openSUSE 12.2 has become unstable

English Install/Boot/Login
1

My system has become unstable:

It sometimes just quits without any warning and aborts suddenly, as if I had
disconnected the power. It seems if this happens I am usually doing something
that takes time, such as, for instance, backing up to a memory stick. In this
context, don’t know if it matters, I have 3GB RAM and 1TB storage available just
for my one Linux OS, only a very small portion of the 1TB is used.

Another, more unusual, occurrence is that the system freezes completely which
can only be undone by my pulling the plug.

In all these situations, I restart normally or with Advanced Options, and
everything is fine again.

I am trying to decide how to fix this and restore my OS to its former glory,
preferably while keeping all my settings, apps, drivers, etc. Perhaps, even
with keeping my personal data though I can of course bring those in from backup.

How? I need the benefit of your greater experience and wisdom. Which:

Use some special repair setting when booting?

Reinstall 12.2?

Upgrade to a more recent version of openSUSE?

Newly install the most recent version in addition to and separate from 12.2?

If there wasn’t an issue with my settings, apps and such, I would of course
simply install openSUSE’s latest version.

Thank you and have a nice day,
pe1800

2

Hi
Sounds like thermal shutdown. What does the output from the command sensors say?

Is this a laptop or a desktop? Laptops can accumulate a big ball of dust in the fan/heatsink assembly reducing the airflow to allow cooling to both GPU and CPU.

Else it could be memory (run a memory test) or maybe even the hard drive… The hard drive can be checked with the smartctl command.

3

I agree with this. It’s either over heating or there is some sort of hardware issue.

4

I agree with the two above - sounds like it is HW related.

A quick check: Did you install or replace something recently inside or in the near vicinity of your computer or something that is connected to your computer?
Like e.g. a new HDD or DVD drive? A new external HDD? An UPS, perhaps? They often surround themselves with strong magnetic fields. In the not-so-very old days, the (CRT) monitors could also be such a culprit. Plasma screens still do.

I had such an experience not too long ago: I added a second external HDD. Same brand/model as the previous, and they are supposed to be stackable. This one wasn’t. One or both are disturbing the other. The initial quick-fix was to separate them vertically by approx. 10cm using a stack of CD jewel cases.
Initially I used the disks successfully. No problems detected until I started a large copy-job between them (like yours?). Then things would start to fail, and that could freeze up the system for a while (but not to the extent you describe) - depending on what other tasks that was running.

Just a thought.

5

Thank you. Frankly, that never occurred to me…assumed all along it must be corruption of the OS somehow. Now that everything points to your diagnosis and I paid close attention…the last the system suddenly shut down, I saw the word temperature flash by!

Yes, indeed, it is a laptop. Guess will have it cleaned somewhere, not sure if I would risk to do that myself.

Cheers,
pe1800

6

Thank you. Frankly, that never occurred to me…assumed all along it must be corruption of the OS somehow. Now that everything points to your diagnosis and I paid close attention…the last the system suddenly shut down, I saw the word temperature flash by!

Yes, indeed, it is a laptop. Guess will have it cleaned somewhere, not sure if I would risk to do that myself.

Cheers,
pe1800

7

On Thu 22 Aug 2013 01:56:01 PM CDT, pe1800 wrote:

Thank you. Frankly, that never occurred to me…assumed all along
it must be corruption of the OS somehow. Now that everything points to
your diagnosis and I paid close attention…the last the system
suddenly shut down, I saw the word temperature flash by!

Yes, indeed, it is a laptop. Guess will have it cleaned somewhere, not
sure if I would risk to do that myself.

Cheers,
pe1800

malcolmlewis;2580488 Wrote:
> Hi
> Sounds like thermal shutdown. What does the output from the command
> sensors say?
>
> Is this a laptop or a desktop? Laptops can accumulate a big ball of
> dust in the fan/heatsink assembly reducing the airflow to allow
> cooling to both GPU and CPU.
>
> Else it could be memory (run a memory test) or maybe even the hard
> drive… The hard drive can be checked with the smartctl command.

Hi
Search on the net for your “laptop model name”+“dis-assembly
instructions” there are lots of videos, manufacture pdf’s etc on how
it’s done. Some laptops are easy to get to the fan and remove others
need to be completely disassembled to get to the fan…

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
up 13:36, 3 users, load average: 0.32, 0.42, 0.34
CPU AMD E2-1800@1.70GHz | GPU Radeon HD 7340