kernel-team mailing list archives, you'll see that parts of the driver are being rewritten to prevent this.
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Calvin said 3:38AM on 9-29-2008
I'm not going to blame you because you don't seem to be a software developer but you are a journalist and I believe it's your responsibility to research things beforehand. In my opinion this is pure stupidity as Ubuntu releases an aplha so bugs can be found, they give you a disclaimer saying they don't care if you install the aplha and it fries your machine or it makes your computer try to kill you. They give you their thanks in return though. That's the way it goes.
I suggest you don't blame Ubuntu for their response because that's asinine. You can by all means WARN people about it though. This is akin to making an article on how the user switcher applet kept on crashing for me in Ubuntu Aplha 6 and it's Ubuntu's fault for not pulling that pesky network manager from the aplha and saying sorry to every Tom, Dick, and Harry because they didn't like it. I'm just giving you friendly advise even though I'm just a random person on the internet so you can do as you please with the little knowledge I have that I've given you.
The Ubuntu developers may not seem to care but I know that as a developer it's irritating when I have someone complaining about something in an aplha instead of just filing a bug report and leaving me to my work. No matter what you do with this text you read though I hope you have a nice day.
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Dave stroud said 1:50AM on 9-30-2008
I run ubuntu 8.10 on my machine and its the best alpha I have run from ubuntu. Not many problems for me. They have allways warned you of the risk of using alpha. There download site displays a big warning in red at the start of the page so it cant be missed. We cant blame ubuntu. they are saying thatas soon as they got the bug report they went to work on it. It has not been fixed yet, but they have released an image updated fix that works around it.Still one should not use it unless they are not prepared.Also I use it on an old machine that I built myself and in most cases I can replace most hardware if something happens to it.I do feel for he people that have been affected by this. thanks
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Stephen said 5:43AM on 10-17-2008
Its an Alpha release, you use it at your own risk. If you don't know what chipset you have on your OWN laptop, then don't download the Alpha. The release is for power users to test and bug report, so finding this serious bug means the Alpha has done what it's supposed to. Not to mention, the problem is with the Kernel not Ubuntu.
If this was a Beta release, then maybe I could understand the request to pull the download, but people need to understand that 'Alpha' doesn't mean 'Get to play with Ubuntu early' so if you're unsure, don't touch it.
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