Re: Dual-boot machine dies after SUSE install
- From: "Nico Kadel-Garcia" <nkadel@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:57:17 -0500
"Jeff Miller" <jwmillerusa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1136057836.684918.305390@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi,
> I'm a newbie to linux, and wanted to try it out, so I installed SUSE 10
> (OSS) on my Windows XP (Dell, Pentium 4) desktop. During installation
> the screen went black without warning, the monitor stopped receiving
> signals, and the computer appeared to be totally unresponsive. I had to
> unplug it to reboot, and was able to finish the installation. Then, it
> started dying (in the same way) when the desktop environment (KDE) was
> running. I switched back to Windows, and it was fine for a while.
>
> I'm determined to try linux, so I installed debian over the SUSE
> install. Same problem. And now, it started doing the same thing (going
> comatose) in Windows. It seems to be happening more and more quickly
> after booting up.
Did you scrub the Linux partitions in the process?
>From the "happens more and more quickly", it really sounds like a failing
power supply or some cooling issue. I've run into several Dell provided
systems recently where the heat sink really wasn't up to the task of cooling
such a large, fast, CPU, which they addressed by replacing every possible
component and which I finally addressed with a better, silver-based
heat-sink thermal compound.
> Observations: It's not just the monitor or video card, because I have
> had music playing when it happened, and the music stops. Also, I can't
> reboot via keyboard after it happens. When it dies, it gives no warning
> whatsoever. The only thing that I've been able to link it to is when I
> am using the computer... so far, when it's running without user input
> it hasn't crashed. Also, it hasn't died when just running in command
> line mode (without a desktop environment). My computer has one hard
> drive, so I let SUSE partition it. OK, it just died again in Windows...
> that time it seemed to coincide with the screensaver.
Yup, you've probably got a heat issue when it's actually being used and
generating heat. You can install and setup thermal monitors in almost all
operating systems and almost all current motherboards: I assume SuSE has
reasonable ones, but I'm sure Windows has some for your motherboard. An easy
test is to warm it up, see how long it lasts, then reboot it *immediately*
and see how long it lasts then, and see if it's a shorter period. Then turn
it off completely and let it cool down for an hour, then restart it and see
if acts more like that first boot. That's a pretty easy, pretty definitive
test for thermal problems.
Easy fixes include powering down, reseating all your components (just in
case something is creeping under thermal expansion and working loose),
clearing lint out of your fans, upgrading your fans, and possibly re-pasting
and re-installing your heat sink (which can be tricky!)
> Can anyone help diagnose and fix this problem? I'm considering doing a
> clean install (just linux) over the entire hard drive... seems
> irrational since the problem seems linked to linux, but now that it's
> tainted Windows that's not much of an alternative.
See above.
.
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