on Fri, Jun 15, 2001 at 04:51:35PM +0900, Olaf Meeuwissen (olaf@epkowa.co.jp) wrote: > Dear all, > > I'm running mostly testing with some unstable under linux 2.2.19 (hand > rolled, of course) on an IBM ThinkPad i1476 (Type 2611). Since a few > weeks, my machine completely locks up at unpredictable moments. The > screen is no longer updated, I can't switch to a virtual terminal, > even the three finger salute doesn't do a thing. Pinging from another > machine results in 100% lost packets but the PCMCIA network card keeps > signalling traffic. Just about the only thing that keeps on going is > CD audio. CD audio is not mediated by the OS, other than to (sometimes) create the link between the CD drive and your speakers. It's just plain hardware. This largely establishes that your system is working at a low (hardware) level but not necessarily otherwise. CD audio functionality doesn't indicate any OS-level functionality, and your loss of low-level network functionality indicates the system is probably pretty much hosed. > I regularly 'apt-get -t testing upgrade' and the problem hasn't gone > away. I've tried other kernels, including the Debian vanilla ones, > but to no avail. I've run memtest86 and found errors in one of my > DIMMs but the problem remains even after lobotomy. That is, even when > I only use the DIMM that is okay (memtest86, 20+ passes, tests 1-7) my > machine randomly locks up. > > I've checked the logs but apart from occasional blocks of nulls just > before a lock up, I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. Note, > those null blocks only appear before _some_ lock ups, not all. Look for power-change events under apmd. > Because I haven't experienced any lock up when using the console, I'm > wondering if my graphics card (probed as Neomagic NM2200 according to > XFree86 log, NeoMagic MagicMedia 256AV according to hardware spec) has > gone bad. Are there any tools a la memtest to test my graphics card? Possible, but the card's pretty well supported in recent XF86 v.3 and v.4 drivers. It's not clear how long you're leaving your system in console mode to establish whether or not this is a problem. Might make a practice of doing this on long breaks (lunch, overnight), and seeing what the results are. > Before you suggest, I have already tried both Gnome (with several > window managers) and KDE. It doesn't matter. The machine even locks > up when running (x|k)screensaver during lunch :-( > > If you have other ideas as to what could be the matter, I'm open to > suggestions. I had similar problems associated with apmd and Speedstep (aka Geyserville) on my TuxTops Amethyst 20U, exacerbated by a flaky onboard power port (it breaks circuit when jiggled, resulting in APM mode changes). In system BIOS, I disabled speedstep functionality -- my CPU is always running in full-speed mode (600 MHz), resulting in shorter battery life, but longer uptime ;-). I've had no problems since changing this setting about two months ago. I'd made a more complete report to debian-laptop, should be in archives. You might isolate video card issues by running in console mode, by switching to a version 3 XF86 driver, or by switching from an accelerated driver to SVGA or VGA16. -- Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/ What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org Are these opinions my employer's? Hah! I don't believe them myself!
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