PC Randomly freezes

olger901 · l33t Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 625

Hello all,

After installing gentoo yesterday I have been having some problems.
My system freezes at total random, with random meaning hard lockups, nothing responds (not even the Numlock on the keyboard)

When the error occurs:
I had it once during booting of the kernel while it was initializing my Seagate Barracuda Harddrive
I had it once during booting of the kernel while it was initializing my USB 2.0 Host Controller
I had it once just after I finished emerging
I had it once during killing xorg-x11
I had it once during xorg-x11 loaded when browsing the web

Things I tried:
I tried disabling the nvidia drivers and using nv instead because I tought that could be the problem, though it wasn't.

Notes:
Note: I had this problem before in Windows that my system would totally freeze, just after boot, though that was because my HD and Graphics card were connected to the same power plug. Putting them on seperate plugs solved the problem. (Could this have anything to do with the problem in gentoo?)

Note: Windows XP runs fine without any errors or BSODs (I can basically game for hours without a problem) so the problem is gentoo, I think

System Specs:
AMD Athlon XP 3000+
Asus A7N8X
Enermax 350 Watt PSU
XFX Geforce 6800GT Dual DVI
Creative SB Audigy 2
Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200rpm 8MB Cache
Plextor PX-716A DVD-/+RW
LG DVD-ROM 16x/48x

Adwin · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 10:29 pm Post subject:

Enermax makes good PSU, but still, try with another PSU, perhaps you are having unstable output.
Try also running memtest, maybe you have a problem with your RAM.

olger901 · l33t Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 625

Adwin · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:36 am Post subject:

Did you test your hard disk for bad sectors??
Do you have a swap partition initialized?

olger901 · l33t Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 625

RaZoR1394 · Guru Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Posts: 356

What kernel are you running and could you try a newer/older one?
_________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor)

olger901 · l33t Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 625

I tried 2.6.12-r10 and 2.6.13 and both give the same result.

buboleck · n00b Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 18

Hi.. I have similar problem. Hardware is ok. My hardisk chrached (Seagate baracuda 160 Gb 8 mb cache, now I'm using same model but brand new) and just finished 3rd or 4th build of gentoo 2005.1... Random hard lockups, nothing respond but the reset key. Now I use Slackware-current (5 days uptime and no problems at all) and I'm trying to figure out what is wrong, and I'm shure it is something with gentoo but I dont know what...

rgbtxus · n00b Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 39

There was a rash of bad capacitors installed in motherboards a few years ago (interesting story about industrial espionage gone bad). I have had no fewer than five motherboards die becuase of this problem --- one even smoked! The reason this is relevant to your problem is as the caps fail the system becomes increasingly unstable. Anyway, look carefully at the large capacitors on your motherboard. If any are bulging or show signs of having leaked fluid you have found your culprit. The fix is simple if you have even the most rudimentary skills with a soldering iron. First note the orientation of the caps. These are electrolytics and have a + and - lead. Usually there is an arrow with a - symbol in it indicating the - lead printed on the side of the cap. Get a fine point soldering iron, some copper solder wick and/or a suction desoldering too and some electronics solder. Read the specs off the side of the cap. e.g., 2200uF, 10v, 105 deg. C., and order some from Mouser or Digikey -- get some extras. They will probably cost about 0.50 each! When you have everything you need, shut down, remove the board and unsolder the bad caps -- and their brothers if you want to insure against future failures. Just put sideway pressure on the cap while you heat one wire then do so with the other -- do that a few times and you will be able to remove the caps. This isn't the approved method, but for someone without desoldering equipment it works. Clean the solder out of the holes with solder wick or a suction device. Install the new caps -- MAKE CERTAIN TO GET THE POLARITY RIGHT -- you will usually see a + or - on the board to tell you which is which. If not, just install them the same way as the originals. Solder them in place and reassemble the system. I have brought 4 systems back from the brink of disaster this way -- the most recent last week, and have one I need to do this week. This is a common -- and under appreciated -- problem. Good luck.

dom_cyrus · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 06 Jun 2005 Posts: 102

It seems that I have the same errors. I newly installed gentoo recently, because I changed my CPU (X2 4400+). Now I have just freezes that occurs and without any log or something. And I also can still move my mousepointer, but X is locked. I also have a nvidia card an right now just disabled the nvidia driver. I have tried different kernels including latest vanilla (2.6.14-rc4). No results. Windows runs fine and I think of installing another distro to see if the error there also appears.