Misterious shutdowns

[PatomaS]

Hi people

I'm publishing this here because i want to make some test first, but if any moderator thinks that the message should be anywhere else, it is perfect for me.

I have a little problem since a month ago.

If i am in any kind of visual environment, fluxbox, kde, etc, the system, suddenly, crashes. There is no previous signals or any kind of symptom.

If i am in the console, before startx or after exit the environment, the system works perfect for as long as it is required.

When the problem started, i thought it was caused by a buggy ati-driver, so i uninstalled it and went back to the old version, but the problem continued. Since I upgraded many things the same day and since I wanted to test some other things, I decided to reinstall a new clean system, so I did 2 days ago.

But the problem is still here.

There is no information in the logs, at least any thing i can find.

When this situation happens, the machine needs a hard reset (4 seconds power off), and then it is possible to start again.

The symptoms are:
* The screen loses signal
* The system kind of crash, but I'm not sure since I can not see anything.
* When i turn it on again, the file system checks finds errors in the partitions with files opened when the crash happend

So, the question is, do you have any suggestion to test specific parts of the hardware to know what is wrong? I think the problem is in the graphic card (ati x1300 pro). But fglxgears and similar work normal, i mean, they do not crash the system and print normal and expected information.

Any way, if you want me to post information, i have a whole set already in files, lspci, lshw, dmesg, etc, just mention and i will post it.

Thanks for the time and patience.

Bye
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[schachti]

[chris.c.hogan]

[schachti]

[PatomaS]

Hi

Thanks for the fast answers.

About the tests

Before installing the new system i tried the radeon driver and tha radeonhd, but not with this new system, i will try.

About the kernel, i had the same problems with 2.6.22 and 2.6.23.

Memtest, already done. Every thing ok, but i will check again. No problem.

About the ping, no, i can't since there are no more computers around, but i will try to find some with a friend.

About the question if it lock up or restarts, well, let's say that if it restarts, it is quite an incomplete process since nothing appears anymore in the screen and the cpu does not make any noise similar to the usual start noises (hd, floppy, etc). The fans keep working. I think that the ping will help a lot abiut this question.

And i will try to set an ssh.

And about stressing the video system, well, in some cases, this situation happens even starting xfe (file manager) with the usual right button in fluxbox menus, or clicking in a file or folder in the xfe, or clicking a menu option in a text editor (scite), or ... nothing fancy, no playing, gaming, using beryl, 3d aceleration or something like that

I will post more information as soon as i have it.

Thanks again.

Bye
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[PatomaS]

Hi

Well, after a few days of testing, the things seem to be more stable.

This is what i have done and tested.

1. From another computer
a. Ping to this one and it was working. ( Test made when the problem happened again )
b. Connected through ssh and checked logs; no problem at all reported in any of them.
c. Connected through ssh and checked about the X being loaded and working. They were not in memory. Neither fluxbox

So, from the other computer i did reboots or halts when necessary.

I haven't done the cpuburn test, but since my system use to run boinc the whole day, I think that is quite a test. This computer is 1 year old, more or less, and has been running boinc for almost the whole year.

The next test i did, was to connect a fan close to the graphic card and in front of the southbridge and then the system seems to be more stable. Obviously this point out to be a temperature problem, but the thing is the system did not report any excessive heat, not in the core, not in the bridges. On the other hand, the graphic card was never hot enough that i could not touch it.

Any way. The system seems to be more stable now. Only one problem starting the X system today morning, but again, no logs. This time i could not connect from another computer.

Thanks again for the help.

Bye
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[bunder]

does your card have a power connector that you forgot to plug in?

with the older nvidia drivers i forgot and it resulted in a black screen when trying to use opengl... (they changed it, x should refuse to start without it now)
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[PatomaS]

Hi

Sorry for the delay in my answer, i wasn't expecting any more replies. But is always good to find probable solutions.

No, mi card doesn't have any kind of energy connector.

Here you can check my card, a Gigabyte Radeon X1300 Pro.



Bye
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[energyman76b]

try a different power supply unit.

Your problem sounds like your psu is not able to satisfy the higher demand when X is running and the card needing more power.
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[PatomaS]

Hi

My power supply is 750W, and i do not have that many things connected, just one disk, one dvd, usually not mounted in the system, a sounblaster live 1024 and the graphic card already mentioned. Plus, the system has been working without problems for almost a year, and after installing the fan, there has been no more problems, so at the end, i'm really thinking about overheat, not directly from the graphic card, but originating in the southbridge of the motherboard that is quite close to the graphic card.



Bye
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