Sporadic freezes and frustration

Tue Oct 27 23:36:43 UTC 2009

On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:19:59 -0700, Anthony P. wrote:

> I recently reinstalled Ubuntu 9.04 after getting fed up with Windows and
> refusing to go to Windows 7. I have a pretty generic Acer 5100 laptop
> with a 1.6Ghz processor and 3GB of memory.
> 
> For some reason, and this happens a lot, when I boot the system, the
> system will freeze as it's playing the startup sound and just stay in a
> fast loop where it froze playing that portion of the sound again and
> again. The only way to stop it is to force the machine off by holding
> down the power button. If I let it sit there, it will eventually change
> to a screen with strips going up and down but still the system is
> nonresponsive.
> 
> But this also happens when I am sometimes just working. The system will
> all of a sudden go to a screen with stripes and is totally
> nonresponsive. Again, the only way to regain control is to force it off
> and restart. Just now, I had to restart 4 times before I could get a
> usable computer again.
> 
> I'm almost at the point of reinstalling. But I thought I'd come here and
> ask for help first. Can anyone clue me in as to what might be going on?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Anthony
> 
> 
> 
>       <html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;}
>       --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new
>       roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt">I recently reinstalled
>       Ubuntu 9.04 after getting fed up with Windows and refusing to go
>       to Windows 7. I have a pretty generic Acer 5100 laptop with a
>       1.6Ghz processor and 3GB of memory.<br><br>For some reason, and
>       this happens a lot, when I boot the system, the system will freeze
>       as it's playing the startup sound and just stay in a fast loop
>       where it froze playing that portion of the sound again and again.
>       The only way to stop it is to force the machine off by holding
>       down the power button. If I let it sit there, it will eventually
>       change to a screen with strips going up and down but still the
>       system is nonresponsive.<br><br>But this
>   also happens when I am sometimes just working. The system will all of
>   a sudden go to a screen with stripes and is totally nonresponsive.
>   Again, the only way to regain
>  control is to force it off and restart. Just now, I had to restart 4
>  times before I could get a usable computer again.<br><br>I'm almost at
>  the point of reinstalling. But I thought I'd come here and ask for help
>  first. Can anyone clue me in as to what might be going
>  on?<br><br>Thanks in advance,<br>Anthony<br></div><br>
> 
>       </body></html>

Far from an expert, but have looked at this?

Ubuntu should run reasonably well on a computer with the following 
minimum hardware specification. However, features such as visual effects 
may not run smoothly.

    * 700 MHz x86 processor
    * 384 MB of system memory (RAM)
    * 8 GB of disk space
    * Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution
    *

      Sound card
    *

      A network or Internet connection

the larger page is at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/
SystemRequirements

There some issues with laptops; one option is to go with Ubuntu Netbook 
Remix (UNR).  As the name says, it's mostly designed for netbooks, but it 
might be an alternative on your laptop too.

-- 
Mark C. Miller, Indianapolis Indiana USA