Linux trouble shooting help needed

[problemchild]

I recently cut the cord to MS and installed a fresh copy of a ubuntu flavor. I have the latest version and all updates. The problem I am having is this. Every time I do any kind of update the hard drive will go to 100% writing mode and I can hardly do anything else. I have done a search on the internet but do not see anything that exactly fits my problem.

Any of you linux people want to take a stab at this? Also a reboot solves the problem until the next update.

[the86d]

I have seen the same thing on some machines running *buntu-varients.

Video card upgrade (video RAM seem to be the culprit) and >1GB RAM (the more the merrier) CAN resolve it. If you are on something with integrated video, see if you have bump-up the shared RAM and allocate more to Video?

Try a different distro like Pear Linux, and if that will run (higher percentage chance of running better than *buntu, in the testing I have done on like 8-10 machines) then you might see a big change.

KDE is a memory-hog, so if you are running a KDE-based *buntu distro, try something else. This is the main reason I do not run most *buntu distros... lag... like it's WinVista.

When it is running, run a "free" command to see how much swap you are doing. If you have a bunch of swap being used, you may want to bump-up the ram.

Pear 6.1 runs pretty good on a PIII with 512MB of RAM, but better on a Centrino with 1+GB of RAM. Pear 7/8 ZIP along on a dual-core with over 2GB of RAM and a newer display adapter and plenty of Video RAM... faster than any Windows after XP.

[njineermike]

I have seen the same thing on some machines running *buntu-varients.

Video card upgrade (video RAM seem to be the culprit) and >1GB RAM (the more the merrier) CAN resolve it. If you are on something with integrated video, see if you have bump-up the shared RAM and allocate more to Video?

Try a different distro like Pear Linux, and if that will run (higher percentage chance of running better than *buntu, in the testing I have done on like 8-10 machines) then you might see a big change.

KDE is a memory-hog, so if you are running a KDE-based *buntu distro, try something else. This is the main reason I do not run most *buntu distros... lag... like it's WinVista.

When it is running, run a "free" command to see how much swap you are doing. If you have a bunch of swap being used, you may want to bump-up the ram.

Pear 6.1 runs pretty good on a PIII with 512MB of RAM, but better on a Centrino with 1+GB of RAM. Pear 7/8 ZIP along on a dual-core with over 2GB of RAM and a newer display adapter and plenty of Video RAM... faster than any Windows after XP.

What drives me nuts is the Ubuntu updates breaking VMWare. Every. Single. Time.

If I can get VMWare to run on Pear I might try it.

[the86d]

I had Virtualbox running flawlessly on Pear 7, but errors the Betas of 8. The betas of 8 are less stable.

(Pear 7 is actually a beta if you login as root via GUI it states it, but WAY more stable than even Win7x86, but I am on a new rig at work and trying out Windows 7 again, and Win7x64 is WAY more stable than x86, like they stopped fixing issues on x86 variants and just focused on x64, which was why I was having so many issues with Win7 apparently.)

[stilly]

I recently cut the cord to MS and installed a fresh copy of a ubuntu flavor. I have the latest version and all updates. The problem I am having is this. Every time I do any kind of update the hard drive will go to 100% writing mode and I can hardly do anything else. I have done a search on the internet but do not see anything that exactly fits my problem.

Any of you linux people want to take a stab at this? Also a reboot solves the problem until the next update.

I recall when I finished installing Luninox or whatever that build was that was supposed to be similar to a mac (because PEAR did not work) that afterwards I found an article that talked about 10 things you MUST modify in Ubuntu to maximize your performance and tune your machine. ONE of which was a swappy file modifier if you have less than a gig or more than a gig of RAM. I never did any updates for it but I did end up upgrading the CPU on that laptop and adding more RAM as well, but the tuning guide said that ALL Ubuntu installs should get these mods done and this one prevented excess hd thrashing or whatever.

https://sites.google.com/site/tipsandtricksforubuntu/system-tips/swappiness

MAYBE this can help.

[problemchild]

OK well I updated the kernel from 12.x to 13.x and it seems to have fixed it for now. I just did an update and the HD is not going to 100%. Maybe it just needed the latest kernel. I really dont know all that much about linux. I like it when it works correctly but when it doesn't its a pita.

Im going to do those 10 things that need to be done also.

Thanks and I will post back in a few days if the fix worked.

[remusrm]

What drives me nuts is the Ubuntu updates breaking VMWare. Every. Single. Time.

If I can get VMWare to run on Pear I might try it.

Please do not waste your time with Pear. Keep it simple with something that is used by most Ubuntu is great but use the LTS version like 12.04. Do not use the latest since is cutting edge and not stable. Also you could try LinuxMint since that seems to be the most popular right now and the version similar to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is Linux Mint Maya 13. You could try also Debian 7 but download the firmware drivers first since they like to use only FREE software and not proprietary firmware. Also CentOS 6.4 is great but limited in software choices but really stable.

[problemchild]

Please do not waste your time with Pear. Keep it simple with something that is used by most Ubuntu is great but use the LTS version like 12.04. Do not use the latest since is cutting edge and not stable. Also you could try LinuxMint since that seems to be the most popular right now and the version similar to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is Linux Mint Maya 13. You could try also Debian 7 but download the firmware drivers first since they like to use only FREE software and not proprietary firmware. Also CentOS 6.4 is great but limited in software choices but really stable.

Mint ran really bad on my 4yo laptop. It kept crashing and I finally dumped it. Im using a version of ubuntu now and it looks like after the kernel update its 100% OK.

[shooterfpga]

Mint ran really bad on my 4yo laptop. It kept crashing and I finally dumped it. Im using a version of ubuntu now and it looks like after the kernel update its 100% OK.

Sounds good. Also, just because when you check for updates and you see 100+ of them doesnt mean you really need em. When i was pretty hardcore vanilla i would wait forever for a package to become stable before id use it. These days ill run anything but a lot of times that breaks dependencies and all sorts of crazyness.

[problemchild]

Well I spoke too soon. The darned hard drive went to 100% activity again today.

[shooterfpga]

How old is your hardware? 4yrs as you stated? Was there something you inadvertantly installed that is running logs or sonething? When it goes into 100% is it slowed down or running like normal? You might try googling your hardware and then keywords ubuntu and see what other people are running. The kernel you chose might not be backwardw compatible etc or may be tuned/tweaked for newer setups.

[njineermike]

Hard drive should never go to 100% activity for more than a very short time. Almost sounds like all the RAM isn't being identified and it's running from the hard drive. I've seen Windows servers do that once in a while when they needed to be rebooted and have he cache flushed, but never on a Linux box.

[bill_k_lopez]

OK well I updated the kernel from 12.x to 13.x and it seems to have fixed it for now. I just did an update and the HD is not going to 100%. Maybe it just needed the latest kernel. I really dont know all that much about linux. I like it when it works correctly but when it doesn't its a pita.

Im going to do those 10 things that need to be done also.

Thanks and I will post back in a few days if the fix worked.

You already figured the fix out before I could post it - known problem with 12.10 running on laptops - 13.04 was better I'm running 13.10 now and do not experience it anymore.

Nothing to do with the age of the hardware - and it wasn't just when you try and run updates it would also do this randomly at times, there is also a noticeable difference with the heat being generated now from Nvidia graphics cards on laptops - with 12.10 I couldn't have the laptop on my lap, it would burn you. 13.10 no heat issues.

[njineermike]

You already figured the fix out before I could post it - known problem with 12.10 running on laptops - 13.04 was better I'm running 13.10 now and do not experience it anymore.

Nothing to do with the age of the hardware - and it wasn't just when you try and run updates it would also do this randomly at times, there is also a noticeable difference with the heat being generated now from Nvidia graphics cards on laptops - with 12.10 I couldn't have the laptop on my lap, it would burn you. 13.10 no heat issues.

I just got done unbreaking VMware from my upgrade to 13.04. I should wait a few minutes before breaking it again, but if 13.10 is that much more stable, it might be worth it.

[emtmark]

After helping me through my mess I'm 100% sure these guys can help you to!! Good lick


I know what this man needs, bring me the bourbon!
-CK Medic 538