Archive for May 15th, 2012

How to disable ACPI on productive Linux servers to decrease kernel panics and increase CPU fan lifespan

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

Linux TUX ACPI logo / Tux Hates ACPI logohttps://www.pc-freak.net/images/linux_tux_acpi_logo-tux-hates-acpi.png

Why would anyone disable ACPI support on a server machine??
Well  ACPI support kernel loaded code is just another piece of code constantly being present in the memory,  that makes the probability for a fatal memory mess up leading to  a fatal bug resulting in system crash (kernel panic) more likely.

Many computers ship with buggy or out of specifications ACPI firmware which can cause a severe oddities on a brand new bought piece of comp equipment.

One such oddity related to ACPI motherboard support problems is if you notice your machine randomly powering off or failing to boot with a brand new Linux installed on it.

Another reason to switch off ACPI code will would to be prevent the CPU FAN rotation from being kernel controlled.

If the kernel controls the CPU fan on  high CPU heat up it will instruct the fan to rotate quickly and on low system loads it will bring back the fan to loose speed.
 This frequent switch of FAN from high speed to low speed  increases the probability for a short fan damage due to frequent changes of fan speed. Such a fan damage leads often to  system outage due to fan failure to rotate properly.

Therefore in my view it is better ACPI support is switched off completely on  servers. On some servers ACPI is useful as it can be used to track CPU temperature with embedded motherboard sensors with lm_sensors or any piece of hardwre vendor specific software provided. On many machines, however lm_sensors will not properly recognize the integrated CPU temperature sensors and hence ACPI is mostly useless.

There are 3 ways to disable fully or partially ACPI support.

- One is to disable it straight for BIOS (best way IMHO)
- Disable via GRUB or LILO passing a kernel parameter
- Partial ACPI off-ing - /disabling the software that controls the CPU fan/

1. Disable ACPI in BIOS level

Press DEL, F1, F2, F10 or whatever the enter bios key combination is go through all the different menus (depending on the vios BENDOR) and make sure every occurance of ACPI is set to off / disable whatever it is called.

Below is a screenshot of menus with ACPI stuff on a motherboard equipped with Phoenix AwardBIOS:

BIOS ACPI Disable power Off Phoenix BIOS

This is the in my opinon best and safest way to disable ACPI power saving, Unfortunately some newer PCs lack the functionality to disable ACPI; (probably due to the crazy "green" policy the whole world is nowdays mad of).

If that's the case with you, thanksfully there is a "software way" to disable ACPI via passing kernel options via GRUB and LILO boot loaders.

2. Disabling ACPI support on kernel boot level through GRUB boot loader config

There is a tiny difference in command to pass in order to disable  ACPI depending on the Linux installed  GRUB ver. 1.x or GRUB 2.x.

a) In GRUB 0.99 (GRUB version 1)

Edit file /etc/grub/menu.lst or /etc/grub/grub.conf (location differs across Linux distribution). Therein append:

acpi=off

to the end of kernel command line.

Here is an example of a kernel command line with ACPI not disabled (example taken from CentOS server grub.conf):

[root@centos ~]# grep -i title -A 4 /etc/grub/grub.conf
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-36.el5)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-36.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 console=ttyS0,115200n8
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-36.el5.img

The edited version of the file with acpi=off included should look like so:

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-36.el5)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-36.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 console=ttyS0,115200n8 acpi=off
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-36.el5.img

The kernel option root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 means the the server is configured to use LVM (Logical Volume Manager).

b) Disabling ACPI on GRUB version 1.99 +

This version is by default installed on newer Ubuntu and Debian Linux-es.

In grub 1.99 on latest Debian Squeeze, the file to edit is located in /boot/grub/grub.cfg. The file is more messy than with its predecessor menu.lst (grub 0.99).
Thanks God there is no need to directly edit the file (though this is possible), but on newer Linuces (as of time of writting the post), there is another simplied grub config file /etc/grub/config

Hence to add the acpi=off to 1.99 open /etc/grub/config find the line reading:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"

and append the "acpi=off" option, e.g. the line has to change to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet acpi=off"

On some servers it might be better to also disable APIC along with ACPI:

Just in case you don't know what is the difference between ACPI and APIC, here is a short explanation:

ACPI = Advanced Configuration and Power Interface

APIC = Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controllers

ACPI is the system that controls your dynamic speed fans, the power button behavior, sleep states, etc.

