réjean Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Hi all! I have a Seagate 1000528AS SATA hard drive, a Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.80GHz processor and a GA-G41MT-S2PT Mainboard with 8 GB of RAM. Now all of a sudden, this morning I was watching a video online, a course from edX on ANUx: ANU-ASTRO2x Exoplanets ( no porn there) when the screen went black and the sound got distorted. I couldn't do anything, not even Ctrl-Alt-Del would work so I pressed the recess button ( forgot to say that I was in PCLinuxOS) and the BIOS came on, then the flash screen (when you see a picture and a wheel turning) then the screen went black again. Then I rebooted into LinuxMint and the same happened. I turned the computer off for a few minutes, even unplugged it then I rebooted this time in Mageia and everything was normal again. I opened Firefox and browsed for a little while, no video, maybe the local radio and everything worked. I went out in the garden for an hour or so and when I came back I decided to open Libre Office and start this thread so I could save the text every few sentences until the whole thing was ready to put online. After the first line or 2 the computer froze again and I rebooted into PCLinuxOS to see if it would work and it did. So this is where I am. My questions are; What do you think is going on? Is it the hard drive, the processor, the mother board? Or can it be the processor fan or the power supply? I am lucky, a friend of mine gave me a few computers a few weeks ago. I managed to put one together so I could replace my wife's old thing. Last night I managed to get to work a machine with a ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI mother board, with a Penthium 4 (3.2 ( I think)Ghz) and 2 GB of RAM with a SATA 500 GB hard drive which I haven't formatted yet or installed any OS but I could use it and possibly will have to use it to replace my own machine. So any suggestion anyone? Suffice to say that I like and would like to keep my own machine working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 If I had to guess, I would think it was a failing harddrive. Try a livecd and see if the same thing happens or not. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 It's hard to say, Réjean. The symptoms could very will be caused by CPU overheating, RAM failure, graphics card failure, or even some component on the mother board itself (southbridge controller IC, for example). Intermittent problems are the most difficult to troubleshoot. Personally, if this were my machine, I'd be migrating to a newer machine as soon as possible. I would not spend and inordinate amount of time trying to track down a problem on a machine this old. Sorry. I doubt this was any help to you at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 ===== It's not going to be hard drive failure because that wouldn't cause graphic failure or sound distortion. Furthermore, in Linux, the reboot process would almost always force an fsck after these failures. That test would report fautly/failing sectors on the drive. My money would not be on the hdd. However, I've been wrong before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 (edited) I was thinking the same thing, Josh.We have to go to the local high school where we built some raise beds to water the seedlings. I'll see if the computer is still working when I come back and whenever it fails I'll try a live DVD. Thanks for the suggestion. I was just so surprised when it happened this morning. @Eric. If I have to I'll migrate my processor and hd to the ASRock. Unfortunately it can accomodate only 4 GB of RAM. I cannot afford a new mother board for now. We'll see what happens. Thanks guys! Edited June 24, 2014 by réjean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I'd do the easy stuff first, Réjean... check connections, fan operation, clean out dust, etc. check RAM, swap out if you have some other sticks available check hdd integrity using an app like Gnome Disks (Palimpsest Disk Utility) - available in most repos or on Porteus 1.2 Portable Linux check CPU, swap out if possible leave mobo issues for last 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 ===== It's not going to be hard drive failure because that wouldn't cause graphic failure or sound distortion. Not true... Recently my mom's old laptop would only show a white cursor on a black screen and wouldn't boot due to harddrive failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Yes, Josh is right, it can make video fail ... don't forget it spools to the hard drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I'd do the easy stuff first, Réjean... check connections, fan operation, clean out dust, etc. An easy way to check your memory is with the memtest utility, available as a downloadable livecd image. boot off it and let it run. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 Thanks everyone! I haven't touched anything and it is still working but I will do the tests that were suggested before I start swapping parts. I might have wrecked 2 processors fans the last few days unless they can still work with a few of the little white things that go into the holes of the mobo missing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 (edited) Okay! So here I am in Porteus; <a href="http://imgbox.com/lphWlrdY" target="_blank"><img src="http://t.imgbox.com/lphWlrdY.jpg" alt="image host"/></a> Edited June 24, 2014 by LilBambi created a BBC thumbnail image and linked using the jpg and webpage above. Left your old link so you can see how it needs to be for the forums and let you remove the html links for Porteus. :) ~ Bambi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Looking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 Yes except that I was distracted and chose LXDE which doesn't have the Gnome Disk Utility. I'll reboot into OpenSuSE later which is Gnome based. Just back from the local museum where we are also looking after some gardens.I'll keep in touch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 (edited) Can't just add Xfce through your pkg manager, and then gnome-disk-utility-2.32.0-i486-1Ahau.txz 1.3 MB trom Google Code here: https://code.google....au.txz&can=2&q= Edited June 24, 2014 by LilBambi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I've feeling the mobo is over heating . Have you an extra case fan if not fit a big one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 I completed a memtest. After 2 hours 24 min I got a 100% Pass, Test 20 something. and at the bottom a " Pass complete. No errors. Press ESC to exit". Then I rebooted into PCLinuxOS, came here to add the new info. Read Capt Crow's post and thought it could be the problem even if I added a 4 GB memory stick only a month ago and cleaned the machine with a air canister as I do periodically. I started posting and the machine stalled. I opened it and dusted it ( there was dust but not excessively ). I rebooted with Porteus live CD and the screen started looking like a modern art painting ( the graphic card going crazy). Oh! One point sometimes when I reboot and the BIOS shows up I see some dotted parallel vertical lines. I turned the machine off, unplugged it, then replugged it back and rebooted into PCLinuxOS and this is where I am right now ( for the last 10 min or so). @ Fran. Next time I can boot into Porteus I'll try to do it as root instead of guest and do what you suggested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 (edited) I do not know what the all the programs will be for linux. You could set a gpu temp monitor running to see if that is causing an overheat. You could set a cpu temp monitor running to do the same. If you have a seperate graphics card can you swap it out ? Can you swap out the psu? Ram sockets can fail, so if you have two or four then taking out ram one at a time might find the problem. Loose cables do cause quite a few problems, swapping cables one at a time might find the problem. You only need a red and black connection to make a fan work.. It will run at full speed though. The third or fourth pins are for automatic speed control so not really needed. You will need to view your mobo manual to see where the two power connectors should go on the pins if you have split up the little white connector block. Take it one step at a time and you will find the fault eventually. Edited June 25, 2014 by abarbarian 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Not true... Recently my mom's old laptop would only show a white cursor on a black screen and wouldn't boot due to harddrive failure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 If that's an older version of Porteus (1.2), then it comes with Gnome Disk Utility. The newer version of Porteus (3.0) does not. By the way, you don't boot into Porteus as root. You just boot normally, then su to root in the terminal - password is toor. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Thanks everyone! I am now in Linux Mint. It is working so I won't touch anything tonight. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Thanks for the clues about Porteus Eric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewmur Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I completed a memtest. After 2 hours 24 min I got a 100% Pass, Test 20 something. and at the bottom a " Pass complete. No errors. Press ESC to exit". Then I rebooted into PCLinuxOS, came here to add the new info. Read Capt Crow's post and thought it could be the problem even if I added a 4 GB memory stick only a month ago and cleaned the machine with a air canister as I do periodically. I started posting and the machine stalled. I opened it and dusted it ( there was dust but not excessively ). I rebooted with Porteus live CD and the screen started looking like a modern art painting ( the graphic card going crazy). Oh! One point sometimes when I reboot and the BIOS shows up I see some dotted parallel vertical lines. I turned the machine off, unplugged it, then replugged it back and rebooted into PCLinuxOS and this is where I am right now ( for the last 10 min or so). @ Fran. Next time I can boot into Porteus I'll try to do it as root instead of guest and do what you suggested. Do you have another graphics card you can try? From all your post, that sounds like the culprit to me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Yes, another graphics card as lewmur said. It is sounding like the memory on the graphics card and/or the graphics card itself. Or you didn't get it seated good when you cleaned it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 (edited) Right now everything is working fine since a good 5 hrs so the problem might be fixed. Just a recap; in my last post I forgot to mention I had switch video card with one that came with the computers my friends gave me so it's possible the card is gone. I went back to the card I had been using for the last year and I don't have the same problem. Another thing I forgot to mention right from the beginning; There is also another hd in the machine; an old 40 GB which has win xp and win 7 installed on. The win xp I never use, it is there because someone gave me a Canon scanner which won't run on anything else that I might use someday if I have to scan some negatives. Most of the time the scanner is not plugged in anyway. The win 7 I used for awhile this winter for playing games only. I never go on the internet with it. Anyway sometimes the hd disappears. The BIOS doesn't see it or if I try a "update-grub from Linux Mint it doesn't see it either. For instance a few days ago I had been playing Civilization in the evening and the next day I booted into Ubuntu to do an update. Well it did an upgrade also and took over the bootloader. Normally I just go back into Mint and do an 'update-grub' and a 'grub-install /dev/sda' and everything is fine after that, but that's when my problems started. I rebooted into PCLinuxOS and went to my online course and you know the rest of the story. All that to say that I am not going to touch anything if it is working properly because after all the swapping the other machine isn't working anymore. I might start a new thread about it but before that I'll do all the suggestions from abarbarian first; If you have a seperate graphics card can you swap it out ? Can you swap out the psu? Ram sockets can fail, so if you have two or four then taking out ram one at a time might find the problem. Loose cables do cause quite a few problems, swapping cables one at a time might find the problem. Thanks everyone for your help, again. It is extremely comforting to know there are good people ready to assist you when you need it. Long live Scot Newsletter fora. Edited June 25, 2014 by réjean 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 That bit re;- parallel lines . can be caused by booting up with an unsympathetic usb device plugged in . I'll be shot down here . I found that Slackware is the only linux os that doesn't lose windows part on boot up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrke Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 That bit re;- parallel lines . can be caused by booting up with an unsympathetic usb device plugged in . I'll be shot down here . I found that Slackware is the only linux os that doesn't lose windows part on boot up. I don't know, what do you mean by lose? openSuSE shows my windows partition in the file manager. I have to mount it if I want to use it though. Win partition also shows if I fdisk -l from the CLI. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Debian doesn't lose my Windows install, it presents it in Grub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Grub:- I can see the windows part all right but no way will it boot . As I said before the winxp has just become a folder on Squeeze.Only read through user/home. At least those files are behind the Debian system ,where they are safe from idiots. Odd but ok really. Lilo:- with Slackware.all is perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 That sounds like a choice that was made at installation. Was that your first Linux install? Have you tried to edit grub to enter the Windows XP as a choice? Was the partition damaged? Was the boot partition for Windows XP already hosed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Red hat/suse/can't remember them all . But just kept stuffin n chuckin . until I came to Squeeze . That I liked and it worked really well . Everything else became shrouded in the mists of "didn reely mattr" I'm fine really . With the exception of a few exe."s it all works . bit like a sticky stick shift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Squeeze is old -- there is an LTS version, but if you want to use Debian, you should be installing Wheezy (Stable). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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