Ubuntu 9.1 Crashes Randomly

[SNYP40A1]

I installed Ubuntu 9.1 this morning on my home system. From the Live CD or from the installation, it will randomly crash. Often during bootup, sometimes after the system has loaded -- just by moving the mouse or clicking on the Firefox launch icon. What should I do to fix the crashing? I am using an Intel E6700 system on an MSI motherboard with Intel 945 Chipset with integrated GMA 3100 graphics. I tried using the recovery console - package corruption fixes, but that did not seem to help.

[hugmenot]

First of all run memcheck from the CD boot menu.

[SNYP40A1]

First of all run memcheck from the CD boot menu.

It's not a memory problem. I also dual boot WinXP and that never crashes.

[hugmenot]

How does it crash?

I would do memcheck anyway.

[SNYP40A1]

Ok, I'll do a memcheck. Everything just completely freezes. The mouse no longer moves, keyboard does not respond. This usually happens either during boot or within 10 seconds after loading. Simply moving the mouse around can cause it to freeze. The recovery console works fine though. Let me know what I can do...

[hugmenot]

Sounds like a hardware problem to me. This random freezing business indicates that strongly.

[friedrich_engelsbogne]

"I also dual boot WinXP and that never crashes."

So stick to WinXP -what app do you want to run that needs linux?

It could be a memory problem, but given this is linux you are trying to run, it could be anything. Frankly, even just typing this my keyboard is behaving randomly. Its bobbins, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.

[SNYP40A1]

If it was a hardware problem, then how come I have no issues with WinXP? Could be a driver issue...

The system is for my parents. They don't need anything more than word processing and internet. Just don't want the virus / spyware exposure that M$ provides.

[SNYP40A1]

So is there a safemode or minimal mode besides recovery console?

[edonuf]

I was glad to find this thread, as I have Ubuntu 9.1 on my IBM T41 (dual boot with XP), but the exact same issue. Ubuntu crashes randomly, normally just after boot (sometimes during). No regular repeatable steps to recreate, but everything freezes with no console access etc...

Any idea on the cause since December?

[lavinog]

The problem could be caused by ureadahead. It has its share of bugs.
It can safely be removed.
Every 30 days or after an update (which happens more frequently) ureadahead does a trace during the boot.
After the trace it seems to consume a lot of memory, and programs tend to crash.
One way to tell if a trace occured is to type df if you see a line that says:


/var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs

this is another bug with ureadahead.

[ndefontenay]

To solve this problem generally, we will need to access logs located in /var/logs anyway. There must be some kind of signs in there of what's going on.