Problems, nothing but problems!

I've installed many distros till now but nothing has worked(hanging etc),

I tried Vector and Zenwalk but all apps just terminate and close randomly, Xfce keeps getting logged out,

What is the problem? Why is all this happening "

I dont know what to do,
If atleast one distro had worked I woulda stuck to it, so ppl dont think I just do this distro switching for timepass,

Plz help me, I really want to try linux but all these probs are really making me fedup and exhausted.

Post your system config and the nature of problem you are having like error messages etc.

debsuvra said:
Post your system config and the nature of problem you are having like error messages etc.

Yeah...true

nobody here can help you out without that

When you log out next time, log back in and take the output of "dmesg | tail"

Looks to me your PC is dying rather than the distro's work. When my Prescott throws up heat alarms, the CPU auto handles it and throttles my processes down with a neat warning in the dmesg. It closes my applications sometimes or reduces framerates when in a game. Ain't the distro's fault now is it?

^Quite a possibility. Zenwalk used hang quite a bit a few days before my RAM died.
Thought i broke X , but turned out to be the RAM

PIII 700MHz, 256 MB SDRAM, Intel 810 Chipset, 15" CRT, AT keyboard, PS/2 Mouse

(Using i810 driver of Xorg),

In both Zenwalk and Vector, X would just logoff randomly, applications would just terminate at random, and even panels would suddenly dissapear,

I tried changing the colour depth to 16bit from 24bit, but it would screw up X completely, meaning all bizarre and random colour lines and patterns would appear on screen,

And sometimes the PC would completely hang and freeze(TOTALLY HANG). nothing would respond(Ctrl+Alt+Bkspace etc.), even if I try activating numlock etc it would'nt work, everything just totally hangs.

And if its a hardware problem how do I find out whats faulty.

seriously dude!

you should stick with zenwalk or some xfce or lesser de/wm's.nothing against,but Gnome or kde will crawl!

do one thing,run a memtest using a ubuntu livecd

also post the o/p of dmesg

Dude I'd really love to stick to a distro like Zenwalk

,

but how can I? Xfce terminates every few minutes, Apps terminate evey few seconds literally :cry:

,

I cant even change the colour depth dude, what can I do? I'm helpless!

I cant run anything, firefox, XMMS, gqview etc. keep closing and terminating,

Is there any good tool to detect bad sectors? And I'll memtest86+ and checkup.

dmesg hardly requires XFCE for you to be whining about..

Qwerty why do u keep being rude and sarcastic with me?

I just mentioned what errors I encounter,

So I have a reason to whine, and if u faced such probs u would also whine, or maybe ur such a maniac that u would be ecstatic.

@Rahul:seems like a h/w problem to me.sure try memtest!

For the time being,forget gnome,kde and heavy DEs.
try fluxbox etcetra.

also,it will be helpful if u paste the dmesg .or attach ur dmesg output(/var/log/dmesg) to *rafb.net/

Ya my PC cant handle such heavy stuff,

Will post the output of dmesg and run some HDD and RAM tests.

~Rahul~ said:
Qwerty why do u keep being rude and sarcastic with me?

I just mentioned what errors I encounter,

So I have a reason to whine, and if u faced such probs u would also whine, or maybe ur such a maniac that u would be ecstatic.

If I got problems I don't distro hop, I solve it cause essentially all linux distros are the same and no problem is unique to you and you alone. You just have to look at your dmesg and I even asked for the output of it at the start of the thread though I was also told it was futile to. You just don't respond. Fine, I won't bother you anymore, good luck.

P.s. And I've had far worse problems than yours. You're just whining cause your X ain't working properly or your processor's throttling or maybe your RAM's trashing, there's much more things that can go worse.

Cmon man why all this, we had some misunderstandings, lets put it behind us and move on

,

Let it not be personal, what more can I say,

I agree on one thing, I dont have the patience to solve a prob and stick to one distro, that I'll stop,

I'll post the output of dmesg tmrw as I'm busy with my studies, and give the results of memtest86+ and check whether my HDD has bad sectors,

Peace!

I checked my HDD using HDD Regenerator, no bad sectors were found and my HDD is clean,

I ran memtest86+ and no errors were found in the RAM,

I'm unable to post the o/p of "dmesg | tail" bcos whenever I start the terminal X(or Xfce) crashes, I dont know how to copy the output of "dmesg | tail" from the failsafe terminal and virtual terminal(Ctrl+Alt+F2)

.

M

Paste the file /var/log/dmesg to some pastebin.