APIC is the replacement for the old PIC chip that used to come imbedded on motherboards that allowed you to setup interrupts for your soundcard, ide controllers, etc.

Hence on some machines experiencing still problems with even ACPI switched off, it is helpful  to disable the APIC support too, by using:

acpi=off noapic noacpi

Anyways, while doing the changes, be very very cautious or you might end up with un-boot-able server. Don't blame me if this happens :); be sure you have a backup option if server doesn't boot.

To assure faultless kernel boot, GRUB has ability to be configured to automatically load up a second kernel if 1st one fails to boot, if you need that read the grub documentation on that.

To load up the kernel with the new setting, give it a restart:

[root@centos ~]# shutdown -r now
....

3. Disable ACPI support on kernel boot time on Slackware or other Linuxes still booting kernel with LILO

Still, some Linux distros like Slackware, decided to keep the old way and use LILO (LInux LOader) as a default boot loader.

Disabling ACPI support in LILO is done through /etc/lilo.conf

By default in /etc/lilo.conf, there is a line:

append= acpi=on

it should be changed to:

append= acpi=off

Next to load up the new acpi disabled setting, lilo has to be reloaded:

slackware:~# /sbin/lilo -c /etc/lilo.conf
....

Finally a reboot is required:

slackware:~# reboot
....

(If you don't have a physical access or someone near the server you better not 🙂 )

4. Disable ACPI fan control support on a running Linux server without restart

This is the most secure work-around, to disabling the ACPI control over the machine CPU fan, however it has a downside that still the ACPI code will be loaded in the kernel and could cause kernel issues possibly in the long run – lets say the machine has uptime of more than 2 years…

The acpi support on a user level  is controlled by acpid or haldaemon (depending on the Linux distro), hence to disable the fan control on servers this services has to be switched off:

a) disabling ACPI on Debian and deb based Linux-es

As of time of writting on Debian Linux servers acpid (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface event daemon) is there to control how power management will be handled. To disable it stop it as a service (if running):

debian:~# /etc/init.d/acpid stop

To permanently remove acpid from boot up on system boot disable it with update-rc.d:

debian:~# update-rc.d acpid disable 2 3 4 5
update-rc.d: using dependency based boot sequencing
insserv: Script iptables is broken: incomplete LSB comment.
insserv: missing `Required-Start:' entry: please add even if empty.
insserv: warning: current start runlevel(s) (empty) of script `acpid' overwrites defaults (2 3 4 5).
insserv: warning: current stop runlevel(s) (2 3 4 5) of script `acpid' overwrites defaults (empty).
insserv: missing `Required-Start:' entry: please add even if empty.

b) disabling ACPI on RHEL, Fedora and other Redhat-s (also known as RedHacks 🙂 )

I'm not sure if this is safe,as many newer rpm based server system services,  might not work properly with haldaemon disabled.

Anyways you can give it a try if when it is stopped there are issues just bring it up again.

[root@rhel ~]# /etc/init.d/haldaemon stop

If all is fine with the haldaemon switched off (hope so), you can completely disable it to load on start up with:

[root@centos ~]# /sbin/chkconfig --level 2 3 4 5 haldaemon off

Disabling ACPI could increase a bit your server bills, but same time decrease losses from downtimes, so I guess it worths its costs 🙂

 

MK Ultra Monarch Programming Exposed videos – How brainwashing works, popular brainwashed pop stars

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

how-brain-washing-works-mk-ultra-monarch-mind-control-victim

I'm not a big fan generally of conspirative theories. As a Christian I'm convinced the evil forces, who try to oppose us as Christians are very real. As we can read in the holy scriptures in Ephesians:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Well this spiritual wickedness the holy apostle is talking about is already existing since the creation of the world. The power with which it is trying to work in our daily lives is increasing day by day as a fulfillment of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation, where it is said in the last days of world existene, the devil will be cast down from heaven to earth, before he is finally cast down to Abaddon (if I'm not mistaken – The old testamental word for Hell word). Here is a quote from the Book of Revelations, stating this:

Revelation 12:12 – Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

King James Version Bible (KVJ) Bible

I think Christians, should be aware of the existence of some devilish works, like the research of the United StatesCIA (Central Intelligence Agency) research called "Project MK Ultra" in the 1960 to late 1970's. The MK Ultra project was created with the goal to foster techniques for mind manipulation throgh drugs, pain, electroshocks, creation of high tension in testing subjects etc. etc.

