I'm officially stumped. I've been using Linux for 5 years (as a hobby, of course) and I have never seen anything like this.

I'm trying to get Linux installed on my latest computer and I have been having nothing but issues. The top issues I have been seeing:

1) Segment Faults
2) File system re-mounted as read-only in the middle of the operation
3) fsck must be run manually

I really don't understand what is going on. I'm starting to think that it's a hardware issue, but I can not pin-point the exact problem, I have a couple of theories

1) Linux doesn't fully work with 64Bit processors (very unlikely).
2) Linux doesn't know how to handle 1GB of RAM (very unlikely).
3) Hardware conflict with in my system (not pin-pointed yet).
4) RAM frequencies are different between the actual RAM memory and the motherboard.

I doubt that it is theory number 1 or 2. I wish I knew the answer.

So, I'm come asking for help... maybe somebody out there has an answer. I normally don't ask, just do the research, but I don't think I can get an answer on this one.

Tried distributions:

1) Fedora Core 5 x86_64 (installed perfectly, but ran flaky)
2) Fedora Core 5 i386 (installed perfectly, but ran flaky)
3) Fedora Core 6 x86_64 (installed perfectly, but ran flaky)
4) Fedora Core 6 i386 (crashed during install)
5) SUSE Linux 10.1 Desktop i386 (installed perfectly, but ran flaky)
6) SUSE Linux 10.1 Desktop x86_64 (crashed during install)
7) openSUSE Linux 10.2 Desktop x86_64 (crashed during install)
8) Mandiva Linux 2007 (crashed during install)

I know for a fact that Fedora Core 5 i386 runs perfectly because I had it on my laptop (when I had it) and I had no issues (IBM ThinkPad R31).

Here is the detailed information about my system:

- AMD Athlon 64 2800+ 1.8GHz, 64Bit
- 1GB DDR RAM
- VIA Chipset
- VIA 10/100Mbps NIC
- VIA USB
- APC USB Hub
- Logitech MX310 Mouse
- HP 1510 PSC All-In-One (Scanner, Copier, Printer)
- AC'97 Sound Card (disabled in the BIOS)
- VIA PS/2
- microInnovation Web/Office Keyboard
- VIA Parallel Port
- VIA Serial Ports (COM1 & COM2)
- PNY NVidia GeForce FX 5500 (with two VGA output and S-Video output)
- Linksys Wireless-G PCI Network Adapter with SpeedBooster
- Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Surround Sound
- Linksys NC100 Fast Ethernet (10/100Mbps)
- 16x DVD-ROM
- DVD Dual-Layer Burner (2X Dual Layer, 16X DVD Read, 4X DVD-RW, 16X DVD-R, 40X CD Read, 40X CD-R, 10X CD-RW)
- Maxtor 40GB IDE Harddrive
- Primary: NTFS (10GB)
- Extended
- EXT3 mounted on / (15GB)
- EXT3 mounted on /home (10GB)
- SWAP (2GB)
- Wester Digital 80GB IDE Harddrive
- Primary: FAT32 (80GB)
- 3.5" Floppy

I usually do ok when it comes to hardware, the only thing that I know I mess up on is the memory, I can never get that straight as far as the speed goes. I've had this computer for two years, and I can never get Linux working during these two years. When I build my systems, I'm usually careful about these things and I wear the anti-static wrist band everytime I work on my computer's hardware. What I don't understand is why does Windows XP Pro work so well in 32Bit and I can't get Linux (64Bit or 32Bit) to work. I've never seen this problem before.

Does anyone have the similar set-up as mine? If you do, are you having the same issues as mine or are you having no problems?

Does anyone see a hardware conflict that I don't know about?

Your knowledge and feed-back would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to LQ!

Suspect #1 - faulty RAM

Thank you, Emerson for the welcome. I'm not too sure how I can help here; I do a lot of research on problems I usually have in Linux.

Thank you for the answer and quick reply. I suppose as soon as I can get some money, I'll get get a set of new RAM, but I would have to remember what kind of RAM I have in there. I guess I bought faulty RAM in the beginning. I'll give it a shot. It would make sense with the random errors.

I'm looking forward to getting it to work as soon as possible because I'm sick of looking at Windows for 8 hours a day and I would like to feel at home with Linux.

Once again, thank you for the help.

run memtest86 before you buy new ram comes with most distros when you run it in linux rescue mode

Failing this i would recommend to check out the ultimate boot cd

its an iso CD image containing just about all free diagnostic tools available on the one CD. including the memtest86 and dozens more.

Good luck.

Best way to diagnose RAM problems is to replace it (temporarily) with known good memory. Memtest results should be taken with a grain of salt. If memtest says your RAM is faulty then faulty it is. If memtest finds you RAM OK then it means nothing, it still may be faulty.

kamby, I was one step ahead of you. Something else happened on my computer that really did cause me to question my RAM. I put SUSE Linux Desktop 10.1 install CD and ran MemTest86. According to it, RAM is fine. Emerson, I believe you on the fact that MemTest86 could say that it's good and it still can be faulty.

I was running Partition Magic for a friend and it fu-bared his partion and he lost everything that he had collected in five years. I still think it's RAM, since Partition Magic broke his 160GB partition and was being executed in Windows. Also, it would explain why my system keeps freezing when I tried to install Windows 98 SE on my system the few times I tried. In FDisk, it would lock up, and on FORMAT it would lock up.

Now, from MemTest86, the interesting thing is that it says that I don't have ECC available. Ah well... right now, I don't know if there are memory sticks available for me to test. I'll have to look and see. I see that someone has a pair of sticks laying around, I will have to look to see if it will go into my computer. We'll see though. Problem with that is that I asked him how much they are and he said that they are 128MB (2x128MB=256MB) and for me, that would be a major down grade (1024MB/4=256MB). On top of that, I don't know if they will be DDR400 (which is what I have in my system now). Also, I don't know if they will work or will be as faulty as the ones I have now. We will see.

Try replacing your harddrive with another to see if the install goes, also be sure to check your media i find that suse is picky on how fast you burn it as well as Redhat i always burn the slowest. I replaced my Maxtor 40gb with another one, and it works great.

Ok... I grabbed the Ultimate Boot Test CD and ran a few diagnostics and nothing major stands out. Also, I have been using Live CDs (Knoppix, LLGP [Linux Live Game Project], and Musix [it's in Spanish, I would have to type "english" just to get it in English]) and those work fine. I'm starting to wonder if there is a problem with my IDE controller, cables, or harddrive.

kamby, I started to use Linux on the Western Digital 40GB harddrive and I still had the same problem. As mentioned in my first post, I'm using my Maxtor 40GB harddrive. However, I haven't tried burning CDs or DVDs at 1x for Fedora or SUSE. I do validate my burns (an option available using Nero) and do a media check. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don't. Oddly, validation failure doesn't end up being bad media. I would have DVDs that passed validation and pass the media check, and I still have the same issue.

Right now, the mentioned Live CDs passed the validation test and seems to be working fine. I'll stick with Live CDs for now and wait until I can get the money to get a new personal computer. We will see.

Any other thoughts are still open.

Resolved! I am glad to take care of that. Emerson, you were right. Faulty RAM. What I did, instead of exchanging sticks, I took one of the sticks out, and it runs great! Problem is that now I'm down to 512MB instead of 1024MB. Oh well, the cost of getting it to work...

Anyways, I'm glad to see Linux working on my desktop working again. I got sick and tired of looking at Windows.

I just don't understand how Windows ran fine, but Linux didn't. Wierd... anyways, glad to have it resolved. Thank for your help, guys... oh, and for the new stuff for me to try.