Ok, I'm a wee bit confused here. My Linux box has started hanging and
rebooting for no apparent reason. ( I know there's a reason, and I'm pretty
sure it's my fault. :) )
Here's the scenario. I've been running Mandrake 7.1 on my desktop for a few
week, everything was going along nicely. I installed it on my laptop and
gave ReiserFS a shot. Worked like a dream. So, I decided to re-install and
use Reiser instead of ext2 on my desktop.
After doing this, everything seemed ok for about half an hour or so, then in
the middle of an Xboing game, the computer rebooted automagically. Struck me
as odd, but the box came up just fine. (I really like how a ReiserFS box
comes back after a crash, btw) Logged back in and started another game of
Xboing. (I can't help it, I like this game) Just like before, the box
rebooted. My first thought was that the game was somehow causing the system
to reboot. (I know, I've spent too much time providing support for MS
products) So, when the box comes back up, I don't start a game, I just let
it sit while I do something else in the room. Yep, it rebooted again.
As a test, I powered the computer off, and left it off for the rest of the
evening. The next day, I boot back into Linux, start X and dial up to my
ISP. We tool along for a while, longer than 30 minutes, then the box hangs
completely. No alt-fkeys here, it took a hard boot to come back. I try again
a couple more times, not dialing in, but having various programs going, and
get another hang and another reboot.
Now I'm thinking I have some flaky hardware combination that doesn't like
Reiser, so I do another complete re-install and put everything back to ext2.
Unfortunately, the problem still exists. Doesn't seem to be tied to any
particular program, nor does it have a definate time before it flakes, it
will hang or reboot seemingly at will.
Hadware specifics:
Cyrix 6x86 PR200
64 meg ram (72 pin SIMMS)
13 gig Maxtor hard drive: 2 Windows partitions (total approx 6 gig), /,
/usr/local, and /home (approx 2 gig each)+ 250 swap linux partitions
Trident 9685(?) PCI video card
X 3.3.6 running SVGA server
Running default MDK kernel
The only thing I haven't tried is resetting my BIOS settings. I had tried to
add an old 512 meg hard drive (only under Windows) to move some large files
home from work. The drive never would work, and I removed it from the pc.
I'm not at the computer, so I can't give you the log files right at the
moment, but I can get them pretty easily.
Anyone have any ideas? I've even used Tom's rtbt floppy to delete the linux
partitions completely, then try inistalling again.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Wayne
