system freezes/hangs, possibly Nvidia-related

[Fipi]

Hi, I'm having some trouble after installing Intrepid. I'm a linux newbie (first time having installed linux), so sorry in advance about any dumb things I say or do, noobness, etc. :D
First off, when I tried to install Ubuntu with the live CD, the setup would always freeze at different points throughout the installation, even in safe graphics mode. So I tried the alternate (text only) CD, and that worked. I got it all set up okay and everything seems to be working, except that occasionally the system freezes completely (ctrl-alt-F2 doesn't work). This usually happens when there is considerable activity, like opening a program, installing new stuff, scanning for music in Rhythmbox, etc. After many hours of intense googling and messing around, I haven't been able to solve the problem. Here are some things I've tried:

-turning off visual effects ... no change, still freezes
-checking "top" for high CPU % ... no problem here
-monitoring CPU temperature ... no problem
-running memtest overnight ... no problems
-changing boot options (including acpi=off, nolapic, noapic) ... boot errors resulted
-enabling the proprietary Nvidia driver (ver. 177) ... this actually makes the freezing more frequent, I think (maybe my mistake though)
-disabling VSync in the proprietary driver ... didn't help
-turning off powernow and then enabling the proprietary driver ... I don't think this helped, since after doing this I ran "glxgears" and the system froze after about 20 seconds (but the gears did not stop spinning, strangely). Also I'm kind of hesitant to leave powernow off for very long, I don't know if there's any danger to the CPU...

So I'm suspicious of my Nvidia card. It doesn't seem like it can be anything else. But I don't have any hard evidence, so I guess it could be anything. Help would be MUCH appreciated. I really want to get this working, because Ubuntu seems pretty cool. :)

My system specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz
Abit AB9 motherboard
2gb RAM (all recognized by Ubuntu)
Nvidia 7900 GS video card
40gb IDE HD (Ubuntu is installed on this)
I also have a SATA hard drive with Windows XP on it (set up for dual boot with GRUB), if that helps any.

[inobe]

i have a few questions !

any memory and cpu timings other than stock including gpu ?

what is your current bios version ?

what temp is your video card reporting in ubuntu looking at nvidia settings ?

what channels are your memory sticks plugged into ?

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side not: i think you are having this problem because of either a bad ide cable' or a bios issue between controllers !

backing up your data' then in your bios choose optimal defaults, save and exit may solve this.

[Fipi]

any memory and cpu timings other than stock including gpu ?
Nope, everything is running at stock timing.


what temp is your video card reporting in ubuntu looking at nvidia settings ?
While I could see the temperature it ran from 57 to about 60 degrees C. (The video card temperature is only available when the proprietary Nvidia driver is enabled.)


what channels are your memory sticks plugged into ?
They're both in channel A, 1 gb in each slot (they're the exact same model).


what is your current bios version ?
In my FlashMenu utility it says i965-W627EHG-6A79LA1AC-15. I'm pretty sure it's not the newest version.

EDIT: OK, so I have version 15 from 2006, and the the newest version is 22, so I'll update it to that.


in your bios choose optimal defaults, save and exit may solve this.
I did this, and Ubuntu still froze a few times. I'll try updating the bios, and see if that helps.

Oh, and by the way, I had Windows XP installed on this IDE hard drive for a long time and it never had any problems, and there were never any problems with my memory or video card in XP.

Thanks!

[Fipi]

Okay, this might take a while... FlashMenu (which is supposed to be able to update the abit BIOS automatically) says my motherboard isn't supported..... So I've been trying to make a bootable CD with the bios update files on it, because I don't have a floppy drive on my computer, but so far I haven't been successful. I tried following the instructions of several sites, including Bart's (http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/#clean) and another site (http://www.bay-wolf.com/bootcd-bios.htm), and a few others I can't find anymore, but the CDs all gave various errors when booting. ](*,)
I think I'll only work on this some more tomorrow. I have to do homework now. :(

[Fipi]

Would a floppy disk be any easier to work with to update the bios? From what I've read I get the idea that it would be easier, but I'm kind of noob about this stuff so I don't know. Maybe I'll just buy a floppy drive (if it's easier that way), because trying to make bootable CDs is a pain in the neck. If not then I'll just buy a few CD-RWs so that I don't waste any more CDs...

[Fipi]

Whew... I finally updated the bios. After many failed attempts at making a bootable CD, I made my USB flash drive bootable and flashed the bios from there. When I booted into Ubuntu I tried enabling the proprietary Nvidia driver, and it worked! (Before I was only able to do this with powernow turned off.) So I rebooted and, just to make sure, I ran a bunch of programs at the same time and did things that could have caused freezing before, and there was no freezing. w0000000000000000000t!!!!!! :guitar:
So I'm pretty sure everything is okay now, but time will tell. Thanks a bunch, inobe!!! :D:D:D

[inobe]

hey your welcome, glad to see you stuck it out' even threw difficult situations :)