Hi Gregg,
Gregg Carrier wrote:
>
> I'm so bummed. Linux just hung on me completely. I guess I was tempting fate
> when I said it had never hung once. I was in KDE, with like 2 Netscape windows
> open and........hangorama....
>
> So, here's what I did, being a newbie. I tried ctl-alt F* to switch to another
> console and possibly shut it down that way. I tried ctl-alt-bckspace to shut X
> Windows. Finally I tried ctl-alt-del to shut er down. Nothing did anything. :(
[snip]
I had similar problems. Linux said "cannot load interpreter" X was hanging and
other effects. It got worse.
Then Linux couldnt access the swap partition and some files.
After some time problems occured in Windows.
I reformatted my disks and reinstalled every thing,Windows and Linux.
The problem stayed.
Then I was forced to start Windows in its secure mode. ("Abgesicherter Modus" in
german language,dont know the englisch words for this)
It complained about corrupt VXDs and else and said Windows has to be reinstalled.
I reinstalled.
Then I got the message "EMM386 memory corrupt" or so. Now I got the idea about
what was going on! Unstable memory!
I had some evenings of hard work to find which of my SIMMS where bad.
Finally I detected a 16MB SIMM and I replaced it. (Its now in my laser printer
and working fine there :-).
Since then, Linux is stable again. (Apart from java problems with netscape)
Windows is much more stable than it ever was. (Maybe the reason is, I dont
use it often :-).
So, here come my tips for you:
Disable "qick memory check" in BIOS to have the extended memory checks.
Choose conservative timings.
Enable the EMM386 command line option for initial memory check.
Heat up your memory with a hair dryer to 60 or 70 degrees celsius.
Start Windows in secure mode or/and use a memory check program.
(Windows does more memory and consistence checks than Linux,especially
when it boots and the kernal and VXDs are dynamically configured and linked)
Remove half of your memory. If errors are not gone,try the other half
of the memory. So you eventually can track down a bad memory stick.
Good luck!
Peter
--
Nur in /var/log/messages steht die Wahrheit.
