Re: Two computers thrash soon after boot -- how to stop it? -- overtaken by events.
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The thrashing problem described below has been overtaken by events. On
the Lenovo R61 ThinkPad I had installed Lenny using the Lenny beta2
installer. Subsequent package upgrades solved the main problems. Those
remaining will be the subject of specific threads.
On the desktop I had installed etch-and-a-half. The ensuing problems
multiplied to the extent that the computer became unusable except in
single user mode in a virtual terminal. For the time being I have
abandoned use of this computer. Sometime after 14 October I will do a
clean Lenny installation on it and see what happens. Perhaps by then
Lenny will have been declared "stable", a relative term I suppose.
Thanks to Alex Samad and Steve Lamb for your responses.
Regards,
Ken Heard
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Ken Heard wrote:
> One of these computers is a desktop. From a cold boot it appears to
> load the operating system without incident -- as far as I can tell --
> right to the kdm login manager. Once a user name and password are
> entered it loads KDE in about 5-10 seconds.
>
> However, soon after I load the first application, Iceweasel or Icedove
> for instance, the computer exhibits the usual symptoms of thrashing:
> sluggish response to keyboard or mouse generated commands and continuous
> flicker of the hard drive light.
>
> The only way I have found to stop the thrashing is to do a warm re-boot
> as soon as possible after the thrashing starts. After I do so the
> computer regains its stability.
>
> The mainboard of this computer is a Foxconn 45CM with an Intel E2160
> dual-core CPU and one 1GB memory module.
>
> This computer has etch-and-a-half installed, after upgrade from etch. It
> uses the XFS file system and consequently LILO rather than GRUB. The df
> command returns the following:
>
> Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
> /dev/mapper/SOL-root 3.0G 219M 2.8G 8% /
> tmpfs 502M 0 502M 0% /lib/init/rw
> udev 10M 56K 10M 1% /dev
> tmpfs 502M 0 502M 0% /dev/shm
> /dev/sda1 60M 25M 35M 43% /boot
> /dev/mapper/SOL-home_crypt
> 208G 55G 153G 27% /home
> /dev/mapper/SOL-tmp 1014M 4.4M 1010M 1% /tmp
> /dev/mapper/SOL-usr 15G 2.5G 13G 17% /usr
> /dev/mapper/SOL-var 3.0G 1.1G 2.0G 35% /var
> BDS:/home/martin/docs
> 50G 37G 11G 78% /home/martin/docs
> BDS:/home/martin/ice 50G 37G 11G 78% /home/martin/ice
> BDS:/home/martin/images-elph
> 50G 37G 11G 78% /home/martin/images-elph
> BDS:/home/martin/images-m
> 50G 37G 11G 78% /home/martin/images-m
>
> The df command does not return information about the swap partition; its
> size is 2 GB. Both it and the home partition are encrypted, the former
> with a random passphrase, the latter with one which is entered every
> time the system is booted. The syslog indicates some swapping out of
> memory to make space for other processes, but not -- it seems --
> excessively.
>
> The other computer is a Lenovo ThinkPad R61 laptop. It also seems to
> load the operating system as it should, as far as the kdm login manager.
> From this point on, its performance differs from the desktop.
>
> After a user name and password are entered, it takes on average 90
> seconds to load Xorg and KDE. During this time the hard drive indicator
> light flashes continuously. I would surmise that it needs those 90
> seconds because of the length of time needed to respond to the Xorg and
> KDE setup commands.
>
> This computer sometimes will function properly once Xorg and KDE are
> running. When it does not, one warm re-boot will usually work;
> otherwise if the laptop hangs I will have to switch it off, do a cold
> boot, and later a warm re-boot.
>
> The laptop also has a dual-core Intel CPU and a 1 GB memory module. The
> operating system is Lenny, a new installation using the Lenny beta2
> installer. The XFS file system is also used, and consequently LILO
> rather than GRUB. For the laptop the df command returns the following:
>
> Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
> /dev/sda2 1.9G 156M 1.8G 9% /
> tmpfs 502M 0 502M 0% /lib/init/rw
> udev 10M 128K 9.9M 2% /dev
> tmpfs 502M 6.1M 496M 2% /dev/shm
> /dev/sda1 51M 21M 30M 41% /boot
> /dev/mapper/sda9_crypt
> 282G 1.7G 280G 1% /home
> /dev/sda5 953M 4.4M 948M 1% /tmp
> /dev/sda7 9.4G 2.2G 7.2G 24% /usr
> /dev/sda6 2.8G 899M 2.0G 32% /var
>
> The swap space is also 2 GB. The swap and home partitions are also both
> encrypted, the former with a random pass phrase, the later with one I
> created. The desktop uses LVM2 for most partitions; whereas the laptop
> does not. While syslog records some swapping out of memery, it does not
> seem to me untoward.
>
> It appears that in both computers there is enough memory and swap space
> to obviate "legitimate" thrashing; so it occurs to me that it may be
> caused by a virus or some such. So far only the desktop has clamav
> installed. (Are there other anti-virus or spyware packages?)
>
> I would like to install clamav on the laptop, but ran into trouble when,
> using aptitude, I tried to upgrade the installed Lenny packages for the
> first time, about 33 of them, including a new kernel (2.6.25-2-686 to
> replace 2.6.24) and tzdata. The package setup only got as far as
> tzdata, when the machine hung. To get the machine going again I had to
> turn it off using the on/off button and do a cold boot without a proper
> shutdown.
>
> Then, when I ran aptitude again it returned the message that aptitude
> had been interrupted, and to get it running again I had to run "dpkg
> --reconfigure -a". I tried to do so several times; each time it tried
> to set up tzdata, only getting as far as to say what the current time
> zone is before hanging up the machine. Is this problem connected with
> the thrashing problem?
>
> (I must say that upgrading tzdata has always caused trouble, it is never
> set up on the first attempt. On this laptop is the first time I have
> been unable to complete an interrupted package upgrade by running "dpkg
> --reconfigure -a".)
>
> So now I am in a situation where I can (usually) run both computers
> after by brute force I can get them to stop thrashing. I would like
> however to be able to stop the thrashing before it starts. I would also
> like to be able to upgrade and load new packages on the desktop.
>
> Regards, Ken Heard
>
>
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