Hello!

I have a problem here... I don't really know if it shouldn't rather be in software, but as I'm completely at loss as to what it is, I'll just try here...

I just reinstalled my debian (before: potato, 2.1.17, now woody, 2.2.20... yes, I should update the kernel, but I wanted the other stuff running before I do that).
The install is via ftp, so everything except the kernel itself is pretty much the newest stable packages.

Now while installing I got a core dump a few times (the first time already during the base system install) (with the contents of all registers printed out, stack etc.), but it didn't cause anything like a kernel panic so I just went on. All went fine, the system works perfectly smoothly, except of sometimes producing another core dump, but the it doesn't really affect system stability or anything.
But if I start any X (tried: afterstep, fvwm*, blackbox, enlightenment), it freezes after no more than 2 minutes (sometimes already on startup). I tried disabling the mouse, but the same happens. The computer can only be rebooted remotely then, as no keyboard input is accepted anymore and the screen freezes displaying the window manager. I can't just kill the process, as the manager doesn't show up in ps -aux (remote).
Sometimes, the computer isn't even accessible via network anymore after that happens. In some cases it reboots itself after something like 45 seconds.

Anybody any suggestions what that may be? A hardware problem (which I am inclined to believe)? Or just plain stupidity on my side (speak: inability to properly install a system)?

It could be heat problems. Use dust aronsal and spray out all the dust. Do not use a vacuum cleaner. Also check if the air flow is good. This means move around the cables so they don't block the air flow. You may want to get round cable for your devices.

core dumps during a Debian install can just happen, there's a lot of apt-getting going on, and if you're not using the vanilla install, then with all the hundred of configurations you're bound to be in un-charted territory. So the two problems are probably un-related

The systems lock-ups could be over-heat or since it only happens in X, a hurfnergled XF86Config. X is a lot of load, so try something out of X that is a huge load, and if it freaks, its not X or the vid card settings that are doing it. Something vicious like a source compile of Mozilla would be a good test.

Cheers,

Finegan