Incipient hardware problem? Odd video problems, missing bash commands ...
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| TxtEdMacs Apr 27, 2011 6:33 AM EDT |
No joking here. Symptoms: Several weeks ago after several hours of use after a security update [DHCP] I noticed several video streaming feed sites lost some of their functionality. The work around was unblocking a link that had not been necessary previously. A bit earlier the advertisements on hulu mostly stopped functioning. Perhaps I did not pay as much notice, because my viewing had shifted to other sites that mostly functioned. Just yesterday hulu now claims the player will not load, but I see the data on the Flash player. A number of years ago I had problems with another laptop, where I was advised to check the RAM. I was uncertain of the command, but "apropos memory" brought up* mem and madvise. However, despite finding those commands in the apropos syntax, it claims both do not exist on this machine. These earlier problems surfaced running Ubuntu 9.10. I updated to Mint 10 last week, which seems to have better performance characteristics, i.e. the video saturation and locking has disappeared. However, the missing commands and now hulu refusing to run makes me suspect the hardware in this laptop is dying. Any suggestions on how to get those commands to run and/or diagnose the problems? TIA Txt. in Need * And a multitude of others that pertained in some fashion to memory. |
| hkwint Apr 27, 2011 6:39 AM EDT |
Quoting:Any suggestions Try Windows. |
| JaseP Apr 27, 2011 9:01 AM EDT |
He needs a solution,... Not more problems. |
| jdixon Apr 27, 2011 9:43 AM EDT |
For testing memory, use memtest86+, which I believe is a boot option on the Ubuntu install CD's. It may also be a boot option on the Mint install CD/DVD, but I'm not certain. For most other hardware, your hardware manufacturer may have a diagnostic disk/utility you can download. |
| JaseP Apr 27, 2011 9:54 AM EDT |
Actually, I think he just needs to un-install, then reinstall Adobe Flash 10.02 (& not the open source equivalent). I'd suggest Apptitude & using the purge option when first removing Flash. It sounds like a Flash related problem. |
| TxtEdMacs Apr 27, 2011 9:57 AM EDT |
JaseP, Thanks for both responses. I think I have the CLI code to do what you suggest regarding Flash. Txt. |
| TxtEdMacs Apr 27, 2011 10:25 AM EDT |
JaseP, Thanks, command line code seemed to work. Took longer, because there was a new kernel to be installed on upgrade. You seem to be right, the nasty doctor House began to play on hulu. Do not know if this solves the hulu commercials' problem or the weird loss of mouse actions on a few video streaming sites. Will comment later on those issues. How about the missing commands in bash? That really seems weird that what should be a common command "mem" is missing. BBL [Be Back Later] Txt. |
| hkwint Apr 27, 2011 11:02 AM EDT |
JaseP: It's OK, TxtEd is our in-house MS astroturfer, so he knows I wasn't serious. |
| phsolide Apr 27, 2011 11:38 AM EDT |
A memory stick on my Arch linux box went bad this spring. After a pacman update of the kernel, I got vexing and misleading error messages which pointed to video drivers. This complicated things, as that box has the dreaded Intel "Brookdale" graphics set, which isn't supported without crashing by current X11. I ran memtest86+ for HOURS and DAYS and it didn't find a problem, but when I finally convinced myself to crack the case and take out memory, the problem disappeared. Arch is back up, although I need to get more memory for that machine, as it swaps mercilessly. I'm sill using an older X11, and the "Brookdale" is still working unaccelerated. |
| jdixon Apr 27, 2011 11:48 AM EDT |
> I ran memtest86+ for HOURS and DAYS and it didn't find a problem, but when I finally convinced myself to crack the case and take out memory, the problem disappeared. I've had that happen too. Memtest86+ is the best memory tester that I know of, but even it doesn't find everything. |
| TxtEdMacs Apr 27, 2011 12:00 PM EDT |
Hans, Yeh, right. You know I am predisposed to suggestion, so I booted into Windows ... the horror. You nasty guy, just because you are funnier than I you do not need to rub it in. YBT P.S. Why did you leave the Macs out. Do you hate Jobs more than Ballmer & Gates? |
| JaseP Apr 27, 2011 12:12 PM EDT |
Quoting: How about the missing commands in bash? That really seems weird that what should be a common command "mem" is missing. No clue, I suppose it's either not implemented, deprecated, or only available to root. From what I found, it's an old FreeBSD command. There are other commands to check memory... but I don't use them on any kind of regular basis. |
| Steven_Rosenber Apr 27, 2011 1:22 PM EDT |
I'd run a few live CDs - everything from Ubuntu to Puppy and TinyCore - for a period of time. See how your hardware responds and whether or not you can eliminate hardware from your list of potential troubles. |
| hkwint Apr 27, 2011 1:28 PM EDT |
Quoting:Do you hate Jobs more than Ballmer & Gates? Oh no, you cursed too much in one sentence - it's an overflow well without the reach of my bounds, now I have to vomit! Guess that's my sentence for the Windows proposal. Fair deal. Seriously though, did you already ran the memtest? |
| TxtEdMacs Apr 27, 2011 1:34 PM EDT |
Well I tired (but not one listed in apropos memory): ~ $ memtest memtest: command not found Tried sudo mem and sudo madvise and got the same command not found message. |
| gus3 Apr 27, 2011 1:50 PM EDT |
Memtest86[+] is a boot option on most live CD's. It isn't a *nix program. |
| hkwint Apr 27, 2011 5:35 PM EDT |
Yeah, if you don't have it available yet, and you have CD-ROM (or USB), you can put SysRescueCD on CDROM or USB and run it from there. [serious]I really think once I saw this memtest-program on a Windows CD-ROM too, probably the Win98 one, and this time I'm not joking[/serious]. |
| JaseP Apr 27, 2011 6:23 PM EDT |
Quoting: ... although I need to get more memory for that machine, as it swaps mercilessly. What do you have swappiness set to??? |
| JaseP Apr 27, 2011 6:32 PM EDT |
Quoting: Tried sudo mem and sudo madvise and got the same command not found message. None of those are in /bin where you'd expect to find them, so I suspect they are deprecated, useless in light of kernel memory handling techniques in more recent kernels, therefore AWOL & not missed. |
| jdixon Apr 27, 2011 7:12 PM EDT |
> Tried sudo mem and sudo madvise and got the same command not found message. That's because mem isn't a command. From man 4 mem: mem is a character device file that is an image of the main memory of the computer. It may be used, for example, to examine (and even patch) the system. And madvise is a system call. From man madvise: The madvise() system call advises the kernel about how to handle paging input/output in the address range beginning at address addr and with size length bytes. The Linux command for checking your memory status is free. From man free: free displays the total amount of free and used physical and swap mem- ory in the system, as well as the buffers used by the kernel. The shared memory column should be ignored; it is obsolete. But that just displays information about your memory usage. It's not a memory test as such. |
| TxtEdMacs Apr 27, 2011 8:06 PM EDT |
Ran memtest86+ from the boot menu - it was a pass with no errors. All my RAM was seen. After purging flash and reinstalling I am encountering video feed lockups that are worse than what I experienced under Ubuntu 9.10 recently. I may have created the problem by doing the purge reload before the new kernel was active. So I ran thru the cycle one more time and I will report back if it improves. Hulu ran, commercials didn't when I watched House, if that persists I will contact hulu. Thanks to all* for the valuable help and explanations. Txt. * That means everyone other than Hans. He steals my persona, tells better jokes, is inherently funnier than I ... I HATES HANS! Oh, yes Hans, where's my Precious you said I could have it back when you cut off my finger to wear it just a bit ... |
| hkwint Apr 28, 2011 6:54 AM EDT |
The Win98 CDROM personally signed by Ballmer and with a picture of Gates on it you wore around your finger? Uh no, no idea where it went. Maybe look on eBay, the Russian Stachelmeister-cracker-mob I sold it to might try to resell it. But not sure if your finger is still in it though! BTW You can do a prime95 stresstest if you like, which means 100% CPU usage for some time. Then you can pretty much rule out the possibility of a CPU error. |
| JaseP Apr 28, 2011 9:32 AM EDT |
Quoting: And madvise is a system call. From man madvise: That makes even more sense than what I said. Are these going to be effected (or removed) because of the removal of the BKL (kernels starting with 2.6.39, I think)??? Quoting: I may have created the problem by doing the purge reload before the new kernel was active. So I ran thru the cycle one more time and I will report back if it improves. Had you ever manually installed the hardware accelerated Flash beta??? That could be the source of some problems. Also, you might want to look at reserving memory for shared video, if you have a video card that uses shared memory. There are Xorg settings for that (depending on the available driver settings) & possibly a grub option, as well. |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [Editors, MEMBERS, SITEADMINS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!