Random freezes in Ubuntu, Sabayon and others

[Foxblood]

Hi,

I hope this is in the correct area. I had Linux Mint installed and it became subject to random freezes. The system was never under any serious strain at the times that this occurred. I went to the Ubuntu forums and discovered that this is a relatively common problem with Ubuntu and that there's no fix available. I tried almost all advice offered there, without any remedy. These included disabling Flash, Java, Compiz, Nvidia drivers etc etc.

I decided to try another distro. Since then I've had random freezes in Suse, Sabayon and even with a Fedora live disc. Oddly enough, I never have this issue with Win 7 (I dual boot). If this is a hardware problem, why does it never occur under Win 7? If it is, as I suspect a hardware issue, how can I identify the source of the problem and resolve it?

Any help/suggestions/advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Segfault]

Bad RAM, probably. Swap modules around and see if problem persists. Windows and Linux use different memory regions to load OS in.

[Foxblood]

Thanks for the speedy response. I won't get an opportunity to get at this until tomorrow night at the earliest. I'll let you know what happens.

[devils casper]

Which Linux distro are you using right now? Post the contents of /etc/X11/xorg.conf file here.

[Foxblood]

On the advice of a coworker, I removed and reseated the RAM. No freezes so far but as the freezes were random, it's too early to tell.

Here's my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:

Section "Module"
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga"
EndSubSection
Load "i2c"
Load "ddc"
Load "vbe"
Load "dri"
Load "glx"
Load "synaptics"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
VertRefresh 43 - 60
HorizSync 28 - 80
EndSection


Section "Device"

Identifier "SabayonVga0"
Driver "nvidia"
#BusID "PCI:01:00"
#Option "RenderAccel" "on"
#Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps"
#Option "BusType" "PCI"
#Option "ColorTiling" "on"
#Option "EnablePageFlip" "on"
Option "UseEvents" "True"
Option "LogoPath" "/usr/share/backgrounds/sabayonlinux-nvidia.png"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

Identifier "Screen 0"
Device "SabayonVga0"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"

DefaultDepth 24

SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
ViewPort 0 0
#Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection

SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
ViewPort 0 0
#Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
ViewPort 0 0
#Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection

EndSection


Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Main Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen 0"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
#Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

[devils casper]

What type of Monitor do you have? Resolutions listed in your xorg.conf file are low. Doesn't your Monitor support more than 1024x768 resolution?

[Foxblood]

I have a 1920 x 1080 monitor and all is well with that, effects enabled etc. I don't know why it's not listed.

[devils casper]

Check Refresh Rates (HorizSync and VertRefresh)supported by your Monitor and edit xorg.conf file accordingly.

VertRefresh 43 - 60
HorizSync 28 - 80