Mint 8 Helena Freezes help needed.

[Badger Tangerine]

I have just installed Mint 8 Helena on a spare computer in order to try it out with the intention of using it to eventually replace windows. However it keeps freezing from time to time. Everything seizes up apart from the cursor arrow which moves around but doesn't activate anything and I have to restart the computer which, after a while, seizes up again. Even Ctr Alt Del has no effect.

I have tried looking through the forums and it seems that this is quite a common problem. The solutions though are all different and are (to me) in complex jargon about grubs and kernals etc. I am a complete novice to Linux, the intricacies of operating systems and using the command prompt and would really appreciate some simple understandable help to solve this problem before I go mad and bin Linux altogether.

The specs I have for the computer, which I was given so I don't have everything, are as follows:
Desktop Dell Dimension 2400
2.4 GHz
2GB RAM
40GB HDD mostly empty.

Any help appreciated!

[Hezy]

Badger Tangerine, the first step is to understand what causes the freeze. start the System Monitor, and go the Processes tab. Try to leave it for a while, and see if one of the programs is taking a lot of system resources.

[Badger Tangerine]

I've done that and all that is running, rest is sleeping, is Gnome-system-moniter (88%) and it froze after about 3 minutes.

Previously it froze shortly after I opened the graphics (Gimp?) software to check it out but didn't get much chance to do so and all other times when using firefox.

[deleted]

Open your box and see if there are any loose cards. That had me randomly freezing for about a month.
-H

[Badger Tangerine]

I'm afraid I don't understand you, what box and what are loose cards?

[deleted]

box == PC case
loose cards == and video cards, controller, etc

I had a loose video card that caused random crashes for about a month, before I finally unscrewed the case and wiggled some cards.
-Hinto

[jesica]

I think the pc might be sort of ram, Gimp is big and like ram, monitor your system and see how much cpu and ram it uses

[deleted]

I have another pc (besides my quad core) that's a dell 4600c. It has 2 gigs ram (and 3.2 ghz processor). It's 6 years old, but can handle Mint 7 plus compiz without missing a lick.
-Hinto

[Hezy]

I've done that and all that is running, rest is sleeping, is Gnome-system-moniter (88%) and it froze after about 3 minutes.

Previously it froze shortly after I opened the graphics (Gimp?) software to check it out but didn't get much chance to do so and all other times when using firefox.

88% cpu for Gnome-system-moniter alone sounds too much. your cpu seems to be working too hard. You should monitor its temperature to see if it is overheating. You should also follow hinto's suggestion and take a look inside the box. Maybe your fan dosn't works, or maybe there is too much dust or hair inside blocking the fan (do you have a cat or dog?)

[Badger Tangerine]

Thanks for your advice so far. I have worked through the suggestions (see below) and the problem remains unresolved.

I cannot find the cpu temp either within Linux or in the BIOS. CPU usage, with nothing running except gnome, while mostly below 10% jumps around all over the place sometimes going rather high.

It only froze once with Gimp all the other times have been with firefox or nothing at all running.

Sorry I was stupid about box and cards should have realised. There are no cards and the monitor connects directly to the main board. The fan works ok. There is no dust and I have no animals.

There are 2 GB of RAM. CPU is 2.4GHz.

Gnome (whatever that is) seems to run between 1% and 100% jumping around at random. It is 2.28.1. Kernal is 2.6.31-14 generic (I don't know if those last two bits of info help).

[deleted]

Are all the SATA cable "snug" leading from the controller to the hard drive? I've seen posts where they can cause freezes if they are loose.
Additionally, do find the cpu temperature and make sure the fan works correctly. They can cause freezes, too.
Finally, are you booting with kernel options like ACPI=OFF or -NOAPIC? Sometimes the kernel and the BIOS power management don't get along.
-Hinto

[Badger Tangerine]

There is an IDE connection which seems fine and the fan is working fine. I don't know what a Kernal is nor what the two options mean nor how to see which is active and how to change them.

[deleted]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions