Stable Kernels gone bad

mlynx · n00b Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 27

I am trying to diagnose why my stable kernels have started crashing. I updated to XFree-4.3.0_r2 on Friday night (was running XFree-4.3.0), other than that, I haven't made any major changes.

The logs show a problem with an i/o request to the floppy failing (sometimes). Occasionally I can see the message from the kernel oops, other times the oops starts dumping and doesn't stop so I cannot even read the messages.

I am using Gentoo-Sources kernels. I have tried rebuilding the kernel and some of the older kernels I built that were stable.

What more can I do to try and fix this? I am a newbie when it comes to kernel level stuff so I don't know what else I can offer or do to diagnose this. I was really enjoying the stability of the Linux kernel up until this weekend, I was able to go for several weeks without a reboot, now I cannot go even two hours.
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dice · Guru Joined: 21 Apr 2002 Posts: 577

If you're getting the same issue with kernels that had previously been working well for you that would seem to indicate a hardware problem.

mlynx · n00b Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 27

I suspect a hardware problem as well, but how would I go about diagnosing what is failing? I should also mention that this is on a laptop, basically a sealed system (no hardware changes).
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mlynx
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Did your mom -Os your brain when you were a baby?

hielvc · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2003 11:04 pm Post subject:

If you did a XFree update then thats probably where the prob statred. If your "XF86Config"
is messed up it can diffently cuse wierd probs. Do a search of the forums useing your video card , if its an nvidia or ati youll find lots of reading material. If its not one of them go and reconfig X.
luck hielvc

mlynx · n00b Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 27

Is there anyplace that I should focus on in the X server? The laptop uses a NeoMagic card (sort of, since not all the functionality is there). My XFree config file hasn't changed, but I don't know where I would start looking for problems.

Documentation for the laptop videocard has been scketchy at best, dead wrong at worst.

[update]I ran the laptop without X and still had the oops, so I think I am back to the question of how do I diagnose the hardware?[/update]
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mlynx
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Did your mom -Os your brain when you were a baby?

hielvc · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 5:11 am Post subject:

Try doing a search here and on google "hardware trouble" or trouble shooting there have been lots of post about it. You could also dissable apm and/or acpi inyour kerenl or bios and if that helps , also if you left SMP by accident I read where can cause weird probs.

hielvc

synapscape · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 7:30 am Post subject: Maybe it's the memory

Maybe this is a memory error? Everything is possible...

You could try this software for memory testing:
http://www.memtest86.com/

It fits on a single floppy disk from which you have to boot. Then give it a couple of test-passes. Depending on your hardware, on pass may take up to half an hour. Be sure to make several tests...

What also came to my mind is: Maybe something got loosened in your laptop? Can you take out the floppy? Go check...

HTH
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mlynx · n00b Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 27

I think I tracked it down. I think the soundcard has taken a dive. I grabbed a copy of tuffTest and checked all the hardware (everything came up okay).

Then I booted my KNOPPIX cd to see if there was some sort of file corruption I was missing on the HDD. Still no luck, until I tried to configure the sound card from KNOPPIX and bang system hang again! Repeat again and same problem. I disabled the soundcard completely in the BIOS (It never worked that great anyhow).

The system then ran all night, without so much as a hiccup.

synapscape: I did try memtest86 (it's actually better than a floppy with gentoo, because there is an ebuild for it and it installs nicely into grub or lilo).
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mlynx
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Did your mom -Os your brain when you were a baby?