Sporadic lockups with not much to go on

[dan@george]

So here's the deal:

My machine (Athlon 64 running Slackware) has been locking up completely (in a "no response from the keyboard, no response to TCP/IP packets, have-to-stick-a-pen-in-it-to-make-it-reboot" kind of way) at seemingly unpredictable times. The lockups may have something to do with periods of high activity -- they seem to happen most often when I'm watching a video, compiling something big, or using the Firefox Flash plugin heavily.

At first I thought the lockups were related to X (I use Xorg). But it happens sometimes at the terminal before I even start X. Then I thought it might be a problem in my kernel, but I have encountered the lockups in both 2.6.9 and 2.4.26. I also checked whether it was a motherboard overheating problem by hooking up my extra fan and running it with the tower open. The lockups persisted.

I can't think of any further way to troubleshoot this. I know this isn't very much to go on, but what would you do next if you were in my shoes?

[dan@george]

Update and bump:

Well, it's gotten worse. Now my machine won't even boot up fully. It's a different problem each attempt (sometimes a kernel panic, sometimes just a lockup with no error message). So I booted up Knoppix and ran

# memtest all

which resulted in a lockup. Then I tried it again, and got another lockup, at a different point in the memtest run. Since the lockups happen in Knoppix too, I'm starting to think that the problem is hardware- or BIOS-related.

Any input would be profoundly appreciated. Thanks.

[budman7]

To see if it is an overheating problem, you need to run it with the tower closed.
That way the airflow works properly.

When you opened it up, did you make sure that there was no dust in there.
Also check the powersupply, make sure that it is O.K.
I had a similar problem with my last computer.
Whenever I did anything cpu intensive, my machine would just shutdown.
Replaced the power supply, and all was well.

[rong]

To see if it is an overheating problem, you need to run it with the tower closed.
That way the airflow works properly.

When you opened it up, did you make sure that there was no dust in there.
Also check the powersupply, make sure that it is O.K.
I had a similar problem with my last computer.
Whenever I did anything cpu intensive, my machine would just shutdown.
Replaced the power supply, and all was well.

Yep power supply highly suspect AND and I'd recommend reseating the memory sticks and everything else while you're at it. Assuming you hav'nt already of course. Keeping the tower 'open' actually results in hotter circuitry rather than cooler.

[dan@george]

Thanks for all your help you guys.

I reseated my memory sticks, but still got lockups. So I took out one of the sticks, and now my computer boots and does hard work just fine. It must have been a dead memory stick. Now, if I can only find the warrantee...

[rong]

Thanks for all your help you guys.

I reseated my memory sticks, but still got lockups. So I took out one of the sticks, and now my computer boots and does hard work just fine. It must have been a dead memory stick. Now, if I can only find the warrantee...

Good to hear. Did you swap the mem sticks around? Sometimes it's the socket (or something in that circuitry) that goes bad so good to test that too before buying a new stick.