My computer at home has been locking up occasionally for the last few weeks. This has been happening since my upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04/Lucid, but I suspect this is a coincidence. (1) The lockups are hard: even the SysRq magic doesn’t do anything, so I deduce that the problem is in the kernel or below. (2) I haven’t seen any reports of the new Linux kernels being flaky. (3) I tried an upgrade from the i386 to amd46 (32-bit to 64-bit) system which I had been meaning to do anyway: no change even with a significantly different kernel.
Thus, I am of the opinion that I have a hardware problem.
As a computer scientist, I don’t enjoy hardware problems, so I’m thinking about buying my way out of them. (Also, my current system is mostly 3 years old, so it’s not a crazy time to upgrade.) My current thinking:
- Intel i7 930
- ASUS P6T SE
- some brand-name DDR3 RAM: 3 × 1GB 1333MHz
For about $700, that would leave me with the same case and power supply (an Antec Sonata II, 450W), my video card (nVidia 7600GT, but don’t game so who cares), my Hauppauge PCI TV tuner, and my recently-upgraded hard disks.
So, the questions for the crowd: Does my “it’s hardware” assessment sound right? Is it likely that the processor/mobo/RAM swap will fix my problems? Any other suggestions for hardware purchases?
June 10th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
I work for Intel, and I don’t even know what i7 930 means. People around here are pretty stoked about it though, so I guess that means it’s OK?
June 10th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
That’s why I posted a link to your employer’s extremely informative web site.
Aren’t you glad I didn’t suggest AMD?
While I’m at it: how are the Linux drivers for Intel graphics? My needs are low enough that I’d be happy with integrated graphics if they did 3D acceleration under X.
June 10th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
I’m betting the mobo/proc/ram swap will do it. Sure, maybe you could troubleshoot it, but the bother of finding older hardware to swap out one component at a time is just not worth it. You would end up paying more in the end for a less capable system.
I’ve heard the Linux support for onboard intel graphics is pretty good, but I think you would need a different mobo.
http://ubuntu-ky.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1398377
I will probably be doing something similar to my 4 year old desktop soon. Any thought to noise reductions? I would love a quieter box. I just picked up a fanless GPU for $25, so that’s a start.
June 10th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Is it possible that it’s overheating and locking up for that? Maybe checking that all fans work correctly and that there isn’t a colony of dustbunnies in there would be a good first step if it hasn’t been done already?
Phil
June 10th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I wasn’t really thinking integrated graphics when looking at the mobo. If only there was an Intel employee around here who could convince me of the excellence of their graphics hardware.
Heat is actually a possibility. No unusual amounts of dust, but the crashing does seem to be more likely when stuff is going on. Maybe I’ll throw the side off the case for a bit and see what happens.
August 8th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Before taking the leap, try replacing your PSU first – it’ll cost $100, tops. Many weird and inexplicable problems are due to a screwy PSU.
August 10th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Why only 3 GB of RAM for a new mobo? You only consider 32-bit Ubuntu?
I would go for 4 GB RAM minimun. or more.
I would also go for a complete new system with warranties, and give the old computer to your graduate students.
Jay