From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 91A521381F4 for ; Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:45:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 41B7F21C05E; Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:43:53 +0000 (UTC) Received: from fsm2.ukr.net (fsm2.ukr.net [195.214.192.121]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AB99721C053 for ; Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:39:04 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=ukr.net; s=fsm; h=Content-Transfer-Encoding:Content-Type:Mime-Version:References:In-Reply-To:Message-Id:Subject:To:From:Date; bh=KQOMt4elJlKQTu8H9IxejQm4J3XLAr0cZUlroOKrs1M=; b=F5Hhj0kdIoBvbO14GKnU6ulmeLq0raWb6vHjXEVK542eCCvu1HKzvBcdjQZ+mb1Z7nqjIwt0+b7JI4g2PugPxvYNaoX9ej7H2NFl64nkVgpN01EogyzOTNxI2cMxGa+nVHFRQFcRZeePdozQrA+C4gkuDhNJSwAYg4+OLnjrcHA=; Received: from [78.83.152.208] (helo=Ganymede) by fsm2.ukr.net with esmtpsa ID 1T2J1D-00048K-Bv ; Fri, 17 Aug 2012 12:39:03 +0300 Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2012 12:40:37 +0300 From: v_2e@ukr.net To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] My PC died. What should I try? Message-Id: <20120817124037.721797b98854fb5c5ba685f9@ukr.net> In-Reply-To: <502DF7D0.8010200@wonkology.org> References: <502DF7D0.8010200@wonkology.org> X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.2.0 (GTK+ 2.24.11; x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 77453f4c-c624-40dd-b6f6-bc554cf3cceb X-Archives-Hash: 3a777846c97c680c9c8ec82197315d40 Hello! On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:50:40 +0200 Alex Schuster wrote: > Hi there! > > Two days ago, my PC suddenly died, after working fine for half a > year. I used myrtcwake as usual to suspend to RAM, and it woke up in > the morning. But after two minutes, the screen went blank and > nothing, even SysRq, gave a reaction. I tried booting a couple of > times again, and sometimes it did not even reach KDM. Now, I cannot > even run Grub (from my USB stick) any more, I only see a "GRUB" > string at the top right, then nothing happens. > > Booting with SystemRescueCD also freezes sometimes. If not, I can > make it freeze after seconds by running 'memtester'. > > Booting good old memtest86 ran for an hour and only found one error, > then I aborted, removed three of my four memory modules (4GB each), > and tried different ones in the first bank. Memtest86 again did not > find much errors, but froze once. Running memtester after booting > from SystemrescueCD again makes the thing freeze in seconds. It once > also froze while being in the BIOs setup. > If the system behaves in such an unpredictable way (freezing at a random point), I usually check the following things: - RAM; - bloated capacitors on the Motherboard; - bloated or dried capacitors in the power supply unit; If your PC is only half a year old, it is unlikely that the capacitors dried. But they could easily bloat, especially if they were of bad quality or situated near some hot surface like heat sinks. Testing the power supply needs not only visual analysis. It would be good to attach the oscilloscope to the output and see the voltage level. It should not have large peaks (voltage jumps). But this is usually true for the old units with dried capacitors, as I said. If I were you, I'd tried to temporarily replace the memory with a 100% working module, and if it does not help - replace the power supply unit (if you do not have the necessary equipment to test it thoroughly). And one more simple test: turn on the PC, enter the BIOS setup utility and keep it running in this state. If it runs ok for some time (like a couple of hours), I'd say the problem is in RAM. Regards, Vladimir -----