Help? System locks up in all OS's and Live DVD 1.9

[mikeescott]

I have been having problem with my computer locking up lately and it has gotten worse. Now it freezes in XP, XP64 bit, UE1.8-64bit, and UE1.7-32bit. I was glad to see 1.9 come along as I was planing on a clean install to hopefully fix this problem. I was running the Live DVD of 1.9 tonight and it locked up again while I was going through the 1st few windows before the install started. I got to user/pass/comp name and that was it. The past few days it has been locking up before the Windows logo loads when I try to get into windows. Since it is happening in all OS's, I am starting to think it may be a hardware problem. I have never delt with a hardware problem before and do not know where to start on finding the problem. Would anyone here be able to point me in the rite direction? Please help. Thanks, Mike

[cowboy]

OK this one could be tough..it does sound like you have a hardware prob....
First disconnect all USB devices that are not essential..that is one start...check all connections..Ram..Video..make sure there tight...
Also list your system specs...we can start from there
Could be virus related..are you running a dual boot..may have to totally clean your drive,,
You can do a memory test with a live DVD ..if you can
Anyone else out there feel free to help...

[mikeescott]

There are no USB devices connected at the moment. I have had problems installing with most of them plugged in before. What system specs do you need that are not in my sig? Is there a command I can run and post the output? Right now I have 5 internad HDDs (3 SATA and 2 PATA). The 1 PATA has XP and the other has XP-64bit. My 75gig Raptor had UE1.8 64bit, but it was formatted for 1.9. My 320 gig WD has Ultimate Edition 1.7 and the 320 Seagate is a media storage drive. I tried running the Live DVD of 1.9 again and received this error while installing.

[Baphomet]

Almost HAS to be a hardware issue, since it's OS-agnostic and getting worse over time...

So when you say it "locks up"... What happens exactly?

Does everything freeze with your active windows open and visible? What about the mouse/cursor, does it stop responding? Do you get any error messages? Is the keyboard responsive (e.g. can you Ctrl+Alt+Del)?

[mikeescott]

Sometimes desktop freezes and mouse is responsive for a few seconds, most of the time all locks up. Keyboard is never responsive when it freezes, cap locks will not even turn on and off. I have tried physically unplugging all drives and running 1 at a time and the problem is present in all 4 OS drives. Most of my computer is about 2.5 years old. The Windows drives are a little older and the SATA DVD drive and half the RAM is a little newer.

[bpollen]

I have tried physically unplugging all drives and running 1 at a time and the problem is present in all 4 OS drives.

That would have been the direction I would first have looked. The system starts looking for a drive, can't find it, decides to go out to lunch, has MORE than three martinis, and is totally useless until rebooted.

[TheeMahn]

Sometimes desktop freezes and mouse is responsive for a few seconds, most of the time all locks up. Keyboard is never responsive when it freezes, cap locks will not even turn on and off. I have tried physically unplugging all drives and running 1 at a time and the problem is present in all 4 OS drives. Most of my computer is about 2.5 years old. The Windows drives are a little older and the SATA DVD drive and half the RAM is a little newer.

It is w/o a doubt hardware related...

I would boot from the Ultimate Edition 1.9 DVD and select memtest (run it straight from the dvd, not qemu as I am demonstrating):

selecting memtest

running memtest

Let it fully complete, if any errors are reported or it locks up while running most likely your memory is bad...

another thing to look at is let it boot into Ultimate Edition 1.9 from the dvd open a terminal and type the following:

Code: Select all

dmesg

Look through the large output and see if you can see any errors ie i/o error /dev/sda1, dev/hda1 etc. This will help narrow down weather it is a hard disk or bad dvd drive.

I hope I have been of some assistance,

TheeMahn

[mikeescott]

I will try the memtest when I get home today. Another thing I have noticed is a drive disappearing while I am trying to write to it.

Hey Thee, How well does your system in your sig work? Easy for everything to get working in Linux? Everything om the MB work out of the box? How many SATA and USB plugs? I have 8 internal SATA plugs and 2 IDE, but half of them have never worked correctly, ASUS issue. I would like so salvage this system if I can as I have about $3K in it, but Yours looks a lot cheaper to build now. I have never used RAID before, but I am thinking of getting a mirror RAID for my media storage. There is only about 25gigs left on that drive and I had planned on getting a larger one anyway.

[deate]

Not that this might have anything to do with your situation, but I was just dealing with the same symptoms on my sons "Vista" laptop, and it was cleared up by adding more RAM...so my best guess as to your problem is memory...

[Baphomet]

My thought's are that this is RAM related. I'd try booting to one memory module and see if the problem goes away. If it does, shut down, add another module and reboot. See if you're still in the clear. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Of course if the problem continues with just one RAM module then we need to look elsewhere.

Parting thought's: Why in the hell are you running four OS's on four different drives? You're begging for trouble and promising blowjobs for it; so I'm not surprised some has found you. More to the point, why two versions of Windows and two versions of Ultimate? Somebody needs to make up their mind about some s--t here.

My suggestion: if you're still on the fence about 'buntu, dual boot on the 320GB with Ultimate 1.8 or 1.9 and either XP (my suggestion) or Vista. Use one (maaaaybe two) of the remaining 74GB drives for backups, data, media, whatever.

Seriously though, what is up with those punkass 30 and 40 GB drives? Are you a packrat or something that just can't bear to let go of them? Time to get harsh with yourself and dump 'em. Those are nothing but heat-producing wattage wasters.