Re: [Sheflug] Crashing software

[Ted Wager <ted@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

david wrote:
> Dear All
>
> I'm having irritations with crashing software. I'm using Ubuntu 6.06,
> with everything installed via the package manager, but I had the same
> symptoms with OpenSuse on the same machine (all software installed via
> Yast), so I assume the problem's a hardware one. The system is usable
> for work, and is used for 8 or so hours a day. The main offender is open
> office, which crashes most times I use it. It rescues itself and crashes
> without warning. I'm using it only for simple 1 page letters and tiny
> spreadsheets. The second worst offender is firefox which will crash a
> few times a day, again without warning and with no obvious trigger.
> Sometimes the X server goes down (perhaps a couple of times a week) and
> I'm left at a login page, and occasionally the system reboots
> althogether. RealPlayer also crashes once or twice a day. The system's
> being updated as often as necessary via the package manager. Everything
> else seems OK, and I'm logged on as a normal user, except for doing
> things needing root privileges.
>
> I've just installed Hardinfo which reports the systems as
> AMD Athlon XP 1800+
> 776Mb RAM (2 pieces which I've tested with memtest86 and which seem to
> be fine)
> GeForce MX 440 graphics card 64Mb (I've also tried another graphics card
> which doesn't seem to make any difference) 
> VIA motherboard with onboard audio and ethernet. One of the lines has
> the following info
> VIATachnologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC BusMaster
> IDE. 
> As far as I can tell from the Suse compatibility list at
> http://hardwaredb.suse.de/productSearch.php?PHPSESSID=73e4fcbf109f8215c26f58637b81cb49&LANG=en_UK&update_session=1&searchtype=simple&f_manufactor=via&f_device=&f_groups%5B%5D=6 this should work fine (at least with Suse)
> WDC WD205AA HDD (20Gb)
> Maxtor 80Gb HDD
> LiteOn DVD ROM
> Pioneer DVDRW
>
> There's a lot of other info as well about kernel modules
>
> I've tried running top, but there doesn't seem to be any undue strain,
> and with half a dozen apps running at the moment, Hardinfo reports about
> 50% memory usage
>
> Where's the best place to look next?
>
> thanks
>
> David Willington
>
>
>
>   
I had a similar problem where certain distros would either crash or
freeze....I had no problems running Libranet but all other distros were
affected...I tried changing the vid card with a s/hand one which I had
seen working but it had no effect..I then
bought a nv fx5500 cheapo from a local dealer and have no problems since....

-- 
Regards
 Ted Wager
   High Peak UK
     Using Mepis Linux


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