System freeze

[ColinWhite]

I'm new to Mageia (2 days and counting!) I like it but my system keeps crashing and freezing up, including the mouse and keyboard. The only way I can get out of it is to hold down the 'On' button for 5 secs. and then restart the laptop. I think the freezes only happen in Firefox but not sure yet.
Is there an equivalent to the windows '3-fingered salute' (Ctrl-Alt-Del) for when it next crashes? I'd like to try and pin down the problem.

While we are at it, is there an equivalent to Alt-Tab to switch between programs?

Thanks in anticipation

[djennings]

Ctl+Alt+Backspace twice will restart X, but if the keyboard is locked may not work.

The next level is to use 'skinny elephants'
See here http://www.brunolinux.com/01-First_Things_To_Know/Skinny_Elephants.html

That should do a clean reboot unless you have a kernel panic and are totally locked up.

It would help if you told us more about your system, hardware, and desktop environment (KDE or Gnome etc)

You should also do all outstanding updates and reboot just in case it is a problem already fixed in an update.

Finally, a common cause of random lock ups is often memory errors. Linux is more sensitive to bad memory than Windows because Linux will actually use ALL the memory available. To perform a memory test install the package memtest86+ using the software install GUI (make sure you set the two drop down filters in the top left of the GUI to All or you will not see the package)
After installing memtest86+ reboot At the Grub boot screen you will see a new item for a memory test. You should be able to run memtest indefinitely without any errors.

While we are at it, is there an equivalent to Alt-Tab to switch between programs?

That depends on the desktop you are using.
In KDE for example with desktop effects enabled you can get a really cool 3D application switcher using Alt+Tab

[doktor5000]

While we are at it, is there an equivalent to Alt-Tab to switch between programs?

Should be enabled in the default configuration for most (if not all?) desktop environments which Mageia provides.

[ColinWhite]

Thanks for this.
It's a Toshiba Tecra with 500Mb ram, 30GB HD and Radion X300 graphics card.

I've not had much luck with this computer. Linux Mint Gnome froze at the log in screen during live or local drive install. The KDE version of mint just rolls a load of binary numbers down the screen forever. At least Mageia KDE installs (as does Lubuntu and Ubuntu 9.10 - but no later versions).
Pressing Ctl-alt-bsp twice didn't work when it froze; but the elephant did. It last froze when I was trying to apply the desktop effects. On previous ocassions it froze every time I tried to install Flash. It now won't load at all - it freezes after the third icon appears along the bottom during the boot-up process.

This Magiea disc is from Linux Format Mag. I think I'll download and burn a new cd which should be more up to date. Not sure whether to try Gnome or KDE - maybe both!

Thanks again

[doktor5000]

Can you still boot in failsafe mode and tell if radeon-firmware and kernel-firmware and kernel-firmware-extra packages are installed?
You can do f.ex. with

Code: Select all

rpm -qa | grep radeon-firmware

and

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rpm -qa | grep kernel-firmware

[ColinWhite]

Can i boot in failsafe mode if i haven't set a delay before booting? I set the delay to 0 secs on install
Once I'm in do I just input your suggested code into a terminal and feed the responses back to you?

[djennings]

Not sure whether to try Gnome or KDE - maybe both!

Reinstalling is probably not necessary, but if you do decide to reinstall then installing from the DVD will allow you to install both KDE and Gnome at the same time.
You can also add other desktop environments to your existing installation by installing the task-kde or task-gnome packages.

During installation from the DVD it asks at one point if you have other media. If you respond 'Yes' and 'ftp' then so long as you have an Ethernet connection to the internet the installer will install all available updates from the internet during the install process.

If you want to try a different desktop with your current installation you can always log in using LXDE or IceWM desktops. One or both of them will be already installed on your computer you can select a different desktop at the log in prompts by either clicking on the piece of paper icon (KDE Desktop Manager), or the dropdown window at the bottom of the display that appears when you select a user name (Gnome Desktop Manager)

[djennings]

Can i boot in failsafe mode if i haven't set a delay before booting? I set the delay to 0 secs on install
Once I'm in do I just input your suggested code into a terminal and feed the responses back to you?

You do not have to be in failsafe mode to use those commands. It is just you are less likely to experience a freeze when in fail safe mode.

[doktor5000]

Can i boot in failsafe mode if i haven't set a delay before booting? I set the delay to 0 secs on install
Once I'm in do I just input your suggested code into a terminal and feed the responses back to you?

Sorry i don't understand the first two sentences fully. And yes, you should just input those into a terminal and feed the responses back here.

[ColinWhite]

a quick reply off my phone till I get back to the computer late tonight or tomorrow. I think when I installed it I bypassed the log in option and the boot menu. So not sure how to load in safe mode. Is there a button combination that will stall the default boot and allow boot in safe mode?

[doktor5000]

What do you mean you bypassed it? Do you see a Mageia bootmenu when booting your computer?
If not, as you have written, maybe you have set the timeout for the bootmenu to 0 seconds, this could be the problem.
You would need to boot another linux distribution, preferrably some live version, and edit Mageia's

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/boot/grub/menu.lst

and fix the value for "timeout". Default should be 5 (seconds).

[ColinWhite]

Thank you so much for all your help. I took a fresh Gnome distro from the web (rather than the magazine disc), Installed and then remembered how much I prefer Gnome to KDE anyway) and installed all the updates (111). It is all working brilliantly ...so far. I love this distro so long as it keeps working.
Thanks again to all

[linuxero]

I had this problem with towo computers, a laptop and a desktop; my solution was Internet Install

It seems that the DVDs, whether you get them from a magazine or just burn an ISO that you downloaded, have some kind of problem..

Not sure what it could be, besides the way software are chosen could affect..just guessing according to my experience. But a network install never let me down

Depends on your connection of course..for me it a bit under two hours

[doktor5000]

The DVD worked fine for me, be it for i586 or x86_64 on many boxes, this is the same for most other people.
It would be nice if you don't translate your own personal experiences into "common facts/problems".