X losing settings

[DMerriman]

I'm not entirely sure what's happening, but every so often (frequently enough that I've simply put the appropriate command in a shell script!), Kubuntu 8 seems to forget who/what it is on my system: I have to re-run the X 'manual' (command line) setup to get my full system operation back.

I'm running Kubuntu on a 3.5G P4 with 3.5G of ram with a widescreen monitor (HP w2007); the system gets to the point where it won't start certain programs, won't delete files (just sits there with no advancement on the progress bar), and a few other little goodies. When I reboot the system (simply logging out and back in again doesn't accomplish anything), the system defaults to 640x480 resolution - letting me know that I need to rerun the X config. Doing that, and everything is fine (except for having to reset the monitor gamma again).

Any ideas what the heck is going on? This is rapidly getting real tiresome... >

[dibl]

Re: X losing settings

That's not a commonly-reported problem description -- hard to pinpoint anything. I'd start by reviewing (after an incident happens, and before you fix X) the latest system log file under /var/log/.

I'd also be suspicious of a hardware fault, somewhere. Such intermittent "phenomena" sometimes start cropping up when a hard disk starts having issues, or a memory chip starts getting flaky, or a PSU starts dropping voltage, etc. Without instrumentation on the hardware at the moment the fault happens, there's no real good way to catch it, except by substituting parts and then observing whether the fault goes away. You could run memtest86 overnight, for example, just to verify that it's not the memory.

[DMerriman]

Re: X losing settings

I was kinda afraid that would be the response :P

It didn't start happening until I went to Heron; I've run diags (from within Kubuntu and from a separate diagnostic disk) without finding any problems or even questionable results. I keep the box clean (air intake/exhaust clear, dust blown out of it, etc), and it's in a well-ventilated location, so I'm fairly confident it isn't overheating or hardware failure.

Next time it happens, I'll copy the appropriate log file(s), and see what they have to say for themselves.

Thanks for the reply...

[dibl]

Re: X losing settings

Sure ... sorry it's so vague.

The video reset to 640x480 and default gamma, every time, kinda-sorta makes me wonder about your PSU. If it were dropping power to the graphics card for just an instant, that kind of reset might happen, but if the motherboard is not as sensitive, the processor and memory might just keep chugging along. Just guessing ... :P