16.04 problems - install, inactive/suspend, hard disk

[rikona]

Hello Liam,

Monday, September 12, 2016, 4:24:17 AM, Liam wrote:

> On 12 September 2016 at 06:06, rikona <rikona at sonic.net> wrote:

>> I ran memtest86 directly from a bootable memtest86 CD

> Was this the latest version of memtest?

Yes, a freshly downloaded iso image, burned to a CD.

>> Noting earlier that CPU number two was stuck for 23 seconds, I tried
>> to run memtest86 using CPU number two. The result was an instant full
>> lockup crash. Rebooting and trying with the remaining four cores
>> produced the same result.

> That is worrying. The things I would look at first are that the
> system firmware is totally current,

It is - I installed the latest AMD BIOS on the MB.

> and that the PSU is known good and rated high enough to drive all
> your compoennts.

All the H/W is new, so I don't really have a "known good" anything
yet. :-) The PSU is a 750w high current gamer PSU - should be OK for
this. I have a zero noise video card, no fan, and definitely a low end
card. I'm not a gamer.

>> I tried running the box from a bootable Ubuntu live CD. In the boot
>> menu I have two ways of running the Ubuntu CD - one is labeled SATA3:
>> DVDRAM and the other is labeled UEFI: DVDRAM.

> Which kind of firmware does your motherboard have?

AMD 970 chipset.

>> A note re the install. I wanted the SSD to be mounted as /, and the
>> 3GB HD to be mounted as /home. I wasn't sure I could do this during
>> the Ubuntu install,

> Yes you can.

>> so I formatted the HD ahead of time using a
>> bootable CD. The install insisted on putting /home on the SSD

> I don't know what you did but that is not right. If you pick
> "something else" you can put whatever you want wherever you want.

See my earlier email to Ralf for what happened.

> You say the HD is 3GB. I think you mean 3TB.

Yes. :-)

> That means it must be partitioned with GUID -- that is too big for MBR.

> I advocate very simple partitioning schemes.

> E.g. if the SSD is /dev/sda and the HD is /dev/sdb, then:

> /dev/sda1 : single primary partition, default filesystem, as /
> /dev/sdb --
>   /dev/sdb1 : one big /home partition,
>   /dev/sdb2 : on the end, a small swap partition with 2 x physical
> RAM. You won't need this much but with 3TB you can afford it.

> (With GUID there is no distinction between primary, extended and
> logical drives any more.)

Good to know... The setup is / and swap on the SSD, and /home on the
HD.

>> - I had
>> to change the HD to mount as /homestuff. This worked, and the HD is
>> usable when I boot from the SSD.

> That's not right, though.

Agreed, and not what I wanted.

>> Is it possible, during an install, to put /home on a separate 3GB
>> disk?

> Yes.

Agreed - see the other email for more info.

>> If the HD was already formatted another way, might there be some
>> information written to the disk that would interfere with the
>> proper Ubuntu install formatting of that disc?

> No. Doesn't matter at all.

The original 3Tb disk was replaced with a new 3Tb disk, which FINALLY
made it through the "other" option, on the FIFTH try, and installed
[but with some problems]. It seems that a GUID disk is causing a
number of issues on this box. The 1.5Tb disk reinstall worked
flawlessly - 2 big disks were definitely not flawless.

Could it be that GUID or UEFI is causing the issues? Also, if I format
a small disk with this box, will it end up as a GUID and perhaps not
be readable on an older comp?

The 2nd 3Tb disk is still running after 2 days with no crash, etc. No
intensive work yet, so it has not been stressed at all. It seems OK
but I don't really trust this box yet, given the issues that happened.
I've NEVER had this many problems building a box!

Thanks much for the info and help.

-- 

 rikona