Problems with my Ubuntu Box

[David Whyte]

On 8/1/06, David Whyte <david.whyte at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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 said I would keep the list posted on my progress so here goes...

I made a few more changed last week, including the PSU and memory
configurations to no avail.  Lastly, I changed to an identical (but
obviously different) TNT2 card from another PC and have since had
perfect stability.

Although I have had to restart now and again due to updates and
re-attaching all the panels to the PC case etc they have all been
self-inflicted rather than a hard lock-up.  The good news...

djwhyte at myth:~$ uptime
 23:03:20 up 4 days, 22 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.41, 1.32, 1.37
djwhyte at myth:~$

...which is much longer than the MTBF's I was getting before the TNT2
changeover.

I am still a little perplexed as to why there was such instability
when I moved to only the on board video, but I am wondering if this
could have been in relation to the current kernel bug and VIA based
boards (https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.15/+bug/52649)
or my BIOS reacting inappropriately to the lack of AGP card.  The
other annoying thing is the so-called defective TNT2 seemed to work
for the 30 minutes or so that I had it placed in my Windows PC,
although 30 minutes is much less than the old MTBF.

Anyways, just a big thank you to the Aussie Ubuntu community.  This
really wasn't an issue with the Ubuntu distribution at all, yet you
all replied with helpful comments.

Thanks very much,
Whytey