System Unstable - Live CD - Lockups

[Cuddles]

Plz HELP!

System Background:
433 Mhz Celeron, 320 Meg RAM, 30 gig HDD, 30 Meg Persistant Knoppix Partition, with HDD having 24 gig Free Space. Knoppix Live CD on a Sony 24x DVD drive, CD Audio disc playing on a CD-RW 52x32x52 drive. Knoppix 3.2 Live CD.

1st time:
Running: KDE System Guard, KMix (in system tray as speaker), CUPS (printer deamon - idle), XMMS (CD Audio disc playing), Open GL Graphic Visualization displaying the XMMS audio output, and Knoppix Solitaire Card Game (active and playing in foreground)

Result: System Dropped, Black Screen - No video signal reported by monitor - and audio tone constant in speakers -=- Required reset on system case.

2nd time:
All running processes as in the 1st time.

Result: System froze - Screen Locked - No mouse movement - No keyboard control - and CD Audio continued to play until end of song - and then nothing -=- Required again a reset on the system case.

On reboot, both times, the boot screen displayed on the following:

"Starting CUPSys:"
"CUPSdmodprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module char-major-188" <-- about twenty entries.

Is this a common freeze? Is this a problem? Did Knoppix/Debian/Linux/Unix survive the crash? Can I expect worse when I install this to my hard drive and go Full-Blown on my new system? When the OS reboots, does it include diagnostics to check the HDD for problems? ( like the Unix Fschk???? ) Or, is this something that just goes on until the HDD is scrambled and can't be used anymore?

Also, as a side note: I am using a persistant Knoppix partition, why is it I can set and keep my settings on some things, and on one thing, I cant?

Case in point, I have been able to set and keep my Natural MS Keyboard, my ATI All-In-Wonder Pro video card, my ViewSonic 17 monitor, and I CANT SEEM TO SET AND KEEP my resolution and color depth? I keep setting my resolution to 1024 x 768 w/ 24 bit color depth, save it, and upon rebooting, I still get 800 x 600 w/ 8 bit color depth???? Is this due to Knoppix still living off the CD? Will these settings keep when I move to a HDD install???

My OLD System is only going to be around till the end of this year, and then I am getting a 1.7 Ghz AMD, 512 Meg RAM, 40 gig HDD, same DVD and CD-RW - but I hope to go completely to Knoppix, and a full HDD install on this new system. Can I expect to have more problems with the new system and Knoppix?

Please HELP, anyone, I am serious about the migration from Windows to Knoppix, but am I doomed to the same crashes, and worse, loss of data, if I do????

Thanks in advance,
Cuddles

[Cuddles]

Please Help SOMEONE...

This problem is still happening.

I lost my Config File, and trashed my Persistant Home Directory.

I deleted the above two things, then created a SWAP File on my HDD, with Persistant Home and Config Files -=- AGAIN.

I haven't had the chance to re-install the Printer and the Print Server that crashed and had the errors on previous POST.

I am also attempting to isolate where the problem crashes the system at.

I can run KDE and the KDE System Guard for days, without a crash.
I can run the above AND the Penguin Solitaire game, without a crash.
I have run the KDE and the KDE System Guard, with the XMMS playing a CD Audio Disc, without the Open GL (fancy graphic display) - and it doesn't seem to crash...

I had the problem before when I had the KDE, KDE System Guard, the CUPS print server, the XMMS and Open GL display playing the same CD Audio Disc, and the Penguin Solitaire - am I aksing too much from Knoppix/Debian with a 320 Meg RAM, 24 gig free space HDD, and a 433 Mhz Celeron???? Will this get BETTER with my new 1.7 Ghz 512 Meg RAM system???

Someone, Please, HELP (this is starting to feel like SHELF-WARE if answers are not found - though I'd hate it to happen - I love this OS - but not at the price of system crashes when I run a system with services that I need. This isn't even adding in the ISP Internet yet.)

Thanks in advance,
Cuddles

[tearinghairout]

It seems to me that you may have pretty much answered your own question....

I have run the KDE and the KDE System Guard, with the XMMS playing a CD Audio Disc, without the Open GL (fancy graphic display) - and it doesn't seem to crash...
This certainly points to OpenGL being the culprit.
Unfortunately it is still true that X crashes more than one might like, and when it does it makes it appear as though the computer is completely unusable.

You would probably find - if you had a second machine connected via a network that you could use to telnet/ssh into the first one - that Linux itself and all the other programs are still running fine, and you could kill off and restart the X server and be on your way again.

When you consider buying your new machine, it may be as well to spend a bit of time investigating video cards, seeing which ones are reported to be well supported, and make sure you get a machine with one of these cards in.

[Cuddles]

Thanks TearingHairOut,

I am sorry to say, the cost of the new system is so much of a hit to the pocket, that I am going to have to deal with the "on-board" video of the motherboard. (and a "shared" video ram of the system memory)

The old puter has the "on-board" video card, but I slapped in the ATI All-In-One Wonder Pro - With 64 megs of RAM on it. The video card was running fine, or so I thought.

I guess what you are saying TearingHairOut is - the system is fine, just possibly the Open GL window has froze the system. If I could remote view the system, and "kick" the Open GL process running in memory, the system would return to a "live" status?

I have to admit, I am at a loss with knowledge about Knoppix - I am already in line to finding out how to get the Debian, or even Mandrake, on install CD's - and the new system is going to get LINUX only installed. I hope to get the new system early next year, and M$ isn't touching it ! :)

I was so impressed with the Knoppix Live CD - it's interface, it's auto-detection, it's "clean" appearance, and even it's stable history. I'm not one to give up on something this good, too easily. Heck, I lived more than 15 yrs with the M$ "reboot after you do anything" trouble. Reboot after you do a backup, reboot after you rip a CD, reboot after you go online, etc... etc... etc...

I have seen the FUTURE, it is LINUX, and it is GOOD !

I realize that with Linux comes a new thinking, a new way of doing things, and a little bit of a learning curve, but, I KNOW it's worth it.

I am researching finding a good LUG to sign up with, a die-hard M$ history as I have is going to need a lot of help, kinda like the 10 steps of going off the bottle. First, you have to admit you have a problem with M$, the next is denial, and then comes acceptance, etc... I "already" know I have a problem with Microsoft, and Knoppix has proven it to me. Any problems I find with Linux seem to point me into denial - and thinking that I can just live with M$ Windows. But, I know that isn't the answer. So, I accept that Linux is the way to go, and M$ is the problem.

I am looking into the Mandrake install, and I am devotionally reading the Linux book -=- Welcome to Linux, kiss the blue screen of death goodbye. A very well writen book, it doesn't condesend to newbies, and yet, has a wealth of knowledge to the enlightened. I think Linux is the way to go, I just need to get over some of the small hurdles along the way.

Thanks again for the response, and the assistance, TearingHairOut.
( When I get Linux running full-blown, Konquor [sp] is getting it's first Favorites -=- this Forum :) )

Cuddles
BTW - In a previous career, I used to be a Unix Sparc network tech - "one" of the screen savers on these systems would sometimes lock the system up. To resolve it, you could remote connect to the inflicted system, and "stop process" the screen saver, and "poof" the system would return to life again. It was kinda like magic to the user, cause you could be on the phone with them, and when the process got kicked, you could say something like ABACADABRA, and they would go "OMG! It's alive! You did it!" - they would be so impressed, some actually offered their first born. ( don't know if that was a good thing, or a bad, though [giggle] )

[midwestdiscuss]

To the list;
Try disconnectng the HD and running as a live CD. That should give you an indicator as to if your system is compatiable with Knoppix. Then you can begin to narrow down your problem to one that is among your files on the HD.
On another point, why don't you just install debian or BSD on the HD and run Knoppix as a live
CD instead of a full OS?

let me know

thanks again

midwestdiscuss@lycos.com

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