Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt

Get the above message every time anything is plugged in to the USB ports. At first I thought it was a power issue, so I have an new PSU with the below specifications but that hasn't solved the issue.

Input AC 100-240V 50/60Hz
Output Voltage DC 5v
Output Current 2.1A Max
Output Power 10.5W Max
Socket type USB A Socket x2

The description states the power is distributed as 2.1A from one socket or 1.05A from two sockets, i've tried it with something plugged into both, and the Pi plugged in just by itself and still get the same issue.

So any suggestions?

I have got a little further with this, it now no longer dies when I plug any USB device in, if I connect the mouse (100mA) it works and the light on the mouse comes on, plug in the multi-media keyboard (50mA) and it crashes everytime, its looking more like a compatability between the keyboard and hte PI

Also having this error - have checked power supply

Now getting further - unplug all USB devices

It appears certain keyboards are not compatible with the Pi, in general any cheap multimedia keyboard will not work. However wireless keyboard and mice sets do work!

The Tesco £5 multi media keyboard works like a charm...

I went for the Currys/PCWorld Essentials Wired Multimedia Keyboard and Mouse set (PDSMW11), which gives me the Kernel panic message. I can boot the Pi to login without the keyboard and mouse attached, but if I plug in the keyboard I get the Kernel panic message straight away. I've tried this with and without wired Ethernet connected and get the same results.

(I'm using a 5V 2.1A USB travel adaptor as my power source.)



Iain

[rurwin]

I wish I had seen this before I bought a Currys Essentials at 6pm today

It isn't just the multimedia keyboard either; mine is the basic one.
This is the second keyboard in a row that panics the kernel; I bought Wilkinson's finest on Friday.

The ASDA one and the Cherry work perfectly, so it isn't user error, and it almost certainly isn't power; this one is only 50mA.
It isn't necessarily the cheap ones; ASDA's is half the price and it works.

I Wanna Play With My Pi!

ETA: The Satzuma.com Roll-Up keyboard does the same. At least that was a Christmas present.

And I've tried them on a powered hub now. It is not power.

Thanks bigsi111, I see a Tesco's in my future.

I've just found this topic after several fruitless hours with a pair of LK-890 keyboards that give the error message in the topic title. Tried 2 keyboards (both OK on 'proper' computers), 2 RPis, 2 different PSUs, 2 different powered USB hubs (as well as keyboard direct into the RPi) and the Debian, Arch and Qt flavours of OS. Always the same result.

Is this a driver issue that somebody can fix or do I need to fork out for replacement keyboards?

[rurwin]

I hope this is a bug in the GPU firmware or the Linux driver. If so it should get fixed at some time. However I have not so far seen any official recognition of any bug, so you might be waiting a long time.

At least it isn't expensive to get a test system and prove there is a problem: £5.30 from Wilko's.

And just for reassurance, after having kernel panics on the first three keyboards I tried, two of which I bought especially, I bought a Logitech K300 and it works perfectly.

The wiki has a long list of working and non-working keyboards.

Now getting further - unplug all USB devices

I had the same kernel panic problem. So, I unplugged my keyboard and mouse and the Raspberry Pi went right through the initialisation and then rebooted and went all the way to the login prompt. No Keyboard, So I plug in the keyboard - Go to "Kernel panic - not syncing".

It appears certain keyboards are not compatible with the Pi, in general any cheap multimedia keyboard will not work. However wireless keyboard and mice sets do work!

My lucky day - My Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse worked - thanks for the suggestion.

Can somebody who has the problem with keyboards crashing the kernel post a stack trace and/or a usbmon dump?

@secretagent, I would gladly post it if I knew how to save everything to a file

[rurwin]

Unfortunately I returned both bad keyboards to the shops.

The stack trace is what appears on the screen. A camera may be the only way to grab it.

BTW, just noticed my working keyboard is a K200, not a K300 as I posted above.

Know what data I need to capture, the problem is how to do it.

Tried with kdump and kexec, but can't load the kernel. I've never used these tools before and it is almost midnight. Living this for the weekend, there are some things to study.

Another solution could be a serial console, but I don't have the right cables to try it.

Similar problem with the NOVATECH own brand NOV-KEY2 both direct connection and through a powered hub, connected during boot or after. Sometimes kernel panic and sometimes an as yet unidentified error with lots of scrolling text. The keyboard itself is sound on both w*****s and an Intel based Ubuntu box.

Yes, if anybody has access to the serial console (with a 3.3v to usb serial cable or a rs232 level shifter and a rs232 serial port) it would be the easiest way to get the stack trace in text form. If not, then a (good quality) picture may help too.

kdump is technically ideal since it would capture the whole kernel memory but the default kernels do not support ktrace, so the kernel will need to be rebuilt for it and the userspace tools need to be installed and configured.

I encountered this kernel panic when using a Microsoft multimedia keyboard. I have switched to a simpler Dell keyboard for now and we'll see what happens!

Add another to the list (though this was already intimated by previous post)

PC World ESSENTIALS PKBW11 Keyboard also suffers from the same issue

[rurwin]

Please will anyone who has this problem, please take a (readable) picture of the screen and post it here.

Screenshot of Kernel Panic with USB Keyboard

Kernel-Panic.png (55.45 KiB) Viewed 3511 times

One image, as requested - hope it's legible, as I've had to reduce the quality horrendously to get it down to 64k... Email me or something for a better quality version.

This was with a PC World essentials model PKBW11 attached. I also get the same problem with a PC World Essentials PDSMW11 - I'm wondering if the 'W11' in both model numbers indicates a chipset of some type?

[rurwin]

Thanks. That should give the kernel guys something to chew over.

Check out the Wiki for known good keyboards.

[dom]

@dwilkin
Newer kernels give function names in stack traces (and also may have relevant bug fixes). Can you try repeating this test after a firmware update:
http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting# ... g_firmware

Kernel-Panic-II.png (60.15 KiB) Viewed 3489 times

Hi Dom

After a successful update (which was an adventure in itself!) I've obtained this image for you - hope it's OK.

Darren

Thanks dwilkin. It looks like more information will be required. If I give you a modified kernel that logs some debugging information from the USB driver to a file on the SD card will you be willing to run it and then send me the log file?