Computer keeps freezing

[The Observer]

My cousin gave this computer to me after she was unable to get it to work properly. My father and I managed to fix it, but it keeps freezing all the time instead. What I find odd is that it seems to freeze mostly while playing RuneScape or using flash or script heavy sites. It doesn't freeze that much during normal operation.

 

 

 

Here's a list of things that I did and other points:

 

• 
   
  [*:398f9x0a] It originally had Windows XP Professional on it. It froze a lot then, and eventually it didn't work after tinkering with some BIOS settings, so I installed Windows 98 Second Edition instead, still freezes.
   
  [*:398f9x0a] I did a memory test on it and it passed with flying colours.
   
  [*:398f9x0a] (Sort of related) Direct3D test kicks out, including all games using that.
   
  [*:398f9x0a] I did an OpenGL test and some of the graphics stretch across the screen
   
  [*:398f9x0a] I installed Ubuntu and it still freezes.
   
  [*:398f9x0a] I can't defrag as it claims that there isn't enough memory available.
   
  [*:398f9x0a] I have a dual boot setup with Windows 98 and Ubuntu.

 

 

 

My system specs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have 512MB of RAM, but it doesn't seem to be showing up properly.I don't know why.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

The sole reason that it's reporting less than 512MB of RAM is because that graphics card shares memory with the system. As for the lagging, my question is going to be simple.

 

 

 

Did you install Ubuntu with an ext3 partition, or a FAT16/32 partition? (And yes, it's possible to put it on a FAT partition.) The answer to that will be in the last tab, or the "File Systems" tab.

 

 

 

Barring any radical answer from that question, the main cause of lagging/freezing would be lack of adequate swap and/or RAM. Perform a free command and post the results of that here (you'll get a better formatting if you did something like free > Desktop/free.txt). That will tell me how much memory the system is using.

 

 

 

Next, run a df -h command, and put it in a text file in a similar fashion (df -h > Desktop/df.txt). This will tell me how much space your hard disk has. The System Monitor tool isn't all-encompassing on the free space thing, so either a df or the screenshot of your "File Systems" tab will suffice.

[JoeDaStudd]

It sounds like it may be a graphics hardware issue (hence the graphics tests failing or having issues).

 

Having said that you may have accidentally changed on of the graphics related properties in the BIOS.

 

First I would reset the BIOS using the jumpers on the motherboard (you'll need to Google the make and model of the motherboard or consult the manual if your cousin gave it to you, to locate the jumpers).

[The Observer]

The sole reason that it's reporting less than 512MB of RAM is because that graphics card shares memory with the system. As for the lagging, my question is going to be simple.

 

 

 

It's not that laggy at all. It's perfectly smooth. It just freezes all the time.

 

 

 

Did you install Ubuntu with an ext3 partition, or a FAT16/32 partition? (And yes, it's possible to put it on a FAT partition.) The answer to that will be in the last tab, or the "File Systems" tab.

 

 

 

There's two that are the same space. The top one states "ext3" and the next one states "fuse.gvs.-fuse-daemon" and they both indicate the same amount of space.

 

 

 

Barring any radical answer from that question, the main cause of lagging/freezing would be lack of adequate swap and/or RAM. Perform a free command and post the results of that here (you'll get a better formatting if you did something like free > Desktop/free.txt). That will tell me how much memory the system is using.

 

 

 

total used free shared buffers cached

 

Mem: 515580 506144 9436 0 43296 223236

 

-/+ buffers/cache: 239612 275968

 

Swap: 1510068 1792 1508276

 

 

 

You may be right. However, why does the same problem happen for Windows 98 and Windows XP which all used different amounts of memory?

 

 

 

 

 

Next, run a df -h command, and put it in a text file in a similar fashion (df -h > Desktop/df.txt). This will tell me how much space your hard disk has. The System Monitor tool isn't all-encompassing on the free space thing, so either a df or the screenshot of your "File Systems" tab will suffice.

 

 

 

This is what it says:

 

 

 

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on

 

/dev/sda5 111G 2.3G 103G 3% /

 

varrun 252M 100K 252M 1% /var/run

 

varlock 252M 0 252M 0% /var/lock

 

udev 252M 48K 252M 1% /dev

 

devshm 252M 48K 252M 1% /dev/shm

 

lrm 252M 38M 214M 16% /lib/modules/2.6.24-19-generic/volatile

 

gvfs-fuse-daemon 111G 2.3G 103G 3% /home/ben/.gvfs

 

 

 

 

 

 

It sounds like it may be a graphics hardware issue (hence the graphics tests failing or having issues).

 

Having said that you may have accidentally changed on of the graphics related properties in the BIOS.

 

First I would reset the BIOS using the jumpers on the motherboard (you'll need to Google the make and model of the motherboard or consult the manual if your cousin gave it to you, to locate the jumpers).

 

 

 

Well, by changing the hardware, what I meant is that I changed it to "fail-safe defaults".

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

From what I can see, it shouldn't just freeze on random with specs like that. I also notice that it's hitting your swap drive, perhaps that's something to look at. Not sure at this point.

 

 

 

It also looks like you have copious amounts of hard disk space, but something's not adding up. What's the graphics card?

[The Observer]

From what I can see, it shouldn't just freeze on random with specs like that. I also notice that it's hitting your swap drive, perhaps that's something to look at. Not sure at this point.

 

 

 

It also looks like you have copious amounts of hard disk space, but something's not adding up. What's the graphics card?

 

 

 

ATI Radeon 9600XT (256MB)

 

 

 

However, I'm thinking it might be damaged. Plus, graphics acceleration isn't enabled, only minimally. I was trying to troubleshoot it that way.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

I was thinking that something in the hardware was damaged, it's just that I don't have the facilities or expertise to confirm that off-hand. Of course, the process of elimination clearly states if three OSes suffer the exact same problem, then something's not working right. It might be in your best practice to take it to a shop, but to avoid the middleman, if you can find a similar card, replace it.

[The Observer]

I was thinking that something in the hardware was damaged, it's just that I don't have the facilities or expertise to confirm that off-hand. Of course, the process of elimination clearly states if three OSes suffer the exact same problem, then something's not working right. It might be in your best practice to take it to a shop, but to avoid the middleman, if you can find a similar card, replace it.

 

 

 

Heh, alright. I can't really afford it, but I'll try something.