Raspberry Pi Model B (512mb RAM) frequently freezing up

My Raspberry Pi (Model B, 512mb RAM) freezes up frequently (about once out of every two times I use it). I'm using the latest Raspbian image. I've tried re-downloading image and reformatting the 8GB, class 10 SD card I'm using, just in case.

Three examples of the freeze ups: (1) the first time I used the Pi, it hung permanently after I entered "startx"; (2) in the middle of a "sudo apt-get upgrade" (I can't imaging that's a good thing); (3) in the middle of compiling Quake 3 from source. Everything stays on the screen, it just looks like it is loading forever.

I've done a lot of research, but it's difficult to get a handle on what is causing this as there are so many potential causes! My first thought was power, so I tested all the USB power adapters I had around (ironically, the one purchased with the Pi from the distributor had the lowest volt rating) and stuck with the one giving the best power (rated at 5V, 1AMP - multimeter tested at 4.82 or something like that).

The freezes occur even when no HDMI cable is plugged in (so only power and Ethernet plugged in) during an SSH session (this was the "apt-get upgrade" crash).

When I'm logged in locally, I use an HDMI monitor and a USB wireless mouse and keyboard combo (Logitech K260 - mouse and keyboard use the same single USB port). I've heard each Pi USB port puts out only 100mA. My keyboard says 20mA and the mouse says 100mA, but these are both battery powered so that shouldn't matter right? Interestingly, my wireless mouse doesn't work very well with the Pi (the keyboard usually works fine).

If the problem is with the keyboard/mouse, could the Raspberry Pi really be so sensitive to power issues that having my USB receiver for the mouse/keyboard plugged in would make it crash? But then again, it crashed even over SSH, so that shouldn't be the issue...

I have a USB wifi adapter coming, but I'm a little scared of how much worse these issues might get once I add that to the mix. I'm considering purchasing one of the verified powered USB hubs, but I'm not too exciting about spending nearly as much as the Pi itself to make USB peripherals work correctly.

Based on my symptoms, what do you think is most likely my problem? Does it sound like a bad Pi?

I've heard each Pi USB port puts out only 100mA

Should be about 500mA it's a USB spec

Define hang and crash - this is not relatively a fast computer compared to today's standards some times it will cycle for several minutes 1 to 30 even more depending on tasks

Should be

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

or
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

If you plug in mouse, keyboard, and wireless should use a powered hub

Compiling Quake III can take over an hour to complete

I believe the wireless mouse keyboard combos have mixed reviews on the Pi would need to search the forums for Logitech "sitesearch:raspberrypi.org logitech" to see what others have posted.

Your symptoms sound typical of an older computer

If it freezes on an SSH session with just ethernet and power it can't be a periferal issue and therefore it stands a good chance of being faulty hardware or you are just plain asking too much of your little Raspberry.

I am running with an original 256 I have had some freeze ups mainly of late in the xwindow (startx) when I was experimenting with the wifi dongle and had a wired mouse plugged in next to the dongle.

If the wifi dongle was in the USB hub, and the mouse in the RPi (dirctly) there was no issue put both the dongle and the mouse in the hub and it's freeze time note they were still on the same USB bus.

Go Figure.

I have lost track of my freeze ups but they have mostly been during research.

Just a question You have run EXPAND-ROOTFS in the raspi-config and it's not just running out of stack space

[jamesh]

If you were only seeing the problem with stuff plugged in to USB, then I would say it's an instance of the USB issues, but in your case, since it does it headless, it may well be something faulty. Difficult to tell though. When did you get it and from who?

I've heard each Pi USB port puts out only 100mA

Should be about 500mA it's a USB spec

Define hang and crash - this is not relatively a fast computer compared to today's standards some times it will cycle for several minutes 1 to 30 even more depending on tasks

Should be

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

or
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

If you plug in mouse, keyboard, and wireless should use a powered hub

Compiling Quake III can take over an hour to complete

I believe the wireless mouse keyboard combos have mixed reviews on the Pi would need to search the forums for Logitech "sitesearch:raspberrypi.org logitech" to see what others have posted.

Your symptoms sound typical of an older computer

500mA, eh? Good to know, thanks.

For me, "hang" and "crash" mean absolutely no progress in a task that would otherwise progress steadily. For example, "startx" typically finishes in 30 seconds to a minute for me. When it hangs, it just sits at the prompt, never changing.

In the Quake example, it probably sat for 45 minutes at the same exact line. I hard reset it and then tried again. The second time, it went through the whole process just fine.

If you were only seeing the problem with stuff plugged in to USB, then I would say it's an instance of the USB issues, but in your case, since it does it headless, it may well be something faulty. Difficult to tell though. When did you get it and from who?

It's from Allied Electronics. It was ordered in October, but it was back-ordered and didn't end up shipping out until late-December.

I'll have to try it headless more often and see if I can get it to lock up again. Perhaps I accidentally left my USB receiver for the mouse and keyboard plugged in when it crashed while headless that one time... If that was the case, then at least it could be narrowed to the receiver.

I am also getting regular hangs in one of my pis. It is connected to wired ethernet and dvi display and runs firefox 24/7 showing monitoring info. My record online time is 10 days, but usually it freezes after 2-3 days, sometimes several times per day. No sd corruptions yet. My latest fix was to change overclock from 1100 to 1000 and after that it has now been running 4 days, so there is hope that this fixed it.
Temperature is about 60 and cpu load 85 %. Freezes are nasty as there are no errors in logs, so it just guessing to fix it.
It would be so nice to be able to utilize moreof the gpu.

