Hi,
Sorry for the somewhat vague subject. also sorry for the rotten formatting, I am using webmail just now.
I have a new (as in a couple of months old) machine. The specs are: 2.4 G P4, i845 integrated graphics card, 512 ram, 500 mb swap, 80G hdd, 15 inch Sony tft monitor. I have FC4 and Kubuntu 5.10 on the machine.
The problem I face is that every once in a while, the X server crashes. In FC4 I am back at the graphical login prompt. In kubuntu I just lose the display completely and I have to shutdown. This can happen as frequently as once evry 5 or 10 minutes :(
Sometimes I get kernel panic messages when the Xserver crashes.
Another thing is that in FC4, both Firefox (upgraded to 1.0.7 from fedora updates) and Opera crash very frequently. Also Gkrellm crashes suddenly.
I goolged for Xsever crashes w/ i845 on google. It seems to be an old problem (end 2004). The solution was to recompile the kernel to include the i915 driver, but it is already in the kernel and is seen as being found in Xorg.log.
free shows 0 swap though the entries in /etc/fstab are correct. On bootup it does show as enabling swap.
I am at my wits' end, the hardware chappie as usual is no help. I've run memtest but with no errors coming up.
I can provide any more info as required.
regards,
Sharukh.
On Friday 16 December 2005 05:27, spavri@vsnl.com wrote: *snip*
I am at my wits' end, the hardware chappie as usual is no help. I've run memtest but with no errors coming up.
I can provide any more info as required.
regards,
Sharukh.
Ok, this is the procedure I would follow to determine whether my hardware is really failing or are any of the kernel modules / drivers corrupt.
(Guys, please forgive me and dont flame me for what I am about to say)
Boot into windows and stress your computer as much as possible. Do similar problems occur? If not, then get yourself a Knoppix live CD and run it. Check it out the performance? Do the problems occur? Try installing a couple of other distros like Debian (stable) and Slackware. Fedora Core isn't renowned for its stability. In FC3 they released Xorg modules with one specific module corrupt. It was the i810 module. IMHO Debian wouldn't do such a thing.
If Windows and all other distros exhibit the "crashy" behavior then some hardware part is failing. Then you can start swapping parts. First remove all "extra" hardware from your system (graphic cards, network cards, etc...). Boot the barebone system and try it out. Does everything work fine for atleast a day? If so, start adding 1 part at a time and test again. The moment the crashy behavior returns then you can conclude that either the part is faulty OR it is conflicting with something on your motherboard thus causing the crashy behavior. To eliminate the first possibility replace it with the same / similar part. If the behavior goes away, then well your part was faulty. If not then that particular piece of hardware is conflicting with something on your motherboard. To determine what exactly is it conflicting with, you need to investigate yourself.
Remember, if everything else fails then your problem is most likely your motherboard. Believe me, I have had my share of weird problems and at a point you will find that nobody other than you can solve it. This is my experience talking. I remember the 36 days that took me to solve my "ghost startup" problem and it was with a brand new system! :| BTW I am assuming that you dont have any heating issues.
Good luck!
spavri@vsnl.com wrote:
Hi,
I have a new (as in a couple of months old) machine. The specs are: 2.4 G P4, i845 integrated graphics card, 512 ram, 500 mb swap, 80G hdd, 15 inch Sony tft monitor. I have FC4 and Kubuntu 5.10 on the machine.
Even in 845 chipsets, I found that the ubuntu live 5.10 cd gives different resolutions for different brand mobos. The worst resolution was in Mercury brand. Intel original was good. So even that makes a difference. IBM laptop was good, sound/video/CDMA wireless card all made for each other.
The problem I face is that every once in a while, the X server crashes. In FC4 I am back at the graphical login prompt. In kubuntu I just lose the display completely and I have to shutdown. This can happen as frequently as once evry 5 or 10 minutes :(
Do you keep witching between GUI and Crtl+Alt+F1-7 Terminal? This is a problem in my system too. (P4 2.4, 80 Gb, i845 original)
Sometimes I get kernel panic messages when the Xserver crashes.
This happened in my FC4 after I had loaded ubuntu 5.04. It started the next day. I did a clean re-install and kept only one system and now I am doing fine. Text terminal mode still does not work. Otherwise if you reload both, try loading FC4 last.
Another thing is that in FC4, both Firefox (upgraded to 1.0.7 from fedora updates) and Opera crash very frequently. Also Gkrellm crashes suddenly.
Are you using a very high screen resolution? Don't go beyond 1024x768.
Regards,
Rony.
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spavri@vsnl.com wrote:
I have a new (as in a couple of months old) machine. The specs are: 2.4 G P4, i845 integrated graphics card, 512 ram, 500 mb swap, 80G hdd, 15 inch Sony tft monitor. I have FC4 and Kubuntu 5.10 on the machine.
This month's Chip magazine has a Knoppix 4.0 live CD. Please get this mag before its sold out and try out this cd on your system. This will check if your hardware is ok. If you are using triband, you can even surf the net. :)
Regards,
Rony.
___________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com
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