[ale] Losing stability

[Tim Meanor]

Sounds like a flaky motherboard to me, though if you'd prefer to test  
out the memory first, you might want to try memtest86 ( http:// 
www.memtest86.com ).  It's a good memory testing program that runs  
from a bootable CD.

-Tim

On Oct 30, 2006, at 9:25 AM, Charles Shapiro wrote:

> My main box at home is having Serious Troubles.  On startup it  
> often will hang (no screen output) with the CD light lit steady  
> until I press & hold the "off" switch to retry. Other behaviors  
> include appearing to start up and then emitting random beeps  
> through the speaker with no screen output, or giving random core  
> dumps on various scripts in /etc/init.d.  I've also experienced   
> spontaneous reboots and random hangs/program failures in X  
> windows.  The "memory speed" number given in the initial startup  
> screen sometimes changes from boot-up to boot-up as well.  The  
> system is a home-brew about 4 years old and lightly used; leadtek  
> WinFast K-series MB, athlon chip, cheap simple video card, single  
> 512 MB DRAM stick. Processor temperatures appear to be within  
> acceptable ranges, at least according to the "syshealth" part of  
> the BIOS. I've enabled the full memory test in the POST, but so far  
> that hasn't picked up any problems.
>
> I'm thinking that the problem is either memory or motherboard. I've  
> removed, air-blasted, and re-seated the memory stick in a new slot  
> without change in behavior. At  this point I'm considering getting  
> some new memory and, if that doesn't change the behavior, replacing  
> the motherboard.
>
> Does this seem reasonable? The clock appears steady, so I'm  
> assuming the BIOS battery is OK, but perhaps that's a factor?
>
> -- CHS
>
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