Keyboard, X, lockups, and other hardware oddities . . .

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To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 23:33:31 -0500

Hey all,
Just wanted to get some thoughts on a few probs. I'm still Googling,
but not finding anything certain.
I want to lay out a few things I've experienced on my system, and maybe
someone can provide confirmation of what I'm thinking
1) I have, using Linux From Scratch, experienced the following message
that shows up on a console: 'spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ<number-i
can't remember what it was>' I do remember, when digging around, I found
that the device associated with this was a virtual console device.
2)I have, under Debian sarge, experienced this on the console:
'keyboard: Timeout - AT keyboard not present' quite often this happens.
3)Icepack-linux and Debian sarge-when switching to a console from X, the
monitor goes black and I get an OSD message that says 'out of range'.
4)Fedora Core 2-Lots of X lockups
5)Debian-sarge-Frequent X lockups complete with looping audio.
6)Debian-sarge-When playing Tux, with the joydev and sidewinder modules
loaded, I cannot use the USB keyboard or mouse (it does not respond at
all), and I have to do a hard reboot because I can't exit the game. But
when I don't have the joystick loaded, and just use the keyboard, I can
play and exit the game just fine.
In Debian sarge, I am currently using both stock kernel 2.4.27-1-386
with corresponding nvidia(6111) and alsa(1.0.6a) modules, and
low-latency patched 2.4.25 kernel, same nvidia and alsa module
versions. I get the same responses indicated in #5 and #6 with either
kernel.

My conclusions based on what I have researched:
1)I possibly have a bad motherboard . . . For about a year I have had
interrupt problems, and the OSD 'out of range' message about the same
amount of time, but only rare occasions. As hardware-centric as linux
is, I assumed this was a hardware problem. My searches on Google for
this past year has confirmed this. But exactly what the hardware
problem is, no one is able to determine exactly. My motherboard chipsets
are VIA 82C694X (northbridge), and 82C596A (southbridge)--I believe the
southbridge handles interrupts for keyboard, mouse, joysticks, etc, I
haven't quite found all the answers.
2)I possibly have a bad video card . . . I haven't had these frequent
lockups since the last time I had a bad video card, back in my Windoze
days; I have NEVER had lockups on Linux, unless I was doing something
funky and extreme, and NEVER this frequent. Sometimes all I have to do
is move the mouse! Possible evidence: My wife and I moved to Ohio,
stayed at her sister's and my computer was in a nice, damp basement.
After we moved out of there, I found that my network card was no longer
working (brand new one, too). Also, since then, the frequent lockups
have commenced.

I'm certain it's hardware, directly related to the vid card
(unfortunately) and the motherboard. If anyone else has had these
experiences, I'd just appreciate some confirmation on this, so I can
wisely make some replacement purchases. :)
Best Regards,
Justin

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• Previous message: Greg Madden: "Re: why debian"
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