Hello the list!
I am running Wheezy on a self-built Intel Core i7 920 with 24GB of RAM and an nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ graphics card. I am using the nVidia proprietary driver downloaded from the debian repository along with the kernel module built by the usual Debian installation process.
I am running Gnome launched from GDM3. When I select regular Gnome (ie "new" Gnome with the bells and whistles) it works for a while and then randomly freezes -- often but not exclusively when I am trying to switch desktops, watch a video, or do something like that. Once it freezes, the load on the machine starts going up and up and up until eventually the machine becomes completely unresponsive in all ways and there's no recourse but to reboot. If I am quick, I can log in remotely from another machine, kill GDM3, and the machine recovers to a text terminal, where I can log in and relaunch GDM3. Then everything works for a while, until the cycle repeats.
If, on the other hand, I select "Gnome Classic" at the login prompt, I can log in, do everything I want, and stability is rock-solid -- it will go for weeks on end (no exaggeration) between reboots without any sign of difficulty. But then I don't get the bells and whistles :-)
I tried replacing the nVidia driver with nouveau but couldn't get that to work at all. Probably did something wrong but couldn't work out what.
My Wheezy system is up to date so everything is at version levels you'd expect from Wheezy. I play games like Quake 3 and have also built and play Danger From the Deep, a submarine simulation that makes heavy use of 3D, on my computer with no problems, so I think 3D in the graphics card is generally working.
I'd like to get to the bottom of why regular Gnome is not working but don't know where to start. I used to suspect the nVidia driver, because it worked OK until a driver update, but no one else seems to be having quite the problem I am having at this point so I suspect I have done something stupid, but don't know how to find out what.
Can anyone help? For example, what are the software component differences between regular Gnome and Gnome Classic? What log files should I be looking in? and so on...
Thanks in advance!
Mark