Ubuntu getting locked up

[Chuck Kuecker]

Liam Proven wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 11:28 AM, Chuck Kuecker <ckuecker at ckent.org> wrote:
>   
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have a strange thing going on with my system. Three times now, Ubuntu
>> has gotten locked up somehow such that I cannot open a terminal window
>> or restart or reboot the system. I cannot stop the X-windows either. I
>> am running Ubuntu 9.10 with all the latest updates.
>>     
<snip>
>> Freescale for their embedded processor running Linux.
>>
>> Chuck Kuecker
>>     
>
> You've not told us anything about your machine's hardware, but this
> sounds like a possible hardware problem to me.
>
> I'd suggest:
>
> Step 1
>
> Open the machine up & give it a thorough clean, ideally with a
> compressed-air spray or something similar. "Airduster" these are
> sometimes called.
>
> I suggest paying special attention to the graphics card & processor
> heatsink & fan. If you know how, carefully remove the heatsinks & fans
> from both the CPU and the GPU & give them a thorough clean. Your
> problems sound a little like they might be caused by overheating to
> me.
>
> Step 2
>
> When reassembling, get and apply some fresh TIM
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_interface_material) when
> refitting them, making sure to remove all trace of the old stuff.
>
> Step 3
>
> When it's all back together, boot from an Ubuntu CD and run memtest86.
> I suggest you leave it going for a few hours or overnight.
>   
Update on CPU temperature. I installed the sensors-applet program, and 
ran sensors from the terminal. CPU and other temps are running at 31-35 
C, but the peak temperatures recorded are all 146.2 C.

Since most integrated circuits die hard at 150 C, this is scary - but 
the fact that all the peak temps were the same value looks to me like a 
bug or an uninitialized variable somewhere. The temperatures fluctuate 
from moment to moment, as you would expect.

I will keep an eye on things - oh, by the way - the last time I looked, 
the screen saver animation was back up to its' normal speed.

Dang - it just died again - the terminal started reporting i had a 
read-only filesystem, and my home directory was blank. Restarted, using 
the alt-print screen - R E I S U B sequence, which failed - perhaps I 
was too quick - had to run fsck yet again.

Temperatures are still reading around 30 - 37 C, anyway.

So, I've still got some sort of trouble, but I'm learning quickly how to 
fix it when it breaks. This is a good thing.

Chuck Kuecker


Chuck Kuecker