To put this in context I've had PC' regularly freezing up over the years since the days of Win95

500mA, eh? Good to know, thanks.

Unfortunately the USB spec does not mandate 500mA (this is just what most PC USB ports standardised on) - the standard mandates at least 100mA. The Pi can provide about 150mA per USB port. On the more recent boards without polyfuses on the USB ports the limit is not per port, so it is possible to get more power out of one port if the other port is not using much. Also if using a powered hub that 'back powers' you may appear to get more as the hub is providing the extra.

If you were only seeing the problem with stuff plugged in to USB, then I would say it's an instance of the USB issues, but in your case, since it does it headless, it may well be something faulty. Difficult to tell though. When did you get it and from who?

USB Issues ? Hmmmm......



If somebody hasn't already mentioned it, I'd test the voltage across the test points and the Polyfuse (F3) on the bottom of the board. If you've got > 4.8 volts across the test points its likely its a flakey and needs returning. Has it got a "Made in China" sticker over the "Made in the UK" screen printing ?

If you were only seeing the problem with stuff plugged in to USB, then I would say it's an instance of the USB issues, but in your case, since it does it headless, it may well be something faulty. Difficult to tell though. When did you get it and from who?

USB Issues ? Hmmmm......



If somebody hasn't already mentioned it, I'd test the voltage across the test points and the Polyfuse (F3) on the bottom of the board. If you've got > 4.8 volts across the test points its likely its a flakey and needs returning. Has it got a "Made in China" sticker over the "Made in the UK" screen printing ?

It's made in China. Yes, it's getting over 4.8 across the test points. Perhaps I will request another one.

To put this in context I've had PC' regularly freezing up over the years since the days of Win95

Yeah, but I'm not really satisfied with this. My Windows machine very, very rarely crashes and I use it all the time. Linux is much more stable than Windows, and I'm not even doing anything out of the ordinary.

do you have upgraded the firmware ?
if not, there is an issue with USB and 512MB board and the last available raspbian image.
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=27992&p=249426#p249426

You need the rpi-update tool to do that
https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update

do you have upgraded the firmware ?
if not, there is an issue with USB and 512MB board and the last available raspbian image.
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=27992&p=249426#p249426

You need the rpi-update tool to do that
https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update

Interesting, no I don't have it. I'll have to give that a shot, thanks.

Also, I saw that Adafruit sells a USB power adapter for the Pi that is rated at 5.25 volts. It's the only one like that I've seen. Anyone have this and notice any boost in stability, or is it just a gimmick?

Here's a link: https://www.adafruit.com/products/501

I guess I should clarify my main question: if I know I'm getting enough power and the device is crashing, it's pretty much narrowed to a faulty board, correct? Honestly, even if there is some issue with the USB devices or the HDMI cable (for example, they are drawing too many mA), such an issue would at most cause those particular devices to stop functioning correctly (for example, flaky mouse scrolling), am I correct? What I am experiencing is repeated fatal crashing.

I am not sure to understand but comparing a 35$ board with a PC around 400$ is difficult.
A PC can have protections on USB controler and voltage regulators. It is not the case with the Pi board. So don't expect a 35$ board the same thing than a 400$ computer

From my point of view, having this much from a 35$ board is already very cool

My point was that freeze up is not limited to a brilliant $35 Rpi.

A PC whatever the cost can suffer the same fate without anywhere near this much support.

Upgraded the firmware and the issue I was having with the USB mouse and keyboard combo was fixed.

Jury is still out on the freezeups. I haven't gotten to use the Pi much since I upgraded the firmware.

Just to add that my Pi now works reliable after eliminating all I/O and changing overclock from 1100 to 1000.
Up 10 days now with average CPU load 85%, Load Average about 1.50 and temperature about 61 C.
It has heavy internet (wired) load, but only occasionally connected to mouse and keybord via external USB hub.

Just to add that my Pi now works reliable after eliminating all I/O and changing overclock from 1100 to 1000.
Up 10 days now with average CPU load 85%, Load Average about 1.50 and temperature about 61 C.
It has heavy internet (wired) load, but only occasionally connected to mouse and keybord via external USB hub.

By "eliminating all I/O" you mean having no mouse and keyboard connected, correct?

That's interesting. So mouse and keyboard must be a big cause for instability.

Do you have another SD card kicking around you can use to test?

Just to add that my Pi now works reliable after eliminating all I/O and changing overclock from 1100 to 1000.
Up 10 days now with average CPU load 85%, Load Average about 1.50 and temperature about 61 C.
It has heavy internet (wired) load, but only occasionally connected to mouse and keybord via external USB hub.

By "eliminating all I/O" you mean having no mouse and keyboard connected, correct?

That's interesting. So mouse and keyboard must be a big cause for instability.

No. I mean i removed cron and run iceweasel in private browsing mode to eliminate all sd card read and writes.
I do not have mouse or keyboard connec ted at all. Removing those decreased number of interrupts dramatically (from 1200 to 600 per second)

Do you have another SD card kicking around you can use to test?

I don't, actually. BUT, I just ordered a second RPi to see if it behaves the same as the one I have though, so I'll be getting a card for that one too. I'll have to try the new card in the old Pi to see if anything is different.

If the new Pi works wonderfully, I'll request an RMA on the old one.