Problems with my Ubuntu Box

[David Whyte]

On 8/1/06, Peter Garrett <peter.garrett at optusnet.com.au> wrote:
>
> Do you see a pattern here ? All of this is connected with the display, is
> it not? You don't specifically mention what graphics card you have - I
> guess it is some kind of on-board thing. If so your motherboard may be on
> the way out. If not, it could be that the video/graphics drivers are at
> fault - I know this kind of thing often happens to people who use the
> proprietary ATI drivers, for example.
>

Would you believe it but I think Peter has it.

I have an nVidia TNT2 plugged into my AGP port, but there is VIA s3
graphics on board (disabled with the presence of the AGP card).

I have been going through a process of trial and error with the box
and have done the following:

1) Removed one 256MB stick of RAM.  Started some mythtv commercial
flagging jobs and within a couple of minutes a lockup occurred.
2) Moved off of the UPS and onto the normal power board.  Started some
mythtv commercial flagging jobs and within a couple of minutes a
lockup occurred.
3) Removed the TNT2 video card and plugged my monitor into the onboard
VGA port.  I couldn't even boot the PC.
 - First time, the monitor didn't turn on.  No HDD activity, restarted
the box manually.
 - This time the monitor turned on but didn't boot past the listing of
the PCI devices. No HDD activity, restarted the box manually
 - Next time, got a little further iinto te listing of PCI devices
(probably the end from what I remember, but no further).
 - Next time, got a CMOS bad checksum error or similar.
 - Next time, booted into BIOS, started to use the cursor to move
around and it lockedup.
 - Next time, didn't even complete the POST.
4) Replaced the TNT2 card and managed to log into Ubuntu just fine,
though I got a message about 'rebooting my PC' so 'changes could take
effect' (it must have noticed the card dissapeared and came back).
Infact, it looks like my PC clock (and BIOS) has reset itself too as
it is now Jan 1, 2004 :(

So, it looks to me like the mobo is well and truly goosed.  What are
your thoughts?

[BTW, the mythcommflag jobs I was running above have been halted for a
few days becuase I was seeing if they were the cause, but I still got
lockups.  Therefore, I believe that they can now be ruled out.]

Would it be easy to replace the mobo and just boot from the same
installation of Ubuntu, or would a full reinstall be required?

Cheers,
Whytey