Unable to Run GNOME or KDE due to "dmidecode" segmentation fault

[rrs64]

Hi All:

I've installed the following CentOS 7 image onto an SD card which successfully boots the RockPro64 with 4 Gb RAM and eMMC card:

    Centos-7.4.1708 with kernel from Armbian-5.67.img.xz

It was downloaded directly from the Project31 GitHub web page:

    https://project31.github.io/pine64/

After first boot the /root/finish-centos-install.sh script was run to complete setup.

Then GNOME was installed with the following command which completes successfully:
    

Code:

# yum -y groups install "GNOME Desktop"

Next, attempt to launch GNOME using the command:

Code:

# startx

It fails to launch due to a segmentation fault from "dmidecode" shown below:
Jan 18 08:50:35 localhost nm-dispatcher: req:3 'connectivity-change': start running ordered scripts...
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Bad mode in Error handler detected, code 0xbf000000 -- SError
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Internal error: Oops - bad mode: 0 [#1] SMP
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Modules linked in: af_packet xt_tcpudp ip6t_rpfilter ipt_REJECT nf_reject_ipv4 ip6t_REJECT nf_reject_ipv6 xt_conntrack ip_set nfnetlink ebtable_nat ebtable_broute bridge stp llc ip6table_nat nf_conntrack_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_nat_ipv6 ip6table_mangle ip6table_security ip6table_raw iptable_nat nf_conntrack_ipv4 nf_defrag_ipv4 nf_nat_ipv4 nf_nat nf_conntrack iptable_mangle iptable_security iptable_raw ebtable_filter ebtables ip6table_filter ip6_tables iptable_filter dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log snd_soc_rockchip_hdmi_dp ip_tables x_tables autofs4
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: CPU: 5 PID: 727 Comm: dmidecode Not tainted 4.4.166-rockchip64 #17
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Hardware name: Pine64 RockPro64 (DT)
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: task: ffffffc0e9475400 task.stack: ffffffc0e941c000
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: PC is at 0x7f8cc65cd0
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: LR is at 0x7f8cc65ca0
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: pc : [<0000007f8cc65cd0>] lr : [<0000007f8cc65ca0>] pstate: a0000000
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: sp : 0000007fc7ebf2f0
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x29: 0000007fc7ebf2f0 x28: 0000000000000000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x27: 0000000000010000 x26: 0000007f8cbc1000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x25: 0000005575e22720 x24: 0000005575e3f000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x23: 0000000000000000 x22: 0000000000010000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x21: 0000007f8cbc1000 x20: 00000055ae82f010 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x19: 00000055ae82f010 x18: 0000007fc7ebf390 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x17: 0000007f8cc65be0 x16: 0000005575e3fe40 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x15: 0000000000005788 x14: 0000007f8cbe2a94 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000008 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x11: 0000005575e22720 x10: 0000007f8cbe4c28 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x9 : 000000000008ab48 x8 : 00000000000000de 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x7 : 0000000000000023 x6 : 000000000000007c 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x5 : 00000000000f0000 x4 : 0000000000000000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000002000 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: x1 : 0000007f8cbc1000 x0 : 00000055ae82f008 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: 
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: Process dmidecode (pid: 727, stack limit = 0xffffffc0e941c000)
Jan 18 08:50:36 localhost kernel: ---[ end trace 5795f018d82a6a48 ]---

The same segmentation fault occurs at the command line if "dmidecode" is run by itself.

Re-booting, 'yum update'. or starting over with a new SD card does not help.

Has anyone else had the same problem trying to install and run GNOME (or KDE) on CentOS on RockPro64?

This issue is a real blocker trying to get a graphical interface up and running.

Any hints or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

[carletes]

I'm also having `dmidecode`-related issues on my Pinebook Pro.

I use Puppet to configure my system. Puppet uses a tool called `facter` to gather information about the system. And `facter`, among other things, calls `dmidecode`. On my Pinebook Pro, calling `dmidecode` crashes the system. The power LED starts flashing with an amber light, and nothing works.

This happens both when running the standard Debian-based distribution which came with the Pinebook Pro, and the stock Debian setup from https://github.com/daniel-thompson/pineb...installer/

Something similar has been reported on Ubuntu 18.04: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sourc...ug/1821632

It looks like `dmidecode` is broken on ARM systems. A commit was added to the `dmidecode` Git repo in August 2019 which seems to fix the issue: http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/dmid...8a5cf5ec1d

I have compiled `dmidecode` with the latest sources from http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/dmidecode.git/log/ and the problem is gone.

[M1ke]

I had the same problem but did not get a reply. Tried only with default Debian. Comment to follow up the thread

[Mishal22]

Why are we attempting to convince you to move to Gnome 3? KDE, Xfce, Budgie, and Mate are likely to provide you with a more enjoyable experience. It's a matter of taste. These posts appear every now and then, and the message is always the same: "pick the desktop you want," and in this case, Gnome 3 is clearly not for you. It isn't for me, either.

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[phoebepearl123]

You can test this with the following command. If you receive output that looks similar to above, then you have the same issue.

[phoebepearl123]

The dmidecode program is used to retrieve BIOS information from a Linux machine. If you are experiencing the segmentation fault when running either GNOME or KDE, you can resolve this issue by installing the dmidecode package.
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