This is my 4th linux install and my system is still unstable. Can anyone help?

[Guest]

Hello everybody!

I have a STI notebook computer (STI is a Brazilian assembler of laptops) that came with Windows Vista home. I had been a windows user all my life but didn't really like Vista and decided to give Linux a try.
I first tried to run it through live cd's and the only one that actually booted in my machine was Mandriva. It did freeze running so I decided to go for the full installation - it could be a cd-reader problem... though after it installed it kept on freezing at random (I tried to time it... use it... not use it... online... offline... couldn't find a pattern).
Since I was also having some trouble with my wireless card I decided to give Ubuntu a try, since lot's of people said it was a good choice for beginners like me. It really impressed me with it's user friendliness and sheer amount of information available in forums and Faqs. It froze a lot less than Mandriva, but still crashed from time to time. Also I kind of broke the network configuration trying to get the wireless card working at full speed (the driver Ubuntu auto-installed ran VERY slow) :P
Anyway... on I went to my third install and this time I decided to keep with Ububtu. After I got my wireless working good with ndiswrapper with the help from more experienced users at IRC I decided to focus again on the freezing and crashing. I didn't think it was really an interface problem, but decided to switch to KDE (because I was also beginning to feel that Gnome was a bit spartan for my tastes).
Which leads us to this final install... I'm running Kubuntu installed on my AS1560 laptop from STI (which has an AMD Turion 64 processor and GeForce Go 7400) and the crashes are getting more and more frequent. I have suspected acpi and apm problems, but it's really not my area of expertise so I wouldn't know. I'd appreciate any kind of help, I've been trying to fix it on my own for a LONG time.

Thank you very much in advance,

Silvia

[kevinc]

Re: This is my 4th linux install and my system is still unstable. Can anyone help?

Did you try the live Kubuntu CD or live Ubuntu CD? Are you using Kubuntu 8.04 or an earlier version?

You mentioned that the Mandriva live cd worked, but the others didn't work. I have found that the current Kubuntu 8.04 works better than earlier ones and have installed on several notebooks with no problems.

I have one friend with a notebook from a Brazilian company, it came with windows xp and he needed to get several extra drivers from the company before the sound and cd worked properly.

Have a look at the computer company's web site and see if the support Linux and if they offer linux drivers for your model computer.

Wireless can be a problem, but there are many threads on the Kubuntu forum that have specific help for that.
Just type "wireless" or the model of your wireless card, eg IPW 3945, into the search on Kubuntu forums and you'll find lots of helpful information.

[arochester]

Re: This is my 4th linux install and my system is still unstable. Can anyone help?

Have you tried posting this problem to Ubuntu Brazil? http://forum.ubuntu-br.org/

I have suspected acpi and apm problems

Sometimes laptops benefit from changes to the boot instructions. Right at the beginning when the disk starts up try pressing (I think) F6 to gain access to the boot line.

I would experiment a little and try: acpi=off; then acpi=off noapic

More explanation comes from http://grumpymole.blogspot.com/2007/...arameters.html

[Guest]

Re: This is my 4th linux install and my system is still unstable. Can anyone help?

Did you try the live Kubuntu CD or live Ubuntu CD? Are you using Kubuntu 8.04 or an earlier version?

I used a text-based installation cd, Ubuntu 8.04. Installed the kubuntu meta-package afterwards.

You mentioned that the Mandriva live cd worked, but the others didn't work. I have found that the current Kubuntu 8.04 works better than earlier ones and have installed on several notebooks with no problems.

Mandriva barely worked. I've downloaded kubuntu with kde3 (the kde4 version wouldn't download) and am going to try it afterwards maybe... I wouldn't like to resort to it though, since the computer is up and running and I need it for university... So, if all else fails I'll give it a try.

I have one friend with a notebook from a Brazilian company, it came with windows xp and he needed to get several extra drivers from the company before the sound and cd worked properly.
(...)
Wireless can be a problem (...)

i actually solved all my driver problems as far as I know... wireless is running ok now using ndiswrapper. the problem was in the driver ubuntu defaulted to. Thank you very much for the prompt response though :-)

Have you tried posting this problem to Ubuntu Brazil? http://forum.ubuntu-br.org/

Didn't really think of it... thank you, I'll try. :-)

Sometimes laptops benefit from changes to the boot instructions.

I've tried a couple of those and they do seem to affect the stability problem somehow, don't solve them 100% though. I'm running it with noapm and noacpi and it is much better now than it was when it all began, but it still crashes sometimes... :-P
Thank you both very much and any other ideas would be appreciated :-)