Diagnosis: is this machine broken?

[Sandy Harris]

On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Basil Chupin <blchupin at iinet.net.au> wrote:

> On 29/11/2010 12:36, Sandy Harris wrote:

>> i have a machine -- Atom 1.6 GHz, single core but hyperthreaded, Intel board
>> and 2 gigs RAM (the maximum supported). A while ago it began giving many
>> errors, all disk-related, so I replaced the disk.
>>
>> Now it mostly runs fine and Checkbox (the tester on the Ubuntu system
>> menus) reports all OK, but there are three worrying items. When I try
>> memtest x86+ off the boot menu, it fails with a message about
>> "insufficient low memory". At boot time, there are many error messages
>> from udevd along the lines of "worker failed to respond". Finally, the
>> drscheme application is horrendously slow; menus take several
>> seconds to open.
>>
>> I wonder if there might be some motherboard or RAM fault that caused
>> the earlier disk corruption. If so, replacing the disk will not have fixed it
>> and problems are likely to recur. This is worrying.
>>
>> What is my next step in diagnosis here?
>>
>
> Not enough information here, Sandy.
>
> Which version of Ubuntu are you running? (meaning off which boot menu
> are you running "memtest").

Fresh install on Maverick.

> Instead of doing this memtest from the boot menu do it from the
> installation CD. Tell us what the result are.

No CD. I think I tried it from install USB, but am not certain. Will try
that tomorrow.

> For my limited knowledge, I suspect that there is problem with the RAM -
> "insufficient low memory".

That would make sense. But how can I be sure?

> What shows up when you check the BIOS settings? Waht does the BIOS show
> as basic memory and then the rest? Do you have BIOS configured to shadow
> video and whatever? How big is your "video window" (for the videos card)
> set in your BIOS?

Machine not to hand. I did check BIOS; it was finding whole 2 gigs. No video
card, on-board Intel part. Some RAM used for video, not a lot.