Segmentation Faults prevent program opening
 

I'm running Red Hat 9 and am new to linux (only had it up for a couple of weeks). When I first installed it, everything was working fine, but lately I've been receiving "segmentation fault" errors when I try to run some standard programs. The first program I noticed it happening to was XMMS. Next was Open Office Impress. Now it just happened it Open Office Writer, and that's intolerable. I have no clue what's gone wrong, especially considering that I used OOWriter just last night.

Here is what happens: if I open any of these programs through gnome, the system hangs for about 5 seconds and then nothing happens. If I open them through a terminal, it returns: "segmentation fault" and then dies.

Would a segmentation error indicate that there is a problem with my drive partitioning? I am only running one operating system and red hat install automatically partitioned the drive. I have not substantially altered my system since the install.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks,

Elliott

How old's the system/RAM?
Sure you havent updated gcc, glibc or the kernel?

The RAM should be brand new (unless the company I bought the computer from screwed me, but they seemed reputable). I'm running 512 MBs of RAM.

If its a problem with RAM wouldn't the issue occur more frequently that just when I attempt to open some specific programs? And shouldn't the problem be solved (or at least the effect of the problem would change) when I restart my computer?

<Looking for further RAM information now...>

Thanks,

Elliott

well, in linux it's VERY weird (unlike windoze) for your system to be doing something one day and another the next, unless someone with root privilages changed something...

before doubting your hardware i would suggest testing it by using a live linux cd (which requires no installation)...

http://slackware-live.org/

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/

if everything goes smoothly with the live linux cds, then you can be pretty sure your hardware is not at fault...

i would then sugest you re-install (yes, the dirty word in linux) and update your distro... possibly with the technical support and oversight of a more experienced linux buddy....

by the way sometimes it sucks to let the install automatically partition your drive... sometimes it's best to do it by hand (disk druid on rh9 for example)...

also, most new users do better with mandrake than red hat... but it's totally debatable... i mean, mandrake makes linux MUCH friendlier, but some might argue it's best to hit the ground running... in the end, the choice is yours... isn't that great? ahhhh... open source.