[Novalug] hardware problem i think

Jay Hart jhart@kevla.org
Sun Apr 3 07:59:57 EDT 2011


Bonnie,

I would take your current hard drives and set them to the side for the moment.

Next, get a spare hard drive (or two) and do a new install. Install the
current version of what you have.

Test out your new install, if the boot problems go away, then you can assume
your current install is hosed.  If you have the same type of problem, then
either you have a hardware (HW) issue somewhere, or Ubuntu Maverick is just
hosed up.

To determine between HW and Ubuntu issue, take your new install and put those
drives in another machine.  If problem follows its Ubuntu issue, if it doesn't
you could logically assume its a HW issue.

I really hope this helps.

Jay

>
> for the last month or so I have had a problem booting my desktop.
>
> (1) first what should happen.
>
> turn machine on
>
> MSI boot screen shows up on monitor - this is before any attempt is made
> to load operating system
>
> various reports about the pci cards (there is a scsi one) and a beep as my
>
>
> scsi scanner is activated by the boot process
>
> hard drive lights flasth for a while
>
> then grub boot menu appears
>
> choose a grub choice
>
> boot
>
> ubuntu maverick gives this "ureadahead" message
>
> unbuntu login screen appears
>
> (2) What happens first thing when computer is turned on
>
> screen stays blank
>
> hard drive lights flash for a while
>
> screen flickers a little bit.
>
> if I go away from the machine for a while SOMETIMES when I return if I hit
> ctrl-alt-f2 I get a ubuntu tty boot command line
>
> if I then hit ctrl-alt-f7 SOMETIMES i get the ubuntu boot screen.
>
> sometimes nothing happens except that the screen slightly flickers.
>
> doing a hot reset MAY result in a proper grub boot screen but the most
> reliable way to get it booted it to let it run for a while and then do a
> power down and a repower.
>
> on the first power up in the AM holding down the delete key to get
> the bios does not seem to do anything.
>
> last year I had to replace my video card. In some ways this makes me
> think I am having a video card problem and the video card needs to "warm
> up".
>
> I also replaced my power supply last year with a bigger one. The old one
> was a 350 watt, this one is a 400 watt.
>
> I will be away for a week or so but if anyone has any ideas I would love
> to hear them. I will try things out when I get back.
>
> It may only be a coincidence but it seemed to me a lot of weird stuff
> started happenign when I upgraded the desktop to Maverick.
>
> It was a problem upgrade that resulted in me buying a new harddrive to
> install maverick on so i could be sure of not loosing my home directory
> from the karmic version.
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>                         Bonnie Dalzell, MA
> mail:5100 Hydes Rd PO Box 60, Hydes,MD,USA 21082-0060|EMAIL:bdalzell@qis.net
> Freelance anatomist, vertebrate paleontologist, writer, illustrator, dog
> breeder, computer nerd & iconoclast... Borzoi info at www.borzois.com.
> HOME www.batw.net    ART bdalzellart.batw.net  BUSINESS
> www.boardingatwedge.com
>
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