Very strange behavior in 9.10

[Marius Gedminas]

On Thu, Nov 05, 2009 at 08:24:43AM -0800, Kevin Moulton wrote:
> I installed 9.10 over the weekend. Previously had 9.04, but completely
> reformatted to do a fresh install.
> 
> Dell D600 laptop.
> 
> 9.10 installed quickly. Had a little trouble getting wireless, but
> managed to get the NDIS drivers installed.

Binary drivers (especially ones intended for a different OS) might cause
problems.

> However, I am having a very odd problem, which I can only describe as
> some kind of screen corruption. About once a day, suddenly I get odd
> characters on the screen, and odder behavior. It typically starts with
> Firefox not starting. Then, if I mouse over the wireless status, I get
> several rows of box-like characters, rather than the status. If I try
> to run any apps, I'm told that it can't find the path to the app. I
> can't even run terminal, or run a command with Alt-F2. Anything I try
> to do results in the same error, as if my hard drive is gone. 
> 
> I can't get any screen shots or troubleshoot, because I can't do
> anything. I can move the mouse around and use the keyboard, but
> nothing I try to run will work. I can't even logout or restart. My
> only option has been to turn the laptop off, which is obviously not a
> great solution.

Can you continue to use existing apps?

> This has occurred about once a day since I installed 9.10 last
> Saturday. There does not appear to be a pattern to when this occurs.

If you make a habit of leaving a terminal window open, you could try to
troubleshoot (e.g. run dmesg when this happens).

> Any ideas? This is very frustrating because, other than this, 9.10 is
> performing exactly as I had hoped.

Marius Gedminas
-- 
If you are smart enough to know that you're not smart enough to be an
Engineer, then you're in Business.
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