*www.pastebin.ca/1000119

M

And, also post /var/log/messages.

seems like initramfs image missing?can you post the /boot/grub/menu.lst here?
or if u use LILO,post /etc/lilo.conf

Lilo.conf

,
*www.pastebin.ca/1000130

I hope you are on Zenwalk? as per lilo.conf.
then,lilo.conf seems OK.

can u post the o/p of "fdisk -l" as root(su) ?I think either memory is low or swap not enabled?post your /etc/fstab also here.

I have around

/etc/fstab:-

*www.pastebin.ca/1000158

And how do I post the o/p of "fdisk -l" as I'm unable to run terminal from X, I dont know how to copy its o/p from a failsafe or virtual terminal

.

Checkout my disk structure:-
*img204.imageshack.us/img204/5540/clipboard01al6.th.png

~Rahul~ said:
And how do I post the o/p of "fdisk -l" as I'm unable to run terminal from X, I dont know how to copy its o/p from a failsafe or virtual terminal .

Code:

fdisk -l /dev/sda >>o/p

outputs to a file named "o/p" in the current directory

^Thanks,

Output of "fdisk -l" :-
*www.pastebin.ca/1000249

Output of "dmesg" :-
*www.pastebin.ca/1000250

Output of "dmesg | tail" :-
*www.pastebin.ca/1000251

md: linear personality registered for level -1
md: raid0 personality registered for level 0
md: raid1 personality registered for level 1
md: raid10 personality registered for level 10
raid6: int32x1 218 MB/s
raid6: int32x2 242 MB/s
raid6: int32x4 207 MB/s
raid6: int32x8 183 MB/s
raid6: mmxx1 589 MB/s
raid6: mmxx2 742 MB/s
raid6: sse1x1 589 MB/s
raid6: sse1x2 742 MB/s
raid6: using algorithm sse1x2 (742 MB/s)
md: raid6 personality registered for level 6
md: raid5 personality registered for level 5
md: raid4 personality registered for level 4
md: multipath personality registered for level -4

^ I think you DONT have any raid setup!but this shows so!

Local APIC disabled by BIOS -- you can enable it with "lapic"

"nolapic" option or local APIC disabled?I dont know what is the influence.

scsi0 : ata_piix
scsi1 : ata_piix
ata1: PATA max UDMA/66 cmd 0x000101f0 ctl 0x000103f6 bmdma 0x0001f000 irq 14
ata2: PATA max UDMA/66 cmd 0x00010170 ctl 0x00010376 bmdma 0x0001f008 irq 15
Switched to high resolution mode on CPU 0
ata1.00: ATA-5: ST320413A, 3.39, max UDMA/100
ata1.00: 39102336 sectors, multi 16: LBA
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/66
ata2.01: ATAPI: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H12N, UL01, max UDMA/66
ata2.01: limited to UDMA/33 due to 40-wire cable
ata2.01: configured for UDMA/33

^this message was got when I had disabled pata modes/sata modes in BIOS.
check for any PATA/SATA/SCSI options in your bios.enable all options.
"extended mode" is what it is called.
check by restarting the system after changing BIOS options(if any).

boot with below options and see whether any improvements.
I am not experienced with LILO,but you needs the below lines to be added into the kernel line.

Code:

acpi=off irqpoll nolapic

I hope below way will work

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz 
[B]append = acpi=off irqpoll nolapic[/B]
  root = /dev/sda5
  label = Zenwalk
  initrd = /boot/initrd.splash
  read-only

If this works OK,report here.
If that fails,
try booting with below options:-

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz 
[B]append = acpi=off irqpoll nolapic[/B] [B]apm=on[/B]
  root = /dev/sda5
  label = Zenwalk
  initrd = /boot/initrd.splash
  read-only

I think you need to check your BIOS settings.if u got a webcam or mobile/digicam show a screenshot here.we may be able to show pata/sata enable option and other.

there are many random problems found on dmesg

!

RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at 0.

anyways,generate another initramfs image in /boot dir.ask @rayraven to how to generate initramfs in zenwalk.I hope it uses mkinitramfs?

eth0: link down

???? do as "su"

Code:

ifconfig eth0 up

Is this a laptop???

nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (4096 buckets, 16384 max)
iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux, 1.2.23ds
iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2007 Intel Corporation
iwl4965: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN driver for Linux, 1.2.23ds
iwl4965: Copyright(c) 2003-2007 Intel Corporation
tsdev (compaq touchscreen emulation) is scheduled for removal.

