Ubuntu Stability (WAS: Ubuntu PPC 4.10 Installed on new Mac Mini)

[Vincent Trouilliez]

Hi Dave,

> Linux should certainly not crash regularly, this is not normal.

That is truly fantastic news. It crashes so often, and so badly (freezes
solid, or reboots, or restarts X at random, or "seg faults", or apps
that "disappear" in thin air with no reason, or that freeze) that I
sometimes get very depressed about it and wonder if it will ever work
properly :o(
And that's on top of more "normal" bugs, like Evolution that keeps
crashing almost everytime I "paste" somthing in the composing window,
even it it's just a few words of plain text from a terminal. :o((
I think if Ubuntu could be stable, I would be the happiest man in the
universe (or multiverse ! ;o)

> Normally total crashes in linux are related to:
> 1. Hardware problems,

That was also my favorite assumption. I thought that all my
freezes/reboot/X restarts problem might be related to my ATI Rage 128
video card, so I replaced it with the on-board Nvidia video chip
("nForce" chipset), but it seems that it's just as bad sadly :o(
I could do one last try though, as I have an old PCI Matrox Millenium
video card that I can dig out.

> (linux tends to utilise hardware better than windows (ie. stress it out more), so flaky hardware may give you
> *more* grief in linux than it would in windows. 

Soory for my approximate english, but does "flaky" H/W mean
"crap"/obscure ? If so, I do try and steer clear from obscure/super
cheap stuff like lexmark USB scanner/printer or that kind of things ;o)
I bought (at the time) a top of the range MSI board (K7N 420 Pro).
it did have problems with old Mandrake realeases, but it seemed to me
that version 9.2 had better support for that motherboard, so I thought,
by now, drivers for that board would be bug free/performant ?
Maybe not, hence my idea of changing motherboard, for an Intel one,
hoping for better quality and better support/drivers.
For the other peripherals I also try to use widely known hardware, and
Adpatec 2940 card for SCSI, AGFA SnapScan 1236S for the scanner, PS2
mouse and K/B not USB, Plextor SCSCI CD burner etc etc.

> Have you tried running the "memtest" option in Ubuntu's grub menu?)

I originally had 256MB on the motherboard, but 4 months ago I added an
extra 256MB stick. I bought it second hand/used, but the BIOS cycled
through it 3 times and found no errors. Then I let Mandrake 9.2 (at the
time) run for 3 days with no ill effects. So I thought, great, might be
used, but it doesn't seem faulty.
But now with Ubuntu/Warty, it keeps crashing. I did run the 'mem test'
option at boot, for 7 hours, with not one single error reported. 
Also, 99% of the time, according to Gnome' system monitor, Ubuntu uses
less than 256 MB or physical RAM. The upper 256MB (which are mapped to
my used/second hand memory stick) are rarely used. So I don't think it's
due to that second memory stick I added. 
Granted, maybe the first stick, the one I bought new, with motherboard,
has become faulty all of a sudden, when I installed Warty.
Or maybe the motherboard has become faulty, and the memory controller is
defective. Sometimes, one memory slot/bank can fail, and the others work
perferctly. So I could try shuffling the memory sticks around I guess.
If it doesn't improve things, maybe the CPU is at fault. It's an AMD
Athlon XP 1700+ (1.45GHz), which has run at 65 degrees for over 2 years.
Maybe that's too hot, and it damaged it over time ? It's only very
recently, on this list, that I was suggested to install the package
"athcool", which enables the 'hlt' intruction, which makes the CPU run
MUCH cooler, about 30/35 degrees, most of the time (when not playing 3D
games or ripping audio CD's)
Given that swaping the ATI video card for the on-board Nvidia chip
didn't change a thing, I will make the assumption that's it's nt related
to video drivers ? The problems maybe either the drivers for the
motherboard, or a H/W problem somewher ein the Board/CPU/RAM
combination, which I ought to try narrowing down.
At any rate, it's not fun ! :o(

> 2. Kernel Modules (ie. Binary, proprietary, third-party,
> experimental). In kernel space, misbehaving code can cause complete
> system failures. 

Yes, I was thinking of that too. So I tried running anither Kernel, I
installed (from synaptic) the 'k7' kernel. I also tried the 'i686' one. 
At the time, I installed them, hoping for speed improvements, but didn't
experience any. After only an hour or so, I switched back to the default
Ubuntu i386 kernel. I guess I ought to try installing the K7 kernel
again, running for more than a few minutes this time, and watch out for
stability rather than speed.

> Are you running any binary or experimental modules?

The only thing I can find in Synaptic, is this
"linux-restricted-modules" package. The description of it is :

*********************************
Non-free Linux 2.6.8.1 modules on 386
This package provides restricted modules for Linux version 2.6.8.1 on
386.
Currently the following modules are included:
 - madwifi (Atheros)
 - fglrx (ATI)
 - nvidia

These modules are "restricted" because they are not available under a
completely Free licence.
********************************

It seems to have to do with both ATI and NVidia video chips, so it's a
common denominator for the two video cards I tried. So maybe this module
is at fault. Also, it talks about "madwifi" things. I don't have wifi.
So maybe I could try removing that package, and install my super old PCI
Matrox Millenium card. If it works any better, then it may mean that
htis module is faulty ? Or maybe that my AGP port/bus is faulty, hence
the chipset, hence the motherboard.

so I have got a few things try then. If nothing works, then I will try
HOary when it's released. I assume 100% of it's components will be
updated or rewritten, compared to Warty, so chances are, my problems
will go away.
If problems are still there, I will consider getting a brand new Intel
motherboard (hoping for people's suggestion on what precise model to go
for)

Vince