how to fix system freeze

right after posting this the system started to freeze. That is it was starting to become unresponsive. I could still move the cursor. When the system totally freezes I can not more the cursor. I used control alt backspace and the system restarted. A friend suggested this to me. I am new to ubuntu. I not even sure what control alt bksp does... something like do over. I still do not know why my system freezes.

cntl+alt+bkspc = restart of the x-server (xorg) which is the graphical part of the server.

Can you post the results on an:

lspci | grep VGA

Thanks.

PrivateVoid wrote

Can you post the results on an:

lspci | grep VGA

Thanks

I don't know how to do that. What are the steps I should take?

Thank you for responding.

david@david-laptop:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility U1
david@david-laptop:~$

david@david-laptop:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility U1
david@david-laptop:~$ lspci grep VGA
Usage: lspci [<switches>]

Basic display modes:
-mm Produce machine-readable output (single -m for an obsolete format)
-t Show bus tree

Display options:
-v Be verbose (-vv for very verbose)
-k Show kernel drivers handling each device
-x Show hex-dump of the standard part of the config space
-xxx Show hex-dump of the whole config space (dangerous; root only)
-xxxx Show hex-dump of the 4096-byte extended config space (root only)
-b Bus-centric view (addresses and IRQ's as seen by the bus)
-D Always show domain numbers

Resolving of device ID's to names:
-n Show numeric ID's
-nn Show both textual and numeric ID's (names & numbers)
-q Query the PCI ID database for unknown ID's via DNS
-qq As above, but re-query locally cached entries
-Q Query the PCI ID database for all ID's via DNS

Selection of devices:
-s [[[[<domain>]:]<bus>]:][<slot>][.[<func>]] Show only devices in selected slots
-d [<vendor>]:[<device>] Show only devices with specified ID's

Other options:
-i <file> Use specified ID database instead of /usr/share/misc/pci.ids.gz
-p <file> Look up kernel modules in a given file instead of default modules.pcimap
-M Enable `bus mapping' mode (dangerous; root only)

PCI access options:
-A <method> Use the specified PCI access method (see `-A help' for a list)
-O <par>=<val> Set PCI access parameter (see `-O help' for a list)
-G Enable PCI access debugging
-H <mode> Use direct hardware access (<mode> = 1 or 2)
-F <file> Read PCI configuration dump from a given file
david@david-laptop:~$

I hope I gave the correct info.

Thanks and happy holidays

I have another issue that may be related to system freeze. When a terminal window is open ghost typing occurs. [[2~^ repeats until I hit return.

Yet another issue is the computer will start taking screen shots automatically. In the past this leads to freeze. This time I kept clicking cancel and it stopped.

Hope this helps.

David

Perhaps I should mention that I recently wiped win XP from my laptop and added Ubuntu Intrepid. I did so because I have been getting the blue screen of death... computer turns off and restarts. This had been going on for two years. I wonder if this sys freeze is the ubuntu way of reacting

Also yesterday with help I removed the keyboard and reseated the ribbon connector... this on the advice of someone online.

I would suggest running a memory test from the liveCD.

live cd? Would that be the CD I originally installed from? How do I do that exactly. I really am a beginner. Sorry.

I ran update manager recently. It installed software said to solve problems and security issues. The system seems a lot more stable now. No freeze in the last hour.

Thanks

I'm still having freeze issues. I ran the memory test after booting off of the CD. Passed every test. I am beginning to think I have conflicting software issues. How do I go about monitoring the different programs that are running. Like those that run without my knowing it. And how can I stop processes that I think are gumming things up???

I think I may have found the problem. On the advice of a linux user... Jeff... I disconnected my laptop's keyboard. I am using an external keyboard and mouse. I have been online in this mode for awhile with no freeze issues and no ghost typing in the terminal window. Jeff thinks I have a bad keyboard that is opening up to many programs. After awhile the CPU is overloaded with tasks to do and just freezes up.

I think I will wait awhile longer to report problem solved.

Well...I think I can safely say the problem was the keyboard. Thanks for your help PrivateVoid.