I am running Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy
kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
on a dell dimension xps r450

1) after I choose my Ubuntu installation from the grub boot loader, I get the error msg that my bios age (1999) fails the cutoff date (2000) so acpi=force is required

2) from there I get the error msg "cannot display this video mode" while ubuntu loads until the ubuntu login screen comes up. I have an nvidia riva TNT2 video card. I know i can use the legacy drivers, but I also know that these can cause problems.

3) Here's the big problem. After login, I can do whatever I need until at some random moment the system halts. I can browse the folders on the computer with the mouse, but my keyboard quits, I cannot run any programs, nor can I shut down or restart the computer whithout actually pressing the power button on front of my tower.

4) If I decide I am finished with my work and I want to shut down the computer before 3) happens, during shutdown I get problem 2) and the system halts.

Go easy on me, I am pretty new to linux...

by the way, I had to restart twice just to get this posted...

After it locks up can you ssh to it from another computer? It might just be X that is locked. You can possibly check the log files and edit xorg.conf and restart it as needed.

Kent

This computer isn't on a network, though I do have a wireless connection...
I am not familiar with ssh so I wouldn't know where to begin.

ok so I installed the sshd package with apt-get and it is up and running at bootup.

I have access to a win xp box and loaded PuTTY and PuTTYgen.

sshd is set to ssh2 and I attempted to connect to my linux box IP address but PuTTY returned a "timed out" error msg.

from the troubleshooting section of the PuTTY help its telling me that this error msg means that the host box(server) is either not on the network or is powered down (in other words not listening).

When I go back to my linux box it seems to be listening.
The ports match up (default = 22)
The IP address is correct

What am I doing wrong?

Have you tried to update your BIOS? Dell was (I haven't had a Dell system for several years now) fairly good about providing BIOS updates from their Web site.

Have you tried unplugging and reconnecting your keyboard cable? (I assume that a Dell Dimension XPS is a desktop PC with an separate keyboard.) Sometimes that will "wake up" a BIOS.

Since you're using a wireless connection, it seem likely that you're configured with a non-routable network address (typically 192.168.-.-) which will not permit connections through the router.

Check in the "Accessibility" applications for an "on-screen" keyboard you can use with your mouse. (So you can at least reboot.) That's not a "solution," just a "work around" to keep you somewhat less aggravated while you solve the problem.

I did try to update the bios, but the update available from dell is the same as the one I was running to begin with, A13, from 1999.

The last time the system froze, the keyboard did not go with it for some reason and I successfully switched to a terminal login with Ctrl+Alt+F2 . I was able to log in but when I tried to run ifconfig nothing happened. bash tried to process the command but nothing was returned.

This is telling me that the problem is not just with gnome, as oxleyk suggests:
any ideas?

Sometimes a top command can point you to the problem, but -- in my limited experience -- the most often cause of an apparent "lock up" is a unresponsive network or hard disk connection. When one of those requests is unsatisfied, the kernel (for obscure reasons I've never bothered to investigate) enters a "wait" state for the timeout period, which is, typically, a minuet or so. In the "wait state," only things with a higher (or the same) priority -- like the mouse -- will appear to be responsive.

Look at your log files to see if you've got that type of error message. (The usual log file is /var/log/messages.)

can you click with your mouse because this sounds similar to my problem which i was about to post till i saw yours i cant tell if its the same here it is. Almost all the time when i start my laptop in Ubuntu 7.10 if i click on lets say firefox, which is usually the first thing i do when i start up, all of a sudden it opens and all my clicks and typing disable. I cannot do anything absolutely nothing, i cant even ctrl alt backspace. If i hit the power button it a lil bubble pops up and says Action Forbidden Policy Timeout Forbidden. Please wait a few minutes and try again. Even if i wait it dosent change im forced to do a forced shutdown by holding the button. The very weird thing i noticed is, when i goto my menu bar and start just hoping around in it nd i start up firefox from there OR the desktop after i went to the menu bar, it wont lock up on me. I even tried launching from the terminal, the first time it locked up once i started terminal nd i couldnt type or click i cud just hover my mouse, the second time i was able to type firefox i launched it nd it locked up nd the terminal didnt return any errors... what the hell is going on?

I have had an issue similar before it turned out to be the 'i810' intel graphics driver, replaced it with the 'intel' driver and all was good. I thing gutsy comes with the 'intel' driver by default so probably not relevant.
cheers

Ubuntu will hang and it will do lots and lots of strange things -- if the partitions on the harddrive are not acceptable to Ubuntu. In the beginning, I had one successful download and that was on an HP laptop w/XP. After that, every single PC buggered up -- even those w/XP. Finally, I discovered the problem was partitioning (and you will need a good Linux partitioning program to get a good partition). Use the good Linux partitioning first, then install Ubuntu and then Ubuntu will repartition itself (50/50) and then it will install. I call that the "magic moment". I've had no problems whatsoever with the Ubuntu loading properly, or hanging up since then. It is a wonderful program.

Sometimes we get too waded down technically (like I did) and frustration sets in.

Try the partitioning and see if it works. Good luck to you.

edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and add "acpi=force" to the kernel line, save, exit, reboot. (You did this right?)

Which drivers are you using?

We want to eliminate the acpi thing as that can put stuff to sleep and create all kinds of weirdness. If acpi=force doesn't do it, try noacpi. (Your fan will go all the time but you can live with that right?)

You also want to check the logs for errors - this is a tedious process I know. "dmesg" will get you the log for the active session, while you have a working kbd. /var/sys/logs stores all the past logs.

It is possible that your video card is going bad or needs to be reseated though. This a plug-in or on-board?

Has this always been happening, or has it started recently?

Though the machine you have has the specs for gnome, some people have trouble actually running gnome. But - if it is freezing up at random in text mode, there may well be bad HW someplace.

As noted before, Ubuntu can be a tad fussy about hardware. If all esle fails, try another distro - Puppy has good reports with this machine.

Ok, well I have resolved the problem in what is the least impressive or interesting way by upgrading my machine. Sorry it has taken me so long to reply but I just finished putting it together. Ubuntu is happy with my hardware and it recognized my onboard wireless immediately. Nice!!