Frequent Linux Lockups

Praetorian · May 8th, 2002, 11:39 AM

Hey guys, I've been having a lot of trouble with Linux lately with it just locking up on me for no reason. I recently removed my Voodoo3 3000 AGP from my box and put in my TNT2 M64. With the new card I was finally able to get 3D accel going under SuSe (had no probs in other distros) and use a few apps that require OpenGL. Well, its seems thats where my problems started. If I'm playing a game, listening to mp3's, or anything that I guess requires load on my proc, there's a chance it'll freeze. Its not just X that locks up, its everything. Nothing on my box responds and most of the time I've juts gotta reach over and hit reset.

I can't seem to figure out what the problem is. I can only think thats its some driver related issue after I took out the Voodoo, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyone wanna help me on this one? I'm running SuSe 8.0 over here.

MSI K7T Turbo2
Athlon 1.33ghz
256mb Ram
nVidia TNT2 M64

dunbar · May 8th, 2002, 11:58 AM

My first 20 installs on Mandrake 8.0 died because I, a rank newbie, trusted the Mandrake installer, as I was instructed to do. Short answer: tune2fs was 100% cpu intensive. Long answer: default Mandrake install was (still is) set to partition and format ext2fs. ext2fs requires tune2fs (EDIT was tune3fs) to be run periodically. Every 21 boots, I'd get total lockout. No mouse response, no keyboard response, MP3s grind to a halt, and the big clue: hard disk light is full on, for over 45 minutes. M$ trained me to think: "This is a dead box". And ext2fs rarely survives power switch shutdowns. FWIW, this tune2fs thing is not a cron job, it was shown in the install log. I doubt this is your problem.

Next, I had a very similar problem: mouse jerky, keyboard barely responding, MP3s burping. Hard disk light nearly full on but blinking off every few seconds.
This was slocate, a cron job, which periodically searches for files on your hard disk. This will end within a few minutes. Again, not likely to be your problem, but I felt that my experiences were rather close to yours...

Praetorian · May 8th, 2002, 12:05 PM

Thanks for the input dunbar. Your comments made me think of something else. Do I have a dying hdd? I've got a 8gb IBM DHEA which I was sent for free from a TechIMO memeber. When I got it they said the drive was brand new and never used. So, when my box locks up my hdd light is not flashing. Nothing happens and it just hangs. I'm wondering if this thing is kicking the bucket early on me.

I don't think its proc temps as I've been running this temp (141F) for a while now. It did get up to 170F a day ago when I did not have my air conditioner on and it was about 100F in this part of the house...maybe that did something.

CMonster · May 8th, 2002, 12:06 PM

Sorry - SuSE 8.0 should have neen a BETA ...IMO

SuSE 7.3 = stable -using it to post this

SuSE 8.0 = 78% excelent but 22% ~!&#%!^g bugs it seems like.

M64 = evil! -I would hesitate to give one to my enemy .... oh, wait, I gave one to my best friend

Much as I like SuSE, Drake 8.2 does a spectcular job bringing Linux to the desktop -inspite of the nasty default color schemes.

dunbar · May 8th, 2002, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Praetorian
Thanks for the input dunbar. Your comments made me think of something else. Do I have a dying hdd? I've got a 8gb IBM DHEA which I was sent for free from a TechIMO memeber. When I got it they said the drive was brand new and never used. So, when my box locks up my hdd light is not flashing. Nothing happens and it just hangs. I'm wondering if this thing is kicking the bucket early on me. I don't think its proc temps as I've been running this temp (141F) for a while now. It did get up to 170F a day ago when I did not have my air conditioner on and it was about 100F in this part of the house...maybe that did something.

Enable S.M.A.R.T. in the BIOS? This thing is intended to get a handle on dying discs.

BTW - if you think this is a flaky disk, check the cables... I had that problem once.... data errors then lockups during operation then outright boot failure; push the data cable back into the drive, all is fine.

Lastly - try posting in the storage forum.

SpookyEddy · May 8th, 2002, 12:19 PM

hmm my spare debian box locks up with the NVIDIA drivers & its TNT2, haven't bothered to try & troubleshoot it

SpookyEddy · May 8th, 2002, 12:49 PM

Just a few ideas:

....check the X log for errors & warnings just before lockup.

....try disabling the nvidia AGP setting in XF86Config-4 with

Option "NvAgp" "0"

....drop the AGP setting in the BIOS from 4x to 2x.

Regards

eddy

pbharris · May 8th, 2002, 02:55 PM

Hi Prea! do ya have the nopentium option in your lilo or grub config ?

SpookyEddy · May 8th, 2002, 09:18 PM

....well I dropped my AGP to 1x in the BIOS & it hasn't crashed yet (about an hour)

Maybe its worth giving that a try.

Now I will post this & my machine will lockup straight after

Praetorian · May 8th, 2002, 09:21 PM

Hi pbharris!

No, I don't. I'll give both of those things a shot as now. I'm having a bit of problems with getting RTCW to load in WineX, so maybe one of those will help.