Re: FC2 versus FC3 -- my own experiences

From: Stephen Harris (cyberguard1048-usenet_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 04/21/05 

Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 18:42:36 GMT

"JDS" <jeffrey@example.invalid> wrote in message
news:pan.2005.04.21.15.12.56.552181@example.invalid...
> On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 05:36:10 +0000, Stephen Harris wrote:
>
>>
>> Are you on a network? Try changing or removing or disabling
>> (if not on a network) your ethernet card if you have one installed.
>
> I am on a network. Network connectivity is crucial to making my computer
> useful, however. Why do you suggest disabling the NIC?
>

Since most people have no problems with FC3, even on crumby machines
it suggests that you are making mistakes or, that the FC3 distro recognizes
or uses the wrong hardware drivers for your machine. Another problem
could be that the hardware is going bad: memory, hard drive, video card,
ethernet card, cpu or most expensively the motherboard. I am not a linux
guru, but I am a computer tech and hardware failures cause the same
basic failures in any OS.

Your latest post tends to support a hardware failure hypothesis for
troubleshooting. Your computer is a machine. A new install will put
a lot more stress on ram memory and the cpu than ordinary working
conditions and will demonstrate just beginning to happen hardware
failures. So look at it logically.

Since most everybody can use the FC3 distro, the problem is either you
or the hardware itself, or the drivers your your hardware which is part
of a distro problem. For instance, when I installed Redhat 9, it misread
my video chip to be a KM133. I could not do a graphic install, nor a
text mode install and then switch to graphic mode with startx, because
my XF86Config file was set to use the wrong driver. I tried using the
new drivers that were supposed to fix the problem and that didn't work.
Finally I found if I edited the XF86Config file --> Option "usebios" "no"
it disabled the video bios.

There are mistakes you can make if you do not read the directions
carefully. One can download the wrong .iso files. The url below is
about a dual boot system, but contains a useful warning.

http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_core_3_installation_notes.html
"As you continue please keep the following in mind: You should not
use the livna.org/fedora extras repositories in conjunction with
the dag/freshrpms/dries/newrpms/PlanetCCRMA (RPMforge) collection
of rpms in your configuration files for automatic updates. Use one
group or the other but not both. You should be made aware that there
are two "schools" of rpm packagers for Fedora Core extra applications.
One group consists of the livna.org/fedora extras repositories and the
other group consists of the dag/freshrpms/dries/newrpms/PlanetCCRMA
(RPMforge) repositories. One of the most common causes of errors and
failures in a new Fedora Core installation is the mixing of these two
incompatible repository collections for automatic updates.

These two groups of rpm repositories are, for the most part, mutually
incompatible and in some cases will cause serious errors in your
installation if used together."
------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-fc3.shtml
Sometimes there are hidden configuration files that need to be deleted
if you are not doing a fresh format. For instance, I think KDE works
that way. The directions need to be read and followed precisely.

The wrong driver can produce a memory problem which is cumulative.
It will make your system respond more slowly. If you have Firefox open,
the network is downloading data/images and sending them to your terminal.
A network card misconfigured or not working right can slow down data
transfer so that it seems your computer is working slowly.

So after you make sure that you are not the problem by reading and
following the directions carefully one needs to troubleshoot. One way
is to setup a barebones system that works ok and then add devices
one by one until the problem reoccurs. Then you can try a new piece
of hardware or find a better driver. Video cards, and then network
cards can cause failures. So you can just try substituting these cards
which will then normally use different drivers to localize the problem.
Running a thorough memtest, which may be the best place to start
since one doesn't need to open the machine may reveal a problem.
The problem with diagnosing is that different causes hardware or
hardware drivers (or misconfiguring) can cause similar symptoms.
So you try to eliminate the probable sources of the problems one
by one in a logical manner which is often the frequency of finding
the memory or a video card as the culprit for instance.

FC3 uses various packages created by other maintainers. Sometimes
a new version of a package will have a poorly made driver or that
interacts differently with your hardware then the previous version of
that package. So you need to isolate the problem. Since FC3 works
for nearly everybody, the problem is you not following directions, or
faulty drivers/configuration for your particular hardware, or your
computer hardware, some device, is starting to fail. Programs that
don't release memory will get progressively worse as all the working
memory gets used up. When cpus get hot after awhile, they will then
exhibit problems. Hmmm, memtest is easy to run, and easy to fix
and fairly cheap. Or you can just try fresh ram and see if the problem
goes away. I find it easier to extract video cards rather than memory
so I start there. I did a search on "FC3 problem" and found a system
with a network card causing a problem like yours. But there is nearly
always more than one possible cause. It is very unlikely FC3 itself.
To recap: the problem is you, your hardware drivers, your hardware...

Somebody else mentioned drivers; I'm leaning towards hardware itself.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: System slow afer XP-SP2 Update on some applications
    ... Updated your video/sound card hardware drivers from the manufacturers' web ... Many problems just became more noticable with SP2, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsupdate)
  • Group Policy loading
    ... connected in to the network. ... wireless newsgroup) that Group Policy is just timing out. ... >>latest Dell and Buffalo firmware and drivers but to no ... >>file to match that of the Dell TrueMobile card. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy)
  • Re: FC2 versus FC3 -- my own experiences
    ... >> (if not on a network) your ethernet card if you have one installed. ... or uses the wrong hardware drivers for your machine. ...
    (comp.os.linux)
  • Re: FC2 versus FC3 -- my own experiences
    ... >> (if not on a network) your ethernet card if you have one installed. ... or uses the wrong hardware drivers for your machine. ...
    (alt.os.linux.redhat)
  • Group Policy loading
    ... it seems to be a problem with XP, not the Dell drivers): ... connecting to a Buffalo WLA-G54 Wireless Access Point. ... logon') option to make Windows XP wait for the network to ... file to match that of the Dell TrueMobile card. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy)