LinuxQuestions.org
Visit Jeremy's Blog.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie
User Name
Password
Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question? If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 05-14-2006, 09:44 AM   #1
mrHoff
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2006
Location: Norway
Distribution: Fedora Core 5
Posts: 9

Rep: Reputation: 0
Angry I just installed linux but it's driving me crazy!


I'm completely new to Linux, and downloaded Fedora Core 5 on 5 CD's and intalled the damn thing on this PC. Well - it's working! I'm sitting on my new OS typing this message!

But the damn system is driving me crazy because it won't stop loading!!!! At the time I'm writing this message the harddrive is making write noises and the led is blinking profusely and it just never stops!!!!! *TJST**TJST**TJST**TJST**TJST* and then it will take a break for five seconds...... *TJST**TJST**TJST**TJST**TJST* SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP LOADING!!!!!!!!!! I have to restrain myself to write this message cause what I really want to do is get an AXE and smash the bastard

What should I do?????????? I hate windows but at this rate I'm gonna hate Linux more!
 
Old 05-14-2006, 09:53 AM   #2
meng
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Rochester, MN
Distribution: Ubuntu 7.04
Posts: 127

Rep: Reputation: 15
What sort of system specs do you have?

Oh yeah, and don't take an axe to your system.
 
Old 05-14-2006, 10:02 AM   #3
XavierP
Moderator
 
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Kent, England
Distribution: Debian Testing
Posts: 19,192
Blog Entries: 4

Rep: Reputation: 475Reputation: 475Reputation: 475Reputation: 475Reputation: 475
Open up a console and type in "top" (without the quotes) and see what is working so hard. It could be that as your system is so newly installed, it's running a number of jobs in the background.

Welcome to LQ

And seconding the "no axe" suggestion
 
Old 05-14-2006, 11:39 AM   #4
lotusjps46
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2003
Location: Dallas
Distribution: Vector Linux, Suse 10.1
Posts: 186

Rep: Reputation: 30
Something else that might tell us what is going on: What kind of computer is this? What processor and how much memory makes a difference. If there is not enough RAM to run KDE (the default window manager) it could be using the swap partition alot, and making alot of hardrive noises.

C
 
Old 05-14-2006, 12:32 PM   #5
Ryuji Yamazaki
Member
 
Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Singapore
Distribution: Slackware, FreeBsd
Posts: 43

Rep: Reputation: 15
I had the same problem when i first decided to give linux a try, i increased the swap partition size and that seems to solve it.
 
Old 05-14-2006, 12:36 PM   #6
mrHoff
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2006
Location: Norway
Distribution: Fedora Core 5
Posts: 9

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Thanks a lot for your advice.

My computer is pentium2, 192 MB ram. The windows environment is "gnome" (I Have no idea if that is a good choice by the way).

I turned off all services to see if that helped, that was before XavierP's advice on typing top. Well... it seemed to help anyway, I had to turn on the service "network" before getting online again, but the loading has calmed down and seems normal - like a friendly purr compared to the barking I had earlier.

I tried typing "top" in the terminal - Something called "Xorg" is taking the most, but nothing seems heavy. I see in the system monitor that about 50% of my memory is being used and the swap is thank god not doing anything.

The question is now if turning off most of the services is a good idea - I only have "messagebus" and "network" running now - what else do I need if any?
 
Old 05-14-2006, 03:46 PM   #7
BobNutfield
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Distribution: Fedora , Ubuntu, Slackware-Current
Posts: 1,526

Rep: Reputation: 53
http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/releas...rchSpecificx86

Hi

Just wanted to mention that your specs are the very bare minimum for an FC5 graphical installation, as noted in the above link. Your system, even with almost all services turned off, may struggle with FC5. The disk activity you are hearing, is, I am certain, your swap partition. Adding more memory may help. I am running FC5 with an AMD64 3400+ (2.2GHz) with 1.5gb memory and it is still not as fast as some other distros I use. Both Gnome and KDE are pretty memory hungry.

Bob
 
Old 05-14-2006, 06:13 PM   #8
lotusjps46
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2003
Location: Dallas
Distribution: Vector Linux, Suse 10.1
Posts: 186

Rep: Reputation: 30
mrHoff,

On the graphical screen where you log in there is a menu or drop-down thing that should offer different window managers (KDE, Gnome, IceWM, maybe XFCE). Try anything but KDE and Gnome; they suck resources. You can still use the KDE and Gnome stuff, but there is alot less running in th background of XFCE or Icewm. If you get bored you can install Blackbox, Fluxbox, Enlightenment, and maybe some other window managers.

I have a PII with 366mhz processor and 192 megs of ram, and I use Vector Linux on it. VL is made for older hardware, and really runs alot better that FC would.

Have fun.

C
 
Old 05-14-2006, 06:25 PM   #9
pixellany
LQ Veteran
 
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: Annapolis, MD
Distribution: Mint
Posts: 17,809

Rep: Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743
first, glad to see you have calmed down and gotten past the 4-letter words...

For a while, my Ubuntu install would slow to a crawl. It turned out that the updatedb function was running amok. I found some Google hits to the effect that: "Yes, this happens." It went away before I ever figured out the cause. (Computers are like that)
 
Old 05-16-2006, 02:11 AM   #10
Emmanuel_uk
Senior Member
 
Registered: Nov 2004
Distribution: Mandriva mostly, vector 5.1, tried many.Suse gone from HD because bad Novell/Zinblows agreement
Posts: 1,606

Rep: Reputation: 53
Quote:
offer different window managers (KDE, Gnome, IceWM, maybe XFCE). Try anything but KDE and Gnome
yes you definitely need a light weight windows manager such
as Icewm or windowsmaker, I run a PII 300 MHz that way.
I doubt you can increase the ram more than 192

Have a look at hdparm (there are tutorials around), to check
that the dma is on for your HD

Check the swap size is at least 400 Mb
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
I'm trying to install SUSE Linux, but this error is driving me crazy! Hrothgar15 Linux - Hardware 4 08-13-2005 01:10 AM
[ ] @ are driving me crazy FireInTheDark Linux - Software 1 11-28-2004 09:42 AM
Help this is driving me crazy!!!!!! Wolfy Linux - Hardware 1 07-07-2004 01:32 AM
rhythmbox driving me crazy... Camasii Linux - Software 4 01-22-2004 09:08 AM
Glftpd driving me crazy ! _KDF Linux - Software 10 01-14-2004 03:35 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:08 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration