MEPIS Community Forum

I'm having random errors with my desktop and Mepis 11.5 I recently updated X but I've had these problems previously. About every 10th boot the sound isn't working, a reboot fixes that. Occaisionally (usually when I shutdown) the video goes all nuts. Nothing serious but I'm thinking these are all signs that my 7 year PC with some components even older, is giving up the ghost . Without an error log it's not easy to diagnose. What's all your opinions, just worn out hardware?

certainly could be hardware but I have had similar happen when I forget and leave widgets unlocked.... are you locking your widgets? Jerry

May I suggest using the live-disc check hardware function, and especial run the memory module [ram] check test.

I picked up a faulty ram module in a M6 install that had gone bad, it wasn't just dust on the ram sticks or main-board as these problems can be caused by. [That PC build is nearly 8 years old now, had a m3.3.4 build on it when new]

Cheers NH

Sounds to me like capacitors starting to go, either on the motherboard or in the power supply. The sound board not getting properly initialized on some boots is what leads me there. Of course without more data it's just speculation.
On the motherboard you can usually see the tops of them bulging when they go bad.
A MB with bulging caps can run for a couple years but the glitches will become more frequent as time goes by until it fails altogether.

BTW, a failed memory test can be cause by bad power or bad caps. If the memory errors are scattered across addresses, bad caps are likely the cause. If the memory errors are consistently in a small address range it's usually the ram.

As already mentioned, you most definitely need to crack the case and check for swollen/leaking capacitors. The age is right for yours to be going south -- long overdue, in fact.

Blow the board clean of dust, then rub your finger across the top of the capacitors. They should be flat or even slightly concave. If any are at all convex, they're swollen. You can also look for leakage -- it will look like little coatings of dried butterscotch pudding on the tops.

I lock my widgets. I recently had a memory card go bad. I ran the memory check when I put the new card in and it checked out. I'll check the capacitors this weekend. Thanks for tip

Hi fbt,
just wondering what if anything came of your check/poking around in the ol'box.
Cheers NH

Can't see anything wrong with the motherboard, but the video card is a bit suspect, and it seems to be getting worse. I'm still thinking what I want to do with it. In the mean time I've backed up all my data and have been using my laptop while I think about it.

If you've got a known good PSU you could swap in, that would be the next thing I'd try. PSU failures are so common that I keep a new one on hand for actual repairs and a couple used ones around for test purposes.

I'm sure I don't have one, but what is a PSU? Do you mean a power supply? Right now I'm suspecting the video card. I may pull it and see how the onboard video does. The video card is the oldest component, except for the floppy drive. So I'm hoping I can get a cheap card and fix it and probably get better video performance too. Like I said, I have a laptop (except it has Chakra on it now) and it is actually faster then my old desktop. So I'm kind of putting it off for now.