Do you run wireless lan????

also,@rahul:I have read in ubuntuforums and all about some HP/Compaq laptops etc facing the same problems.sometimes it may be kernel level.
Just post in *ubuntuforums.org and zenwalk forums,gentoo forums.
these all will help you yield a solution.

Also,IRC is a very good help

My config:-

PIII 700MHz, 256 MB SDRAM, Intel 810 Chipset, 15" CRT, AT keyboard, PS/2 Mouse

I dont have any sort of wireless setup, nor do I have a lappy, I dont know why those lines are there,

And I DONT hace any raid setup, how can one have a RAID setup on a PC like mine

,

Also do any many others face issues like this or is it rare?

I'll try posting my BIOS screen in a day ot two

,

You mean Thinkdigit IRC?

And random problems in dmesg, dude all this stuff is greek and latin to me, how did you manage to learn so much(plz suggest some good books

).

^try #slackware @ irc.freenode.net
use *mibbit.com change to freenode and type #slackware and ask there question patiently.someone will answer for sure.

and try with those bootoptions and reply!

K so what I must do is enable that pata thing in BIOS,

And in lilo.conf I must replace the Linux part with the first one you've given?

acpi=off irqpoll nolapic
^Where should I add this line?

@praka123,

Will compiling a custom kernel solve ALL these problems?

I have already shown:
add this line to your lilo.conf zenwalk section.

Code:

[B]append = acpi=off irqpoll nolapic[/B] [B]apm=on

[/B]save!try!also check in BIOS!I cannot understand why raid etc are detected on ur system

compiling custom kernel-leave it for now!it has nothing to do here,I think

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz 
append = acpi=off irqpoll nolapic
  root = /dev/sda5
  label = Zenwalk
  initrd = /boot/initrd.splash
  read-only

OK, and I must add even these lines to lilo.conf rite?

I'll try all this and the BIOS settings and let you know what the results are.

Sorry for bumping this old thread as I didn't want to start another,

Most of the times when X crashes or hangs I get this line always in the log file(/var/log/Xorg.0.log):-

Code:

(EE) I810: Failed to load module "dri" (module does not exist, 0)

whichever Linux distro are you trying,install "libgl-DRI" .It is needed for full 3D support.

I'm using only Zenwalk, how do I install it on this distro?

After I install this will X stop hanging and crashing?

It comes with the default zenwalk iso, i dont understand why you are unable to load dri.
Post your xorg.conf here

Do check if the Load "dri" line exists twice in your xorg.conf.

@ Qwerty, the load "dri" exists only once,

xorg.conf:-

*www.pastebin.ca/1022603

Dude, where's this part below?

Load "dri"

You dont have dri module loaded.Add it.

ya as ray said you dont have dri even once in your xorg.conf.add

Code:

Load "dri"

in the "module" section.

Code:

 #Option     "DRI"                       # [<bool>]

^ Just out of curiosity, whats this line for?

I'll add the line load "dri" to xorg.conf.

That line's commented, its just part of the documentation you could say.

*www.pastebin.ca/1022634 with Modules appended to, you can also try uncommenting and setting that one to true later, but I don't think its necessary, looks like a device-exclusive setting to me

^ I didn't understand your post buddy!

,

Is my xorg.conf OK except for the dri part?

And the link you've given, should I use that as my xorg.conf?

Yes. He's fixed ur xorg.conf with needed modules.

Use it in place of urs.

Still no luck, I get:-

Code:

(EE) I810: Failed to load module "dri" (module does not exist, 0)

I searched /usr/X11R6/lib/modules and found a file called "dri" .

PS:-
I copied this line from Xorg.0.log after X hung.

/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri.so is where mine lies. I don't seem to have a dri file under the location you have mentioned.

Could it be the dri lib is not installed? Check your package manager for the package as praka123 had pointed above. (an eix -I dri gives me the package xf86driproto installed, looks like headers only though)

Hi,

Finally solved all problems! Changed some bios options and everything works perfect

!

I'm using the distro I tried first. i.e Slackware,

I've been using it since 3 days with not ONE crash or hanging,

The scroll wheel doesn't work, how to fix it?

Only thing is fonts are totally unrecognizable, how to correct them?

*img377.imageshack.us/img377/2047/snapshot1bm1.th.png

^enable anti-aliasing.I dont know how u do in kde.but in Gnome,it is go to system>preferences>appearance!font>details>enable correct dpi for ur monitor(96dpi) and in hinting>slight/medium!congos!