Kubuntu hangs randomly

[nictenemo]

First of all, sorry about my english.

I have a problem with my Kubuntu, it hangs randomly. I have tried to change the driver of my ati, I, ve tried without 3D acceleration. I thougth that was the memory, so i changed it, but it continue hang. When it hangs i cant do anything, no mouse, no keyboard. I´ve tried debian and knoppix to, and the same problem. I´ve looked the logs and i cant find anything strange. In windows i dont have this problem. Can someone help me please.

My computer is :

P4 3,06 HT
Ati radeon 9700
Sound blaster live.
1024mb memory.

I think that is the most important.

Thanks a lot.

[DMurray]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

When you say "hang", is it a hard crash? Can't you kill the X server, restart from the keyboard?
Did you try a Windows install? If it works, we can safely say your hardware is not defective.

[nictenemo]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

Sorry, I think freeze is more correct. When it freezes i cant do anything, no ctrl+alt+f1, no ctrl+alt+backspace, nothing. It works perfect in windows. Really I dont know what happens. I have tried all that i know. Thanks.

[dibl]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

One notion -- make a big konsole window, turn off any screen saver, and run

top

in it, and go do something else for awhile. When it freezes, you'll be able to see what was using all the resources.

Maybe ....

:P

[nictenemo]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

Ok, it`s a good idea. I`ll try it. I think it is something related with the heat of the micro, because I`m testing it today (It is very hot here, Spain), and it freeze more, so. I have disabled the powernow service, because pherhaps it crash when try to reduce the frequency, what do you think?, Thanks a lot.

[dibl]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

It is very hot here, Spain

what do you think?

Sure. When you said "freeze" I was thinking the CPU was still running. If it is actually a thermal shutdown, then you should start looking for some of the "power management" and CPU stepping processes -- I think other folks with laptops have had some problems with thermal shutdowns.

[DMurray]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

Don't do it, in fact, powernow exists to keep your PC healthy and cool. You can leave it running, and also enable lm-sensors (and ksensors) so you can have an idea on how the system is running.
Turn on the CPU temperature, CPU fan rotation, motherboard temperature, CPU frequency, 3,3v 5v and 12v.
Pay attention to the 12v sensor and check how low (or high) it goes when your system is in heavy load and idle.
If you got 3D working, open the ksensors screen and leave "glxgears" running for 10 minutes or more. This will add 100% load to your CPU (but unfortunately not to your vcard), and if cooling is bad, things will get real hot before it freezes. Keep an eye on the voltages.
Google around for a how-to on setting up lm-sensors, sometimes it's tricky. Report back when you have something new.

[nictenemo]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

It freezes again without the powernowd, so that`s not the problem. The last process in execution was Xorg. It is strange, because, it was crashing each five minutes, and now I was around 2 hours, and crash. I`ll try to monitorice the cpu. I have the 3D enable, so i can check it. Thanks a lot, I`ll post last news.

[nictenemo]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

Ok, I`ve tested with the lm-sensors, I runed two process of glxgears, with the 90% CPU, the temperature of the CPU was 73 C, and the voltage were:

+3,3 = 6,37
+5 = 4,19
-5 = -8,10
+12 = 12,2
-12 = -12,9

The process was one hour runing and it didnt crash. Really, I dont know what happend. Any Idea?

[DMurray]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

There must be something wrong with your readings, at least for the +3,3v and +5v. The first one is too high, and the second is too low. The 12v reading looks good.
Did you run "sensors-detect" after installing lm-sensors? It will poll the controller of the sensors on your motherboard, and then show some modules to be manually or automatically added to your modules.conf file. This process is like a calibration, because not all sensors in all motherboards are numbered the same way, that's why you need to run sensors-detect.
I don't know about the temperatures for Intel CPUs, but 73C would have fried an AMD counterpart. If this is indeed the normal operational temp for your unit, then forget about heat.

[nictenemo]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

Yes I have runned sensors-detect, and I added the modules in the config file, and load. The temperature its normal when the processor has a lot of work. So pherhaps the good idea is to use windows, thanks a lot for everything.

[goforthis]

Re: Kubuntu hangs randomly

All the reading I did on the cpu calls for 69c to 75c for max temp on the chip
soo I think it is a heat problem you are having
just thought I would check things out for myself
most people I have talked to are running around 50c full load gaming

Good luck