[ale] Losing stability

[J. D. Pearson]

Charles Shapiro wrote:
> My main box at home is having Serious Troubles.  On startup it often 
> will hang (no screen output) with the CD light lit steady until I 
> press & hold the "off" switch to retry. Other behaviors include 
> appearing to start up and then emitting random beeps through the 
> speaker with no screen output, or giving random core dumps on various 
> scripts in /etc/init.d.  I've also experienced  spontaneous reboots 
> and random hangs/program failures in X windows.  The "memory speed" 
> number given in the initial startup screen sometimes changes from 
> boot-up to boot-up as well.  The system is a home-brew about 4 years 
> old and lightly used; leadtek WinFast K-series MB, athlon chip, cheap 
> simple video card, single 512 MB DRAM stick. Processor temperatures 
> appear to be within acceptable ranges, at least according to the 
> "syshealth" part of the BIOS. I've enabled the full memory test in the 
> POST, but so far that hasn't picked up any problems.
>
> I'm thinking that the problem is either memory or motherboard. I've 
> removed, air-blasted, and re-seated the memory stick in a new slot 
> without change in behavior. At  this point I'm considering getting 
> some new memory and, if that doesn't change the behavior, replacing 
> the motherboard. 
>
> Does this seem reasonable? The clock appears steady, so I'm assuming 
> the BIOS battery is OK, but perhaps that's a factor?
>
> -- CHS
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
I agree with the other folks that you might try the diagnostic from 
memtest.org. The beep problems are troubling if it wasn't
an intelligently generated code such as memory or cpu-overheat. On 
hardware that old be sure to check for bad capacitors.
You can tell they are bad if the tops are bulging and/or there is brown 
electrolyte fluid coming out. Reboots and problems
that appear memory-like are a classic symptom of bad caps.

Check this website for tips on identifying if your caps are bad.
http://www.badcaps.net/ident/

Best regards,

J. D.