Frequent lockups :(

[Rob McCathie]

On 29/03/16 13:39, Rob McCathie wrote:
> On 29/03/16 00:11, brian wrote:
>> Is there anybody else out there using Debian Jessie 64-bit and XFCE on
>> an AMD PC who, for the 3 or 4 days, has been seeing frequent lockups
>> of their PC? The crashes seem to occur when I'm using a browser, and
>> using Iceweasel is worse than using Chromium. When it happens, that's
>> it, everything locks solid, mouse cursor won't move, the keyboard
>> doesn't appear to work, the display clock stops, the only thing I can
>> do is to use the reboot switch. The only thing I notice is that the
>> drive access light is still flickering (once every 5-10 seconds) and
>> there's been a disk repair needed every time I've had to reboot.
>>
>> I know there was an amd64-microcode package in the last bunch of
>> updates, it's for AMD processors other than mine (a Phenom II 6-core)
>> so I uninstalled that, with no apparent effect on the problem.
>>
>> The 'about XFCE' dialog gives the version as "4.10, distributed by
>> Debian".
>>
>> Anybody have any ideas, please? The lockups are happening every couple
>> of hours or so.
>>
>> Thanks.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xfce mailing list
>> Xfce at xfce.org
>> https://mail.xfce.org/mailman/listinfo/xfce
>> http://www.xfce.org
>
> 1, get SystemRescueCD ISO, burn it to a CD/DVD or USB flash drive.
> https://www.system-rescue-cd.org/
>
> 2. RAM test: boot SysRecCD and at the boot (grub) menu select "floppy 
> disc images", then select "memtest86" and let it run for a couple 
> hours at least and see if any errors occur.
>
> 3. CPU thermal test: boot SysRecCD normally (standard defaults - first 
> option in it's boot menu). once it's booted run:
>   stress --cpu 6
> this will hammer your 6 CPU cores, leave that running, hit ctrl+alt+F2 
> to swap to vt2 and execute:
>   sensors
> keep executing sensors over and over so you can monitor how high your 
> CPU temperature is getting. A 6 core Phenom at full load will get 
> warm, but shouldn't generally get much past 55c with standard cooling 
> (if it's getting over 60c you probably want to clear out your 
> heatsink/fan and also apply new thermal paste between the heatsink and 
> CPU), what we're looking for is if it's getting to like 70c+ and/or if 
> the system locks up while stress is running.
>
> 4. Another test: If the CPU is fine, go back to vt1 (ctrl+alt+F1) and 
> stop stress (ctrl+c). Now execute the command:
>   wizard
> and it will offer to auto-detect stuff and start Xorg+Xfce. Once it's 
> running, open the provided web browser (it's firefox iirc) and browse 
> for a bit, see if any lock-up occurs.
> If this test and all earlier tests were fine, it still could be a 
> number of things (hard drive, power supply, Debian's kernel not liking 
> your hardware, Debian's Xorg not liking your hardware, etc.), but the 
> first thing i'd be trying is a different hard drive. If you have a 
> spare HDD, plug it into your system and do a Debian install on it and 
> try to run off it for a while.
>
> Beyond this you'd want to try a different distro with different 
> kernel/xorg.
> If the problems persist through all that, it's likely a power supply 
> problem or a failing motherboard.
>
> -- 
> Regards,
>
> Rob McCathie
>

Oh also, before bothering trying a different HDD, try replacing your 
SATA data cable.

--
Regards,

Rob McCathie