Computer Hangs / Locks Up

Jim Cornette jim-cornette at insight.rr.com
Sat Feb 21 23:29:40 UTC 2004


Gordon Larsen wrote:
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: fedora-list-admin at redhat.com
>>[mailto:fedora-list-admin at redhat.com]On Behalf Of Alexandre Oliva
>>Sent: February 16, 2004 11:46 AM
>>To: T.M. Gorgas
>>Cc: fedora-list at redhat.com
>>Subject: Re: Computer Hangs / Locks Up
>>
>>
>>On Feb 16, 2004, "T.M. Gorgas" <taythebay at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>1) The entire system locks up after I select "logout"
>>
>>>2) The entire system locks up when I try to use
>>>Mozilla
>>
>>Hmm...  Lock ups in stable releases are very often symptoms of
>>hardware problems.  Boot the installer CD with `memtest' (sp?) and see
>>whether it reports any problems.
>>
>>--
>>
>>
> 
> Hmmm, that's interesting.  I have exactly the same symptoms with my machine.
> Memtest86 runs 100% for days.  I've tried different processors, memory, disk
> and cdrom drives, video cards, keyboards, mice..not much is left.  This only
> seems to be a problem under Gnome though, it doesn't happen with
> KDE...except that when trying to set up the proxy settings for
> Mozilla...then it hangs as soon as I touch the keyboard.  I have a four year
> old DFI MB with a VIA686A chipset and have tried it with both a Duron 800
> and a Duron 1300 with the same results.  I've also tried virtually every
> combination of BIOS setting I can imagine.  Nothing appears in the logs, and
> the only way to escape is to reset or restart the PC, after which the disks
> need recovery.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> 
> Gordon Larsen
> ve6gel at shaw.ca
> 
> 
> 

I had a similar symptom when I ran dhclient to get an ip address when I 
had one of the problematic 3 com cards that used to work properly.

KDE is not so touchy with a properly working ethernet connection. 
Mozilla and GNOME really get a bit touchy when the connection is not as 
it should be.

I would try to not enable your nic during boot. Then once booted up, try 
to log into GNOME. I was able to do so, with the similar problem to yours.

Then try to launch mozilla and see if it works on your machine, not an 
internet site. If you can do this, bugzilla the NIC with the make/model 
information.


If you start GNOME, then get an IP from dhclient or whatever means, you 
probably won't be able to logout of GNOME. Mozilla probably wil start, 
but not allow you to type anything into the location bar.

I submitted bugs during tests for Fedora on these sort of symptoms.

Also, instead of letting the machine die totally, which will ask for a 
disk check, try poweroff or as root telinit 6.

I have a problem related to reiserfs with the 2.6 kernels and use the 
telinit 6 to shut down. It works alright, even with big problems. You 
still might need to hit the powerswitch to reboot, but it will shut down 
most processes.

Jim






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