[vox-tech] X server crashed?

Henry House vox-tech@lists.lugod.org
Tue, 12 Aug 2003 23:18:18 -0700


--82I3+IH0IqGh5yIs
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

On Tue, Aug 12, 2003 at 08:36:46PM -0700, Katie wrote:
> I guess Gateway feels us mere mortals aren't competent enough to fix our
> own computers.  I can't get the cover off to save my life.  Guess I have
> to take it to one of their repair centers so they can blow out the dust.
> :-/
>=20
> Maybe something else caused the x server problem?

Standard places to check when computers start behaving weirdly:

- log files in /var/log, especially /var/log/syslog and /var/log/kern.log
- debugging messages from applications; often these are turned on by giving=
 a
  -v switch to the program when starting it from the shell
- any recent changes to the system, hardware or software

Bad RAM is a possibility. There is a program around called memtest86
(http://www.memtest86.com/) that can find common memory defects. CPU
overheating is a possibility. You might try compiling something and see if
you get mysterious non-repeating compiler errors; this is a classic
indication of CPU overheating.

--=20
Henry House
The unintelligible text that may follow is a digital signature.=20
See <http://hajhouse.org/pgp> for information.  My OpenPGP key:
<http://hajhouse.org/hajhouse.asc>.


--82I3+IH0IqGh5yIs
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature
Content-Disposition: inline

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQE/Odgqi3lu92AVGcIRAqrMAJ96mwloy7u2kuVo4jkieGoAh9Uv/wCePcgP
M+k0GChjOGL+clRegN8uP64=
=J9Cb
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--82I3+IH0IqGh5yIs--