New to the forum, used linux for a few years
 

While I'm new to the forum, I've used Ubuntu, Fedora, RedHat and now I'm trying out Mint. My problem is, ever since I've had to replace my hard drive, my linux partitions (dual boot with Windows 7 Ultimate) will install fine and work fine until they OS freezes, I've noticed this many times a day, and it doesn't matter if I'm using the internet, using GIMP or the system is just idle. Its a Gateway AMD Dualcore TL-52, with 2GB RAM, 250 hdd, integrated video. It doesn't matter what flavor of Linux I install, they all do the same thing. Any help?

Hi Joe,

Welcome to LQ!

The first question is: is the new HDD of the same variety, what type
is it (PATA, SATA?).


Cheers,
Tink

Tink,
Its the same style drive, just larger. Its a western digital WD Scorpio Enhanced IDE hard drive, 250 GB. Anything else I need to know?

OK, if it's PATA (EIDE), what is the mode of master/slave set-up
on the new drive, is it attached to the same cable the old one was
attached to? Is it the only device on that cable?

If you still have the faulty drive around, check its settings and
make sure they're the same.


Cheers,
Tink

Tink,
Did I mention this was a Laptop?

No, you hadn't mentioned that ... you spoke of the make & model,
but I didn't look that up :}

Not sure whether laptop HDDs have those jumpers at all, I guess
they may not, or always default to cable select, in which case
I have no idea what else to do about diagnosing the problem :/


Since it freezes up I guess you can't see anything in any of the
relevant logs after a restart? Does the freezing happen also if
you're just sitting on the command prompt (i.e., runlevel 1, 2 or 3?

Also: are the VERSIONS of the distros you installed after the HDD
swap identical to the ones you used before? Just trying to eliminate
that it's a kernel bug rather than a hardware issue.



Cheers,
Tink

Ok, so it just happened again while surfing the internet. ctrl-alt-f1 does nothing, infact it seems like the keyboard/trackpad are completely disabled. The only way to stop it seems to be holding the power button until the system shuts off.

Tink,
I'm not sure on the kernel versions, It was ubuntu 8.04 I believe, and now I've tried ubuntu, fedora 12, ubuntu studio and now linux mint.

Does Win7 run fine ???

could be the HDD, Cause if it was happening with one distro grand , but a few of them , Strange

I have you tried checking the disk ???

Bad sectors that sort of stuff

Hope u sort it

That sort of thing makes me think memory or heat.
Linux is typically *much* more sensitive to memory mismatch, but that shouldn't have changed with just a hard disk replacement. Try sticking a small desk fan near it and see if the problem goes away.

Wouldn't this have some effect on the Windows partition as well? I have no issues when its running. Since my last post, the machine has been sitting idle and I woke it up and it wasn't froze....