Problems with kwin and kwallet.

[Gene Heskett]

On Tuesday 09 December 2008, Steven Vollom wrote:
>> Simple, just type "kwallet prob" in google and start in on the 15000 +
>> hits you get.
>
>I'm not lazy.  When I was asking for help, my system was crashing with
>almost every move.  I just wanted some experience in the mix.  I am not
>even sure I could have gotten the browser open when I made my first
>post.  Even now, it has seemed wiser to wait to see if someone knew what
>was going on, rather than take a chance on crashing again by going of on
>a search.  I had to reboot six time before I got an email through with a
>post.  In fact I am keeping a root konsole open just to be able to
>communicate with the List.
>
>It is a real serious matter when I am crashed.  I don't have the
>experience to work my way to the surface.  When it happens and I can't
>work it out, I have to reinstall the OS.  And right now, I really need
>my computer.  I have many things going on at the same time.  Losing my
>computer could really hurt me.
>
>I know I have been posting a lot, but it is because I have been able to
>learn more using the List than I have alone over the past more than
>three years.  If you will just forgive my intense presence for a little
>longer, I really feel that I will soon be able to retain enough to not
>be such a bother.  Kwallet did not work perfect for the past several
>months, it just did not represent much of a problem.  I wasn't adding
>password protected packages.  Kmail changed that.  So it looked like
>time to get to fixing the wallet.  I am truly sorry and extremely
>grateful for the labor taken on my behalf.
>
>Thanks for your continued patience,
>
>Steven

Steven;  Its been my experience that a machine that continually crashes, 
generally has a hardware problem of some kind, like a bad memory module or 
similar.  Go back to the install disk which I believe has an optional memtest 
program that can be run directly from that cd/dvd.  This memory tester is an 
extremely thorough and comprehensive tester.  Fire that up and let it run, 
either till it tells you there is bad memory, or a full day, which should be 
several full cycles of all the tests it uses.  Also, while that is running, 
find a friend with a digital multimeter and have him check the power supply's 
output voltages, which can be another cause of random problems.  I am a 
C.E.T., and in particular, power supplies drift low as they age, cheaper ones 
often to the crash/reset voltage levels in a year or less.  A good place, and 
easy to access for 2 of its voltages is the connector that plugs into the 
back of a hard drive, and there is probably 1 or 2 that aren't in use that 
the probes can be used in to measure this.  One of the outside wires of the 4 
will have nominally 12 volts on it, but anything from 11.25 to 12.75 is fine.  
The other outside wire will be the 5 volt line, and this is a good indication 
of the power supplies health.  From 4.95 to 5.05 volts is ok, but below 4.85 
there says its time for a fresh psu, as is a reading that varies by more 
than .1 volts over about a minutes time.  The 2 center wires in one of those 
plugs is ground, and should be within .05 volts of the chassis metal.

If you find problems, either with the memory, or with the psu, fixing that 
will probably get rid of 95% of your problems.  A decent digital VOM can be 
had for under a $50 bill at a place like Radio Shack or an electronics parts 
house, heck even Lowes carries them, and better ones than the shacks TBT, and 
will in the long run, be worth far more that its price in sliced bread toward 
hardware peace of mind.

-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If loving linux is wrong, I dont wanna be right.
	-- Topic for #LinuxGER