Random freezing

[Guest univjyv]

This thread has been split from here by spinynorman.

 

Hi All,

 

Well, I'm not a newbie, as I've posted to mandrake forums before, but I'm an infrequent attendant. :)

 

I've been having virtually exactly the same problem with the same setup: ASUS A7n8x-x MB with the nforce 400 chipset ... needless to say this particular board has given very weird probs. I'm nearly at the point of changing it (again) at the retail outlet, but oddly enough I've other PCs (I work as a sys admin :) in our dept. with the same board and they are working fine!

 

OK, scenario: Installation: freezes at a random point when the software is installed. Its also frozen just after formating the drives, but more often the whole system freezes after I start the install. (BTW, I tried net installs and iso installs - same outcome). The only time it hasn't frozen (and I've gotten a basic system up and running) is when I don't choose any packages individually. ODD??? read on ...

 

Running system: OK, its a basic install, but not configured correctly - I nned to add software and also remove some unwanted stuff.

removing software is AOK -

ADDING software: PROBLEMO - after several minutes the system freezes. Only recourse is to hit the reboot button. This is a reproduceable result.

 

One last thing to mention, error logs don't help. There is no info whatsoever about the crash. I've looked everywhere! I've now had the system running for over a day - but it wasn't doing anything, just idling. Well, that won't help the user at all.

 

So far I've changed memory, motherboard and harddrive. When I last spoke with our supplier, we decided we'd just go all out and change MB, CPU and memory (again) so that the damn thing will work. This problem is one of the weirdest I've yet encoutnered, so if anyone has some insight, well, I'd be pleased to hear about it.

 

Cheers,

 

Vera ;)

[Pzatch]

You probably should have this question moved to its own thread. But...

 

How are you adding the software? Some ways work better than others.

 

I'm assuming since you have a supplier you are not allowed to switch out parts on the comp. Like memory or cables or even drives. it could be anything since during the install memory is used a lot more than normall. The same with everything really. Adding software also tends to task a system more than normal.

 

But since you said that you have had a running system installed and up once but never again my first guess is a bad burn. If it can install fine on another system then I would guess the cdrom drive next. It could be getting flaky reads. After that I would try memory chips. The video card itself shouldn't have much if anything to do with getting an install of some sort to work. It could even be a buggy I/O port like the IDE chanel for the hard drive.

 

I tend to recycle some older equipment into working PC's for my home and I run into a lot of flacky stuff hardware wise. Cdrom drive that work fine on a M$windows system but would just never work well in any linux. Memory that gets me a working windows system but bugs out on linux. Even had a MB do it also. Though I have got hard drives that would never work in M$ to work fine in linux with a little creative partitioning around the bad areas.

Though now I have the means and money to just throw out anything that is buggy in linux because it eventually wil totaly tank in M$windows within a year.

[Guest univjyv]

HI again.

 

OK, to answer Pzatch's concerns.

 

I've some flexibility with the supplier. They're local, and only a short trip from our dept. The hardware is basically off the shelf stuff, not propriety big name hardware. A few details about the hardware config.:

 

> AMD Atlon XP 2600+ CPU

> ASUStek A7N8X-X (ATX, LAN) motherboard (sorry - I've not gotten

> any more info on that board.)

> 512M DDR 333Mhz PC2700 Kingston memory

> Maxtor DiamondMax+9 80GB ATA-133 7200rpm 8M cache Hard drive

> Matrox G550 32M DDR dualhead AGP video card

 

I'm not at work right this moment, so I can't look up other details. If I remember correctly, the CD is an LG CDRW, and not of the vintage that had problems with 9.2. The MB has an on board ethernet adaptor but we also have an Intel ethernet 10/100 card installed.

 

Generally, I now do network installs, booting either from the CD or from a floppy if the CD reader is too old to read 700MB discs. I've also used the powerpackplus dics that I burnt (I've Club membership, so I was able to get them earlier. :) on a number of different configurations. No problem with the disks. So, I've tried <F1> and alt0, alt1, one time I tried noaipc, going through the standard install procedure and also using *expert* mode. (I've really tried about 20 times on this machine! I've been working on it on and off for two weeks.) I have some saved package floppies, one based on gnome, and the other with kde. Using these always result in a freeze during the install process.

 

As I mentioned in the first post, I've already had the memory changed (twice) and also the MB (same model) and the hard drive (again with same model). With a basic install (one where I don't select any packages during the install procedure) I have managed to get a system up and running. It has been running for 2 days, but sitting idle ... as soon as I start installing more software and the install starts the system freezes.

 

I agree that LINUX usually tests the hardware well in advance of MS, but the supplier had run the latest PC check on this system for two days (so he claims) and that program should be able to spot all the hardware bugs. I've also tried M9.2 and a similar thing happened. I tried RH 9.0 and lilo didn't get past LI .. I didn't perservere with that one though. :)

 

I'm still going to change the hardware tomorrow, but I'll keep some logs etc. in case anyone is still interested.

 

Cheers.

 

Vera ;)

 

PS: I found one report of this nature in anthill - bug #940

[arctic]

I suggest, check your system with a knoppix boot-cd that doesn't install on hd. if that works well, then you will be able to find out more about your hardware (especially the mainboard), thus making it easier to find the problem. if knoppix also freezes (which i actually think will happen, as the other distros also foze), then, i think, there must be some kind of incompatibility of your ram with the mainboard. try with a different vendors ram, if possible. and when you go to the shop, take the knoppix-cd with you in order to check the system at once. ;)

Edited July 11, 2004 by arctic

[scotta]

the supplier had run the latest PC check on this system for two days (so he claims)  and that program should be able to spot all the hardware bugs.

 

This is what I thought when I had a bad memory module a couple months ago. Every diagnostic I tried said the memory was fine except MemTest86+. If I remember correctly, test five (whatever that is) kept failing, so I replaced the module. I haven't had a freeze-up since.

 

I know there are lots of possible hardware problems, but I recommend letting this program run for at least a few hours. (It runs from a boot diskette.)

[Guest univjyv]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I replaced the board and memory today and so far everything is AOK. I like the knoppix suggestion though - since I install about 1 or more PCs every week, I'll keep that in mind if it happens again. I had run the memtest that comes with the iso, and had no probs there. Still, after a couple of weeks I was getting a bit impatient. :)

 

Thanks again!

 

Cheers, Vera ;)