On Fri, 27 Jul 2001 08:26, John Rigby wrote:
> Hi folks,
> Well, I purchased the official M8 Powerbox ( to avoid any problems
> with install) - in Oz it costs twice the price of USA - $140
> After two weeks of at least half a day every day - asking for and
> getting great support here, it seems time to call a halt .
Actually, the price is about the same when you take into account the exchange
rate (about $US1 = $A2 at present).
> The distro install is definitely deteorating - like my adrenalin
> reserves :-)
>
> I didn't have this many problems doing my first ever Concurrent-Dos
> Network twenty years ago, when my only "expert" quit suddenly and
> left me with the job.
> Side Note: I am an industrial psychologist. I NEVER tuned my own car
>
> :-).
>
> Possible causes:
>
> 1. Either it is my machine.
> 2. It is the Disks/Distro itself faulty.
> 3. My efforts at getting progs to work have broken it.
>
> 1. The machine EVEN runs W98SE with the only fault being the famous
> memory leak under heavy use. I can keep it going all day!
Wow, that's amazing! I used to reboot several times a day! With GNU/Linux, I
only reboot (and not out of necessity) once or twice a week (I keep my
machine on all the time).
> 2. It seemed ok. Even though by accident of accepting all the
> defaults I could see, resulted in my installing a full Server
> version. It was very fast to get up and connect to the inet.
>
> 3. Till 48 hours ago, the problems seemed typical Newby. " Where's
> the bathroom? Now, how do I flush?"
>
> Then the neg reports/events began:
>
> As of this A.M.:
> 1. On startup many problems are reported - particularly relating to
> Disk Partitions. e.g. "blocks 64 should be 8 -fixed"(see 3)
If you use the Ext2 filesystem (the default), the machine will execute a file
system check (fsck) on bootup if you didn't shut down correctly. It will also
issue a periodic checkup after a certain number of boots (I've forgotten how
many). This is normal.
> 2. On Logout, sometimes it offers a login alternative screen,
> sometimes it simply boots back into the default user - and continues
> the problem.
That's odd -- things should be consistent here. I'm not sure about this one.
> 3. On Shutdown it reports numerous and seemingly increasing problems
> - particularly with both CDs and "devices".
What are the "problems"? Sometimes these are not "problems" at all (but then
again, sometimes they are).
> 4. PPP dies unexpectedly regularly.
You mean you get disconnected from the Internet? This could be a problem with
your ISP, or from being logged in for too long, or maybe from an idle
connection.
> 5. Kmail will suddenly "whiteout" and only a logout will help. This
> costs the loss of the display details of the KPPP. It is still
> connected, but no display of the fact is available.
Turn off interval mail checking in KMail. Also, have you considered another
client, like Evolution or Aethera, or maybe even Mozilla Mail? Wait for KDE
2.2 (due out on Aug 6). Maybe things will be fixed in there.
> 6. Intense Disk activity (thrashing in the Doze world) has caused
> lockup 3 times in 2 days. Always involving Kmail.
> (VERY frustrating to duplicate 100+ emails downloaded! )
> Resolved by hitting cancel button on display saying ( each reboot)
> "indexing".
Try going to /home/username/Mail (after closing all instances of KMail) and
delete all files with the extensions ".sorted" and ".index". Now reload
KMail. I find that this can often fix KMail errors.
> ( On startup not relog, a display of "Gnome is searching for Trash
> bins" also appears and has to be cancelled. It does not go away.)
>
> 7. A Gnome Desktop has appeared on Dtop 4 and is un-cancellable
I assume you are using KDE? Have you tried logging out from GNOME? This
should leave only KDE. When you exit from KDE, make sure that your session is
saved (there's an option for this in the Control Centre). When you next log
in, there should be no more GNOME.
> 8. Hitting the Kill option has no effect on the locked-up programs.
> In the now severe cases. the final event is reminescent of the
> "B.S.O.D." of Doze. Only recourse is a reboot.
In almost all cases, a reboot is unnecessary. Some apps don't die with an
ordinary kill (e.g. as done through xkill). If you use an app like gtop
(there are KDE equivalents, but I don't know them), you should have options
to issue stronger kills than what is standard. Sometimes I find that this is
necessary (although I do the same thing through a command line).
> If it was a horse, I would "put it down" - it seems in great pain. :-)
Before you reinstall, try using other environments besides KDE. I personally
find GNOME/Sawfish (i.e. not loaded inside KDE) to be far more stable (in
face, rock-solid) than KDE. Other users find that the opposite is the case
for them. Try a few alternatives and see what works best. You may even begin
to like them :-)
> NOW: If I decide to start again, does this seem like:
> 1. Simple install interference?
> 2. Something broke? ( I have under advice hit the update button)
> 3. Only foreign body introduced was IBM's Websphere which brings Wine
> with it...... All others were part of the Distro.
You should be careful here. "Websphere" refers to a large family of IBM apps,
not just the HomePage Builder. I don't think HomePage Builder is the problem.
> How would you suggest I re-install?
> 1. Uninstall
> 2. Delete entire partition.
> 3. Send away for new disks. ( Another week lost)
The discs seem fine (if you managed to install then generally you're
alright). If you really want to start afresh, you should rerun the
installation and use the option to format your GNU/Linux partition before
installing onto it. This time, you may want to use the Reiser File System
(ReiserFS) instead of Ext2.
> Thanks again for all the fish folks, I promise that I'm trying to do
> my bit to come up with THAT Newby FAQ/Gotcha list. But I didn't
> expect to be the MAIN contributor :-)
--
Sridhar Dhanapalan.
"There are two major products that come from Berkeley:
LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence."
-- Jeremy S. Anderson
