Ubuntu getting locked up

[Chuck Kuecker]

Just wanted to let everyone know the final outcome on this problem. I 
removed the screensaver packages completely, and the problem went away.

Did some more research. I was running an ATI Radeon X 800XL video card 
that my son had in the machine for his games. Turns out this card is no 
longer supported in Ubuntu 9.10.

So, I pulled the video card out of my old Linux box, and put it in this 
one. Works fine. Reinstalled the screensaver packages, and set up the 
engine animation again - I just watched it switch over to the animation, 
which ran at the correct speed, and the machine recovered with mouse 
movement. No evidence of anything locking up.

The only unresolved question is - why did it work for a couple of weeks 
after I upgraded to 9.10, before starting to act up? It's almost like 
the card had a memory of how long it had run, and when it reached a 
certain time, it went nuts.

I guess I'll never know...

Thanks again for all your help.

Chuck Kuecker