Desktop Locks Up

Alexzee

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2019
Messages
3,679
Reaction score
1,961
Credits
21,883
I have a AMD Quad Core Phenom 64-bit desktop running Slackware and MX-18.
It's runs great however over the last few months it's been locking up and the display shows 'no signal' getting to the screen.

I'm using my 26 inch Vizio T.V. as a monitor and it is directly plugged into my Radeon GPU from the vga plug.

VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Cape Verde PRO [Radeon HD 7750/8740 / R7 250E]
bash-4.3#

If Chromium or FF locks up the desktop and I try to reboot the tower boots but the display on the Vizio shows 'no signal'.
This sometimes will go on for 2 to 3 more boots until the display finally works for me to be able to log in.

Upon a fresh boot today the DE locked up and I couldn't do anything.
Holding down Ctrl + Alt + Del didn't reboot and Ctrl + F1 or F2 didn't give me a tty or konsole to shutdown more gracefully.

I looked through the dmesg log and one line about the r8169 said that the link was down. Not sure if that means anything or not:-
I'm pretty sure the r8169 is the module for my GPU but I could be wrong.

Anyone have any ideas where to start or what could be causing this kind of dis-functionality?
 


Is this a desktop or laptop.

Exact make and model etc.

"AMD Quad Core Phenom"
doesn't really tell anything as to the type of processor being used and covers many different processors.

What is the exact processor you are using and is this an APU.

I suggest connecting to a computer monitor and boot into MX-18 and see what happens.

Also reconnect the monitor cable to make certain the monitor cable connection is good.
 
Are you using Slackware when it locks up, or mx? Or does it lock up on both? I'm not familiar with mx, but I understand that it is a lightweight system, like you would need for a slower system. I'm curious as to why you would need that on a quad core.
 
Last edited:
  • slackware
Reactions: Rob
Is this a desktop or laptop.

Exact make and model etc.

"AMD Quad Core Phenom"
doesn't really tell anything as to the type of processor being used and covers many different processors.

What is the exact processor you are using and is this an APU.

I suggest connecting to a computer monitor and boot into MX-18 and see what happens.

Also reconnect the monitor cable to make certain the monitor cable connection is good.


It's a
Model name: AMD Phenom(tm) 9850 Quad-Core Processor
And, I'm not sure if it's an APU or not. How would I tell?

I don't have another monitor that I could hook up.
 
Are you using Slackware when it locks up, or mx? Or does it lock up on both? I'm not familiar with mx, but I understand that it is a lightweight system, like you would need for a slower system. I'm curious as to why you would need that on a quad core.

Yes it happens when I'm running Slackware.
The DE has locked up on MX-18 once as well as the browser.

Your right. MX-18 is a lightweight XFCE Debian based distribution for older machines.
This desktop is 10 years old so I thought that running MX would work well.
-::-In the past I was running Voyager Linux which is based on Ubuntu.-::-
 
Is it locking up or just losing connection to the monitor? No signal sounds to me like either the video card is having issues or your cord is failing.. How are you connecting - vga, hdmi, etc..? Could you try another monitor cord?
 
Is it locking up or just losing connection to the monitor? No signal sounds to me like either the video card is having issues or your cord is failing.. How are you connecting - vga, hdmi, etc..? Could you try another monitor cord?
Once the DE or browser locks up I have to restart.
Upon restarting it loses it's connection to the monitor. Rebooting a few more times the monitor than shows the display.

It's connected via VGA.
I don't have another cord.
 
ok - so you're seeing that the screen is still on while it locks up.. i'm placing my bet on the video card acting up.. when you reboot, does it ever beep 3 times upon bootup? I believe it's 3 times that indicates the video card has an issue..
 
It's a
Model name: AMD Phenom(tm) 9850 Quad-Core Processor
And, I'm not sure if it's an APU or not. How would I tell?

I don't have another monitor that I could hook up.
Here is a spec sheet on your processor and it appears not to be an APU.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes it happens when I'm running Slackware.
The DE has locked up on MX-18 once as well as the browser.

Your right. MX-18 is a lightweight XFCE Debian based distribution for older machines.
This desktop is 10 years old so I thought that running MX would work well.
-::-In the past I was running Voyager Linux which is based on Ubuntu.-::-
I asked because I use a core 2 duo e5800, and it has run pretty much everything I have thrown at it with no problems. I mostly run Slackware 14.2, but I have a stack of drives in caddys, with different distros on them. I like to play a bit, don't ya know!

Happy Trails,
Paul
 
Is it locking up or just losing connection to the monitor? No signal sounds to me like either the video card is having issues or your cord is failing.. How are you connecting - vga, hdmi, etc..? Could you try another monitor cord?
Yeah, I was kinda wondering about that, myself. Does your motherboard have built in video that you could use to test our collective ( no, not the Borg collective) theory?

Happy Trails,
Paul
 
As Rob said, it sounds like an issue with either your Graphics Card or your VGA cable..... :( Hey, do you have the ability to hook up via HDMI to a TV or Monitor that supports such.....? :3 That would help us rule out any problems you might be having..... :3
 
Alexzee can you give us the model number on the Vizio? eg M260VA, E261VA, or other?

Cheers

Wiz

Edit added BTW

BTW @VP9KS ... Paul if we are gonna have the Borg Collective around, I vote for 7 of 9 to address us
 
ok - so you're seeing that the screen is still on while it locks up.. i'm placing my bet on the video card acting up.. when you reboot, does it ever beep 3 times upon bootup? I believe it's 3 times that indicates the video card has an issue..

Nope, it doesn't beep at all.
 
Alexzee can you give us the model number on the Vizio? eg M260VA, E261VA, or other?

Cheers

Wiz

Edit added BTW

BTW @VP9KS ... Paul if we are gonna have the Borg Collective around, I vote for 7 of 9 to address us

There are 6 different model #'s on the front of my Vizio manual.

M10VA, M190VA-W
M220VA, M220VA-W and
M260VA, M260VA-W
 
Before I install my new Radeon 7750 on the mobo yes, there was an onboard GPU.
I believe it was a Radeon 3100 series.
 
Mate I note your desktop screenshot over at Jas's Thread, is that OK now or still locking?

I believe it was a Radeon 3100 series.

If the locking is still there, then under MX-18 the output from Terminal for

Code:
inxi -G

will tell you more. Not sure of inxi with Slackware - Paul (@VP9KS ) or @HuMJohn would likely know.

Cheers and

Avagudweegend

Wiz
 
Mate I note your desktop screenshot over at Jas's Thread, is that OK now or still locking?



If the locking is still there, then under MX-18 the output from Terminal for

Code:
inxi -G

will tell you more. Not sure of inxi with Slackware - Paul (@VP9KS ) or @HuMJohn would likely know.

Cheers and

Avagudweegend

Wiz
Nope! I get "inxi -G command not found error":(
 
No the DE and the browser that I use haven't locked up so far today.

Here's the output from inxi -G while running MX-18:

Graphics: Device-1: AMD Cape Verde PRO [Radeon HD 7750/8740 / R7 250E] driver: radeon v: kernel
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.2 driver: ati,radeon unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa
resolution: 1360x768~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD CAPE VERDE (DRM 2.50.0 4.15.0-1-amd64 LLVM 7.0.0)
v: 4.5 Mesa 18.2.6
 

Members online


Top