The MK Ultra (Monarch) programming has given birth to the nowadays so modern NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) which is a favourite involved method in many protestant Christian sects.

Probably almost anyone has somehow experienced some modified version of Monarch Programming but he didn't knew of it existence, so he just couldn't understand what is happening. The idea behind this kind of neuro linguistic programming is to confuse you and shake off your ground and then re-teach you on how the universe works, who you're and what you're supposed to do on this earth. The result from people who parcipated in Monarch mind programming is paranoias, false beliefs, crazy ideas about self and the world, fears, mental and personality disorders (also known in science terms as schizophrenia), animal like sexual lust, loose of control over self …

In short the NLP results are clearly opposite to what the Holy Bible teaches us to live in peace with all people as long as we can, to do good to put our faith and hope on God's good plan for our lives, to not trust human knowledge but rather obey God's laws, to not do sexual immorality (sexual fornication) etc. etc.

Many programs for free offered by the European Union to strengthen society are plainly a Neuro Linguistic Programming, a version of the MK-Ultra Monarch programming. This kind of NLP programs falsely says:" you're reached to become stronger, see better the things arond you (increase your awareness), be more cautious about people's gestures and body langues, be more self aware and stronger enterpreneur person. All this claimed to be teached is purely  one GREAT DECEPTION, right on the contrary the NLP programs  makes you a weak unrealized psychopath person, who impose his incorrect ideas about life as we know it and the surrounding envinment, God's order in life and personal well being / happiness /. In other words it makes you be moved by devilish teachings without even realizing it.

The MK-Ultra Monarch persons ultimate goal is to make one person take control over the other in other words MK-Ultra or NLP (call it as you will) is nothing more than another dependency manipulation technique.

The basic behind how it works is – you have to be manipulated and brainwashed by someone in order to exercise manipulation (brainwashing) on other human subjects.
If you think for a while you will understand this is completely crazy and its exactly like a sect. Whether one person gets brainwashed what it happens in reality is he looses his free will as the person is possessed by one or a legion of evil spirits), then the controller person who is the Monarch over the brainwashed is capable to "command" his brainwashee "child" just because he himself has another devil. Devils communicate in between just like the Holy Angels and all the creations in Heaven God created on the first place. This is why the wicked spirits are deceiving the brainwashed persons to just do their wicked will while taking control over the person posing as another personality and that's why it appears like the person has a complete different personality. This different personality is actually the devil who controls actions and thoughts of the person. The manipulative teachings held by Project MK-Ultra are pitly, heavily used by modern Businessmen. Most company CEOs has somehow went through an NLP and have been subconsciously instructed on what kind of business they have to do by the devils which possess them. This is also the reason why so many Chief Executives are being perceived as crazy persons by their employees. This is also the reason why the economy worldwide went so bad, because many of the heads in companies are led by horde of demons, on which direction they should lead the multi national companies.

I would stop, here and show you few videos I found produced by someone who is aware of the existence of NLP and the heavily application it has today in society.

The videos are explaining, also what is the reason why this pop-rock stars are so eccentric and do so much of odd things as they do. Also it explains how many of the world higher class people get their position in society.

MK-Ultra (Moarch Programming Exposed) Part 1

MK – Ultra (Monarch Programming Exposed) Part 2

MK – Ultra (Monarch Programming Exposed) Part 3

The MK Ultra / NLP is being nowdays, taught as a regular subject in many Universities all around the world, by some weird non-sense subjects like Business Ethics, How to improve your awareness, how to become succesful business person, Introduction lessons to business etc. etc. etc.

The author of the videos is presumably a Protestant Christian, so I would say some of the facts presented in the video might have a protestant perspective, however I believe what he says is almost fully true. I'm a bit sceptical about the Illuminati claims, at least as a structured society of people who try to rule the world. However I'm sure most of the rich and succesful people nowdays has something to do with sects, satanism and occultism. Since the very change of regime from Monarchy to Capitalism, the order of society is being inverted in a way that most of the highest position in societies are held by people who are either a hard-core atheists (anti-christs) or people involved in magical stuff, occulm, secret societies or some kind of new-age religion, occultism.

I've heard by many friends, who somehow are in the position to have connection with richer people, that many of the heads in governments or key people involved in countries around the world are gays and lesbians. I don't know how much this is true as I haven't seen it with my own eyes but I'm tending to believe this is true, as I see how the whole world has headed to increasing immorality and self-destruction.
Of course it is not in the power of men to orchestrate such a strong bodies of connection between wicked people as the supporters of Illuminate has claims. The people who are somehow doing this evils are plainly possessed and controlled by devils and one day, they will have Gods judgement on the judgement. Then they will shake and pray for mercy the all merciful one but it will be too late for them, for God has given them a whole life to turn back from their sins and repent for their evils and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and live a life of righteousness …

Anyways the existence of NLPs brain programmings or all kind of manipulations and hidden evils should not discourage us or trouble us but on the contrary as our Saviour Jesus Christ said:

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God,
believe also in me." John 14:1 – (KJV) Holy Bible

And the holy apostles said in the New Testament of the Holy Bible:
 

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:{38-39}

How to disable ACPI (power saving) support in FreeBSD / Disable acpi on BSD kernel boot time

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

FreeBSD disable ACPI how ACPI Basic works basic diagram

On FreeBSD the default kernel is compiled to support ACPI. Most of the modern PCs has already embedded support for ACPI power saving instructions.
Therefore a default installed FreeBSD is trying to take advantage of this at cases and is trying to save energy.
This is not too useful on servers, because saving energy could have at times a bad impact on server performance if the server is heavy loaded at times and not so loaded at other times of the day.

Besides that on servers saving energy shouldn't be the main motivator but server stability and productivity is. Therefore in my personal view on FreeBSD used on servers it is better to disable complete the ACPI in order to disable CPU fan control to change rotation speeds all the time from low to high rotation cycles and vice versa at times of low / high server load.

Another benefit of removing the ACPI support on a server is this would probably increase the CPU fan life span and possibly prevent the CPU to be severely heated at times.

Moreover, some piece of hardware might have troubles in properly supporting ACPI specifications and thus ACPI could be a reason for unexpected machine hang ups.

With all said I would recommend to anyone willing to use BSD for a server to disable the ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface), just like I did.

Here is how;

1. Quick review on how ACPI is handled on FreeBSD

acpi support is being handled on FreeBSD by a number of loadable kernel modules, here is a complete list of all the kernel modules dealins with acpi:

freebsd# cd /boot
freebsd# find . -iname '*acpi*.ko'
./kernel/acpi.ko
./kernel/acpi_aiboost.ko
./kernel/acpi_asus.ko
./kernel/acpi_fujitsu.ko
./kernel/acpi_ibm.ko
./kernel/acpi_panasonic.ko
./kernel/acpi_sony.ko
./kernel/acpi_toshiba.ko
./kernel/acpi_video.ko
./kernel/acpi_dock.ko

By default on FreeBSD, if hardware has some support for ACPI the acpi gets activated by acpi.ko kernel module. The specific type of vendors specific ACPI like IBM, ASUS, Fujitsu are controlled by the respective kernel module from the list …

Hence, to control if ACPI is loaded or not on a FreeBSD system with no need to reboot one can use kldload, kldunload module management BSD cmds.

a) Check if acpi is loaded on a BSD

freebsd# kldstatkldstat | grep -i acpi
9 1 0xc9260000 57000 acpi.ko

b) unload kernel enabled ACPI support

freebsd# kldunload acpi

c) Load acpi support (not the case with me but someone might need it, if for instance BSD is running on laptop)

freebsd# kldload acpi

2. Disabling ACPI to load on bootup on BSD

a) In /boot/loader.conf add the following variables:

hint.acpi.0.disabled="1"
hint.p4tcc.0.disabled=1
hint.acpi_throttle.0.disabled=1


b) in /boot/device.hints add:

hint.acpi.0.disabled="1"

c) in /boot/defaults/loader.conf make sure:

##############################################################
### ACPI settings ##########################################
##############################################################
acpi_dsdt_load="NO" # DSDT Overriding
acpi_dsdt_type="acpi_dsdt" # Don't change this
acpi_dsdt_name="/boot/acpi_dsdt.aml"
# Override DSDT in BIOS by this file
acpi_video_load="NO" # Load the ACPI video extension driver

d) disable ACPI thermal monitoring

It is generally a good idea to disable the ACPI thermal monitoring, as many machines hardware does not support it.

To do so in /boot/loader.conf add

debug.acpi.disabled="thermal"

If you want to learn more on on how ACPI is being handled on BDSs check out:

freebsd# man acpi

Other alternative method to permanently wipe out ACPI support is by not compiling ACPI support in the kernel.
If that's the case in /usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC make sure device acpi is commented, e.g.:

##device acpi