8.04 randomly freezing requiring hard shut down, caps and scroll lock flash

[useResa]

Well... WXGA is an identifier for the graphics mode (resolution) that a computer runs... Basically it locates you within a timeline and resolution parameters... When it came to graphics adapters, CGA was the pioneer (Color Graphics Adapter, legendary 320x200 and 640x200, up to 16 colors)... then others like EGA (640x350, 16-64 colors), VGA (640x480, 256 color), and so on until XGA (Extended Graphics Adapter, 1024x768, millions of colors)... others evolved eventually... the W in WXGA stands for Wide... this is used to address Widescreens... 1440 resolution is sometimes referred to as WXGA+
It's all about graphics resolutions.

Thanks for the lecture.
Still learning every day

[glauco.b]

Running a Dell 830 here

I was having the exact same freezing problem as you all have. In particular, I was getting the problem when running on WiFi, under fixed ethernet there was no issue. It was independent of CPU and GPU temperature.

I upgraded the kernel some days ago (don't remember the version, but it was the one between the first version that comes with the Hardy installer and the last one) and ta-da! Everything was OK, hours of hard work on WiFi without any crashes

Then I upgraded to the last available version, 2.6.24-19 and
the damn crashing started again

I'm planning to revert to the previous kernel version, but this is really annoying. I'm stuck to WinXP. Ok, that is evil! But works.

And the most annoying thing is that the machine hangs with NO logs, NO errors, NO alerts, NO kernel panic, NO blue/black screens, simply nothing, it hangs and that's all, there's no way to understand why.

Please Canonical dev team try to understand where's the problem, since the D620/630 laptop family is very widespread.

[useResa]

And the most annoying thing is that the machine hangs with NO logs, NO errors, NO alerts, NO kernel panic, NO blue/black screens, simply nothing, it hangs and that's all, there's no way to understand why.

This is what annoys me most as well ... seems there is NO way to determine the cause of this issue. Or at least not one that I know of.

Please Canonical dev team try to understand where's the problem, since the D620/630 laptop family is very widespread.

+1

[glauco.b]

Ok, the keyboard lights flashing mean kernel panic, as stated here

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/5529

The purpose is to indicate an X user the kernel got in panic and hung the GUI

The problem is how to get a kernel panic log now... Here are some instructions
http://rhcelinuxguide.wordpress.com/...ardiac-arrest/

I'll try to go through...

[kliklik]

I've tried kernels 2.6.24-19 2.6.24-18 and 2.6.24-16 with intel and i810 graphics drivers and with and without compiz. No change. Everything crashes as described in my previous post.

Is there a way to see which packets got upgraded in the last week ot two weeks and to roll them back to the previous versions?

I'll do the research and then start rolling the libs back one by one.

[prshah]

I've tried kernels 2.6.24-19 2.6.24-18 and 2.6.24-16 with intel and i810 graphics drivers and with and without compiz. No change. Everything crashes as described in my previous post.

Before all that, why not run a quick memtest? You will find the option in the GRUB boot up menu. Let it run for 15~20 mins, and if you see nothing in RED then most likely your memory is fine (eg, not flaky, no loose contact, no dust impedance, etc).

[kliklik]

Before all that, why not run a quick memtest?

That was the first thing I've done. No problems reported and I've run it for several hours, just in case.

I've downgraded the libglib2.0 package from 2.16.3-1ubuntu3 to 2.16.3-1 and so far so good. I'll report if it starts crashing again.

[useResa]

Is there a way to see which packets got upgraded in the last week ot two weeks and to roll them back to the previous versions?

I am not completely sure how far it will go back, but you can find information in the log files located in the /var/log/apt directory

[ballin]

I have just got this for the first time.

I am running 8.04 on a Dell Latitude D620 laptop.

It 99% of the time runs on AC power with ethernet connection.
For the first time in ages I had it on batteries with wlan.

This is when it crashed, so I wonder if it something to do with either being on battery and/or using wlan for me.

Will investigate further soon and report back.

[GryphElyse]

I have this problem too, and it's not even INSTALLED yet. And we can rule out Dell hardware because my comp is a FrankenPC. Here is my hardware:

MSI K7N2 Delta-L Mainboard with AMD Athlon XP 1800+ CPU, 1.5ish GHz
512MB RAM, 40GB HDD (Maxtor I think)
Lite-On CD/DVDRW
NVidia GeForce FX5700LE

I haven't even managed to install it yet - I'm on the Live CD. With some CDs I burned, it gave me an I/O Error: Can't read from boot disk, at the home screen if you select anything like "install" or "integrity check" or "try live". With other CDs, it got past that point, and through the scrolly loading screen, but then started a cascade of "Buffer I/O error reading device sr0 logical block xxxxx" or something like that. I FLASHed my BIOS to the latest firmware, and it miraculously for the first time got to the install menu, as far as date-time - then froze, and when I exited, saw a whole bunch of buffer errors scrolling down the screen. But none of these are the kernel panic, although they may be related.

Usually, with the boot disk that I just mentioned got to the installer once, I just get that exact same problem - frozen, Caps and Scroll keys flashing, no hardware response whatsoever, CD drive won't even eject so you KNOW something's f!#*%ord - during the scrolly loader screen.

I installed ubuntu WITHIN Windows, but it actually downloaded by itself a whole new copy of Ubuntu, and it WASN'T installing from the disk (told me to take the disk out). That installed perfectly. So maybe this is an error with my DVD drive? (Don't tell me it's a disc burn error, I burned 20 freaking disks...)

Just hoped this extra information might help somethin'.