Linux - HardwareThis forum is for Hardware issues.
Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Please allow me to first provide some background info.....
I wanted a computer and I knew that I wanted it to have maximum flexibility for upgrading. Because I had heard that computer manufacturers tend to use lower-quality parts, I wanted to build one ─ but I know next to nothing about computers. I knew a guy who said he knew how to build one, so I paid him and some weeks later he assembled it in front of me; he said that my request for Linux Mint was an unusual one. Flash forward maybe six months later* and the linux OS hangs on boot up. I have the guy come over and among other things he uses pressurized air to blow dust off the fans. Much to his surprise, the machine then boots up. Great!
So some weeks later the same thing happens again; so I go to a Best Buy** and buy canned air.*** Carefully keeping the can as vertical as possible, I blow off the fans and heat sink. Then the computer boots up as if nothing had happened.
So here's my question:
Does anyone know why dust on the fans and heat sink would cause an (in this case Linux Mint) OS to hang on boot up?
*I'm lousy with remembering dates and the like. **I was NOT expecting this: So I go to the (security?) guy at the store entrance and ask if Best Buy sells canned air; he points me to the back. I go back and I'm looking for an employee for further directions when this guy comes walking to me with a two-pack package of compressed air. I've gotta admit that I was quite impressed! Another thing that surprised me: Best Buy sells large kitchen appliances! (By then, I realize that I must be one of the most clueless customers in the store.....) ***Best Buy does not sell canned air to persons <18 years old; apparently sniffing canned air for a high is a thing.....
Last edited by nobahn; 09-10-2019 at 11:25 AM.
Reason: wanted to italicize last part of last sentence
About your problem:
Hard to say anything without knowing any of the parts involved.
Also, how exactly does it hang? at what stage?
It's normal for computers to disallow booting when they're too hot or they notice that the fan doesn't move at all. This might even happen on a level way below the OS.
A simple solution might be to turn the whole thing 90 degrees, so that the dust doesn't settle on top of the fan, but falls through to the bottom instead.
It's also possible that there's a loose contact, and opening the case sort of wiggles it in place, which coincides with the canned air treatment.
Or a hair fracture that contracts (canned air is very cold).......
how often do you have to use the can of air? If it is once a month or less, my guess would be a loose connection which has already been mentioned,unless your house is really dusty.
There are speciality Best Buy stores that sell kitchen appliances i.e ranges, ovens, dishwashers etc. but not all stores.
The fans are very important in keeping the temperature of the CPU and internal components cool. A build of of dust through out the computer i.e on the case air inlet, fans and heat sink etc. prevent the necessary amount of air to flow through the computer causing it to overheat and just quit working.
Distribution: Cinnamon Mint 20.1 (Laptop) and 20.2 (Desktop)
Posts: 1,672
Rep:
Are you talking a lot of dust? How many wires does your fan have? Three? Then it has a rotational speed monitoring function available and probably uses it. A build up of dust may slow it down in which case the monitoring system may decide to shut the system down before it actually tries to load the boot/init sequence from the disk. I've had occasions when a fan speed error has caused HP Proliant and DEC Alpha servers (Yes, I'm that old!) to decide they weren't playing and would refuse to boot. I've even stripped a fan down, cleaned it out and re-lubricated it on at least one occasion when I needed to buy some time to re-order a replacement without having the power station the server helped run shut down as well!
I agree with the heatsink comments as well, an overheating CPU will also cause a system to shutdown before the CPU fries itsself.
The thing that puzzled me ─ and the fellow who assembled it ─ was that the boot up was getting as far as putting the Linux Mint logo on the screen before going black with a non-blinking cursor and freezing.
Quote:
Sorry if this a personal question, but how dusty is your house?? Perhaps you need a better vacuum cleaner?
Quote:
[...]unless your house is really dusty.
I live in a rooming house with a couple of other guys; so, yeah, points taken.
Quote:
A build of of dust through out the computer i.e on the case air inlet, fans and heat sink etc. prevent the necessary amount of air to flow through the computer causing it to overheat and just quit working.
I think that what puzzled the fellow who built it was that he had installed two fans (excluding the one in the 600W power
supply) and one of them is directly under the heat sink.
The thing that puzzled me ─ and the fellow who assembled it ─ was that the boot up was getting as far as putting the Linux Mint logo on the screen before going black with a non-blinking cursor and freezing
reseat your graphic card if that is doable and your memory cards.
reseat your graphic card if that is doable and your memory cards.
The funny thing about the graphics card ─ and really pissed off the guy who assembled the machine ─ is that he should not have had to have installed a graphics card in the first place! He bought the motherboard specifically because it has a graphics processor embedded in it. Turns out that the manufacturer physically disabled it! He vented his rage on Tom's Hardware.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dugan
If you can't ssh into it, then look at /var/log/messages after the reboot.
A typical home computer has a CPU cooling fan as well as a case fan and maybe GPU fans besides the power supply fan. The case fan will usually suck air in from the front and blow it out the rear. Adding extra fans depending on their specs and where they are placed may not provide better cooling.
A typical home computer has a CPU cooling fan as well as a case fan and maybe GPU fans besides the power supply fan.
I had quite forgotten about that.
Quote:
The case fan will usually suck air in from the front and blow it out the rear. Adding extra fans depending on their specs and where they are placed may not provide better cooling.
I'm not a frequent poster here (to put it mildly), but it's my understanding that if I don't label this thread as [SOLVED], then users would still think that I was seeking input. I am satisfied that the reason that the (Linux Mint) OS was hanging was because the dust on/in the heat sink was causing the CPU to overheat. I still need to figure out an effective way to dust my room though.....
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.