Should I update my BIOS?

English Hardware
1

I have a 4 year old computer(maybe 3 year). It a Gateway with:
Processor (CPU): AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
Speed: 2,200.00 MHz
Total memory (RAM): 1.9 GiB
nVidai GeForce 6100

I’m not sure if I can update my BIOS or not. Nor do I know how to do it. I have some basic understanding with linux. The main reason I want to do this because, to see if this fix my keyboard and mouse problem I have. I have times were they just lock up on me. And the only thing I can do is Restart my computer.

Using 11.2 32bit KDE

2

Not if you don’t really really need to, as it may bork your mobo irremediably.

First of all you should check in the manufacturer’s site the readmes or changelogs for each BIOS version subsequent to yours, to see if the problem you have is addressed by one of them. Only if so, you should update to the last version (which includes all previous changes).

If not so, you may try to isolate the problem. Some ideas come to mind:

  1. search these forums. I remember reading about problems like this being traced to kde4 *rc config files, with easy fixes.

  2. Try a liveCD. If the problem doesn’t apprear, it’s related to opensuse/kde4. Try renaming your ~/.kde4 directory and restart KDE. This will create a new standard KDE configuration for your user.

  3. Try another keyb/mouse? If PS2, try USB kbd/mouse (and vice versa).

  4. 11.2 doesn’t use xorg.conf per default anymore, so I don’t know where to look for kbd and mouse configuration, modules in use, etc. This may take some research - or a “sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia” at the command line…

3

It sad that my Gateway dose not have a BIOS update for my computer. Sigh. But I took a look at my bios setting to see if I find anything weird at all. For some reason my mouse usb was disable. So I went and enable it. Will I hope this fix my main mouse and keyboard lock up. For I can only hope it dose. ^.^

4

when you say “keyboard lock up” what do you mean? that is:

-do the keyboard’s cap lock and/or num lock LEDs flash?
-does the screen display change in any way (like go black, white, crazy)?

if neither of those above happen, then try this, open a Konsole by
holding down left Alt key and pressing F2, in the popped up blank type
konsole and press enter

when Konsole shows itself type top and press enter, and the
Konsole will fill with words and numbers–it is mostly self evident
what the stuff is (just shows at the top some general information, and
at the bottom a long list of things going on in the box, and what is
using how much memory and CPU clicks)…

now, go ahead and do what you normally do BUT keep Konsole where you
can see it…that is, do NOT open (say) Firefox in full screen and
cover it up…always keep top where you can see it…

then, next time your “main mouse and keyboard lock up” do NOT touch
the keyboard or mouse, instead LOOK at top and with a piece of paper
write down from the listing below the wide line, the top four or five
%CPU and %MEM (percent of Memory in use) values and their associated
“COMMAND” name, and report that back to here…hmmm, if you have
more than four or five with cpu or mem over 5%, write it down…

if top is completely still and unchanging, that is all i
need…(maybe)…but, if top is updating (data is changing) then i want
you to not touch the keyboard for 15 minutes…then look at top
again and see if you have much less cup or mem usage, and maybe what
was on top at first is now gone…THEN try you mouse and/or keyboard

ok?
ps: i’m not sure your your bios diagnosis; it could be a heat problem,
or bad caps, or an intermittently faulty ground, or cat hair in the
cooling ducts, or some kind of software conflict, or or or

–
palladium

down up hours iso
692M 1.06G 30 11.2 GNOME LiveCD (64)
693M 748M 34 11.2 GNOME LiveCD (32)
4.3G 3.8G 36 11.2 DVD

5

I mean my keyboard lock up. So what happen to me is when ever key I hit key. The last key will repeat it self over and over very fast. So my keyboard is un usable tell I restart my computer. And yes I used USB port keyboard and mouse. And when I mean my mouse lock up. It dose not move. You cant do anything. My mouse happen at random times. Even when I have next to nothing(or playing some sort of game). It still happens.

6

it is impossible to learn what is causeing the problem until you try
following the plan i gave you in my last post…until you do, i can’t
begin to help you more…

–
palladium

down up hours iso
4.33G 4.98G 48 11.2 DVD (64)
692M 1.06G 30 11.2 GNOME LiveCD (64)
693M 748M 34 11.2 GNOME LiveCD (32)

7

so this is what it look like…

stepmania/ %CPU: 170/ %MEM: 10
Xorg/ %CPU: 12/ %MEM: 6
konsole/ %CPU: 8/ %MEM: 5

And my keyboard lock(as I said before… when my keyboard lock up on me. It re hit the last key I hit and stay that way. Can’t do anything tell I restart computer.) up on me.No, my light on my keyboard did not flash at me…

I like to play stepmania. It really the only game I play… MS lag the hell out of stepmania when linux dose not. And I don’t plain on buying a new computer any time soon.

11.2 32bit

8

dhdarka wrote:
> palladium;2067141 Wrote:
>> it is impossible to learn what is causeing the problem until you try
>> following the plan i gave you in my last post…until you do, i can’t
>> begin to help you more…
>>
> so this is what it look like…
>
> stepmania/ %CPU: 170/ %MEM: 10
> Xorg/ %CPU: 12/ %MEM: 6
> konsole/ %CPU: 8/ %MEM: 5
>
> And my keyboard lock(as I said before… when my keyboard lock up on me.
> It re hit the last key I hit and stay that way. Can’t do anything tell I
> restart computer.) up on me.No, my light on my keyboard did not flash at
> me…
>
> I like to play stepmania. It really the only game I play… MS lag the
> hell out of stepmania when linux dose not. And I don’t plain on buying a
> new computer any time soon.
>
> 11.2 32bit
>
>

i guess that 170% CPU use by stepmania is a typo and it should be 70%,
is that correct? does it remain steady at 70% until you restart the
computer? if you leave the machine alone for 10 minutes does it still
stay at 70%? 20 minutes?

if so, it could be that it is not a keyboard problem but that
stepmania is locked up…

when you say “the only thing i can do is restart my computer” what do
you mean…that is, are you pushing and holding in the power switch
until it stops? or, are you right clicking the desktop and selecting
Log Out > Restart Computer? or, maybe hitting ctrl+alt+esc? or,
hitting ctrl+alt+delete? maybe pulling the power cord out of the wall?
what are you doing to restart the computer?

since the lights on the keyboard do not flash, it is probably not a
deep in the operating system (kernel) problem…

since one of the problems is repeating characters, it could be a
simple hardware issue in the keyboard…like a stuck key…when was
the last time you turned the board upside down and shook it? tap it to
dislodge and loose dirt, hair, etc…use a vacuum cleaner brush on it
too…(computer turned off, for all of that)

have you ever spilled any liquids onto the board?

if none of that help, i believe i would try a different keyboard…

mouse, i don’t know…how often does that stop working? is it always
while playing stepmania, or does it ever stop working while not
playing stepmania? for that matter, out of ten times the keyboard
messes up, how many times would it be while playing stepmania?

is it a mouse with a ball inside? when was the last time you cleaned
it out? does that help?

have you tried a different mouse?

–
palladium

9

When your computer locks up completely, the keyboard will not respond. This does not mean that the keyboard locked up. This means that you have a hardware or a software problem. This can be hard to diagnose over the internet. It can be hard to diagnose when sitting in front of the PC.

If there is a BIOS update available for your PC, I would recommend it. Sometimes, problems do not show up until newer versions of operating systems are released. Some vendors will only give you a BIOS update that can be applied in Windows. Some vendors will give you a BIOS update that can be installed with a boot disk. If you have the choice, ALWAYS choose the boot disk version.:slight_smile:

10

Good points palladium.:slight_smile: