linux keeps freazing!

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:06 pm

i got pissed off at windows for always freezing so i dual-booted suse linux 10.0 and it installed well and stuff but when i try to boot x windows the computer freezes and the monitor turns off and it just sucks. now i hate suse and windows. is there a way to fix this or a better more reliable version of linux?

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 1:05 am

Considering two very different OSes, both of which are typically fairly stable, have trouble with stability, it could be hardware troubles. Overheating (install Motherboard Monitor in Windows and see what your temps are) and RAM troubles (run Memtest x86 from a floppy) are the most common troubles.

Other than that, try Damn Small Linux. Its footprint is so small, and the CPU usuage is so low, that even with hardware troubles it tends to run OK.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:13 am

What's your video card? If it's not at least a 64MB card then I don't think KDE 3.4 would be able to run. Also do you have more then 128MB ram? Both of those could cause your system to frieeze when starting X.

If this is all true you have two options; one is upgrade your hardware so you can run it no problem; two is to go with a lower resource distro. If you like SuSE, go with 9.1 to 9.3., there is also Fedora 2-3.

Well I'm a fan of DSL, I'd say it's for people that know some commandline commands. As fluxbox doesn't have the graphical options for everything like Gnome or KDE do. Unless you plan to install it and then install KDE.

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:07 am

SuSE is really stable; you're probably having hardware trouble.

How old is your monitor? If it's too old or really really inexpensive it may not be able to handle the resolution Xwindow is trying to run at. Check to see if there's an option in YaST for setting the screen res, if that's the case. Set it the same as your XP screen res. (I think SuSE tries to run at 1290 x whatever unless you tell it otherwise)

@ Sparkfist: Actually I've run KDE 3.4 on machines with far less than that much video memory. (I think one was 16 MB, the other was 8 MB, or something like that). However both machines had 256 MB of RAM.

elliott · Post by **elliott** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:10 am

You don't need a 64mb card or 128mb ram for Linux, I had Slackware with XFCE running on a AMD K6 300, 32mb ram, 16mb Nvidia Vanta with minimal slow downs.

I seriously doubt it is "freezing", in my 4 years of using Linux it has hard locked about 5 times and every one of them was my fault. If X freezes you can hit ctrl-alt-backspace and get back to command line.

I think you don't have X properly configured, if you hit ctrl-alt-backspace it should drop you back into the commandline. You probably didn't set the v-refresh and h-sync correctly for your monitor causing it to shut off to protect itself. Just reconfigure X correctly and you should be fine.

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:02 am

how would you set the v-refresh and h-sync? also if it is a hardware problem, my onboard video kinda sucks but i have a better video card i havn't tried with linux yet

elliott · Post by **elliott** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:35 am

I have never used SUSE so I don't know their recommended process.

I always edit my xorg.conf file manually using nano. It is located at /etc/X11/xorg.conf for my Debain system, so as root I use "nano -w /etc/X11/xorg.conf"

Here is the h-sync v-refresh settings for my monitor:

Code: Select all

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Generic Monitor"
    HorizSync       30 - 107
    VertRefresh     48 - 120
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

I run a resoulution of 1600x1200 at 85hz, you probably run less. Look up your monitor's specs to tell what these should be set to.

There is probably an easy tool to do this, but this way always works. If you post your card model and monitor specs I could help you setup your xorg.conf file.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:44 am

daguuy wrote:how would you set the v-refresh and h-sync? also if it is a hardware problem, my onboard video kinda sucks but i have a better video card i havn't tried with linux yet

Well that might be the problem. Most onboard video are genaric and some if not many are not supported. Use the video card, it will likely be supported and get up and running no problem.

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:06 pm

elliott wrote:I have never used SUSE so I don't know their recommended process.

I always edit my xorg.conf file manually using nano. It is located at /etc/X11/xorg.conf for my Debain system, so as root I use "nano -w /etc/X11/xorg.conf"

Here is the h-sync v-refresh settings for my monitor:
Code: Select all
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Generic Monitor"
    HorizSync       30 - 107
    VertRefresh     48 - 120
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

That's not needed in SuSE, though... SuSE has YaST (takes care of just about anything in your system) and SaX2, which specializes in your monitor stuff.

elliott · Post by **elliott** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:22 pm

Those auto detection programs have never worked right for me, it doesn't seem to have worked for the original poster either.

I use "Xorg -configure" to get a basic xorg.conf file and work from there, it hasn't failed me yet.

I seem to know my hardware a lot better than those programs do.

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:35 pm

well i got dad to help me with it and he typed some wierd linuxy xorg stuff into the command thing and now it works

later he'll help me with getting the wireless working so it's cool now

elliott · Post by **elliott** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:45 pm

Have fun with the wireless, most cards manufacturers don't release drivers for Linux. I had to use Ndiswrapper with WinXP drivers on my laptops. It isn't the ideal solution, but works OK.

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:47 pm

yeah dad said something about Ndiswrapper and my windows driver and he did it with his wireles laptop so i'm not too worried about it