Joseph H. Fry wrote: > On Wed, 2005-10-19 at 09:12 -0700, Basajaun wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > I have a weird problem with the response time inside X. I am running > > Debian Etch, kernel 2.6.12-1-686-smp on a P4 3.4GHz HT with a SATA > > drive and 1GB RAM. Whenever I start X (XFCE 4.2.2), I experience the > > following problems:
[snip] > I doubt it's HD related... your numbers from hdparm (not quoted) were > resonable. I think your issue is a little deeper, probably in memory or > interrupts. > > First of all, have you tried with the prebuilt debian kernel... perhaps > you set an option in your custom kernel thats flaky? Yes, of course. All these problems happen with both 2.6.12-1-686 and 2.6.12-1-686-smp, as well as with any 2.6.13.4 I have compiled myself. I am getting the impression that it's not the kernel's fault (my custom kernel can be, and probably is, flaky, but I have some hopes on the Debian ones :^). > Second, are you sure there isn't a problem in hardware/bios that is > causing this... No, I am not. It might well be the case. > has this machine worked as expected in the past? If you > haven't tested it, try using a knoppix cd or some such to see if it's > just your Debian install. This is a brand new PC, bought for the research group I work in, together with an identical one, upon which Slackware was installed by a workmate. Not only I get little help from that fellow, but I even have to bear him mocking at me because Slackware rocks and Debian sucks (needless to add, that other computer works fine). I have Ubuntu in a second root partition (I always make two partitions to use as / by two different OSs), and I might give it a try. I have to add that I have Debian Etch installed at home (on an AMD 2800+), and works like a charm, so I don't think I messed something basic up at work... but it could be so. > I would probably update your system bios and tinker with some of the > settings (especially the "PNP OS" stuff) as sometimes a small change can > make a huge difference. I will see to it. However, as I say above, the other new PC works fine, and presumably has the very same BIOS configuration. We did not change anything except installing the OS. > Finally you don't say what additional hardware is in your machine. > Perhaps removing any cards or other attached hardware one peice at a > time will reveal the cause of the problem. If you can, try running the > system on different ram, or remove one stick at a time (if you have more > than one). > > Joe It has NO additional HW. The video is in-MB, as is the sound and NIC. It has no PCI cards or anything else, except a LG CD-RW. Regarding the RAM, between joke and joke, my Slackware fellow told me (when asked about that possibility) that usually RAM errors produce far more radical problems. I also ran memtest86, or whatever that memory testing utility that is automatically added to the grub menu upon instalation is called. I only had it running for some minutes. I think errors usually appear quite fast, but I could be wrong and the RAM is flaky, and I have to run memtest86 for 3 hours and have it almost finish all the tests before it fails... who knows? Thanks, Joe, I'll try the BIOS for now (and the alternative OS). Basajaun -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]