Computer problem, constant freezing, what is causing this?

**DDRFREAK1030** · 08-18-2007, 04:56 AM

knoppix didnt even run, it froze before anything happened

**zapjb** · 08-18-2007, 07:55 AM

Silly yes. But you did boot from, not run Knoppix?

**Snee** · 08-18-2007, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by DDRFREAK1030

knoppix didnt even run, it froze before anything happened

Assuming you did it right, like zap says (ie: burn knoppix iso to disc, put it in during POST or so, so you boot knoppix from the disc):

Now, where does it stop? Do you get nothing at all, no text whatsoever, or do you reach the bit with boot options? And do you notice if the hd is working while the screen stays blank after passing the boot options screen?

Because if something like that happens, there are things you can try.

If you are unable to boot Knoppix (i.e. the screen goes blank, you see a kernel panic message, the screen flickers, you are dropped into a minimal shell, Knoppix simply freezes while booting, etc.), try these boot commands in order:

1. boot: knoppix vga=0
2. boot: knoppix acpi=off pnpbios=off noapic noapm Helpful for laptops
3. boot: knoppix vga=0 debug -b 3 Using this boot command will cause Knoppix to pause at various stages in the boot process. Just type 'exit' at each shell prompt to move on to the next stage. You will know that you are at the final stage when typing 'exit' does not do anything. If you get that far, type 'init 5' to go into graphics mode.
4. boot: failsafe debug -b 3 That will do the same as the previous boot command, except turn off most of the hardware detection.

source

You can also try fixed frame-buffering, which used to be necessary with old laptops.

Ie, instead of just booting you could write knoppix fb1025x768 or whatever resolution you want.

If it works, knoppix should start booting, at which point you should see it start to initiate a bunch of stuff. If it stops during this phase, you should take a note of what it was doing last.

If it gets past this, and starts loading up a gui, you should look out for errors, and again take note, if there are any errors.

If there is any sort of error, try googling it after.
If knoppix won't work (and you know the disc is all right), no matter what, this may point to there being something wrong with your IDE controller or your dvd-drive.

As far as I know, that model of laptop is meant to work with knoppix, so it shouldn't be a compatibility issue.

Don't feel forced to do any of it though, if you don't feel like you want to. It may help, but it won't necessarily give you anything.

Another thing you could check (which has nothing to do with booting knoppix) is which mode the harddrive is in, in your BIOS. Apparently changing it from SATA to compatible mode, has helped some people get XP running on one, look.

**DDRFREAK1030** · 08-18-2007, 07:05 PM

it was right after the boot screen (i accidently downloaded the wrong language verision for one thing. It was after the boot screen when it was running knoppix from the disc. the screen went black and i left it for 15 minutes. Nothing happened at all so then i becan to press keys randomly. nothing still happened.

I wanted to take my hard drive out of my laptop and his hard drive out of his lappy and install windows on it like that but the connection is like the ide type thingy anymore. it is like a single line of pins. so that plan went to crap.

now it is taking longer to boot though than usual. longer than the longness

**Snee** · 08-18-2007, 07:39 PM

Err, @clocker or someone who's better at this than me: It can't be that he needs to load up SATA drivers from a floppy or something during the windows install, right? Or is the laptop that old?

**clocker** · 08-18-2007, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by Snee

It can't be that he needs to load up SATA drivers from a floppy or something during the windows install, right? Or is the laptop that old?

I still think there is a hardware problem.
Even if it needed SATA drivers F6'ed in it wouldn't "freeze" during install, it would stop after loading files and complain that there was no HDD detected.

It's the "freezing" and failing to respond to input that's worrisome.

@DDRFreak...what diag did you run on the hard drive?
This is the one I would try.

**DDRFREAK1030** · 08-18-2007, 10:22 PM

self test in the bios

the only one i was really able to run because i became impatient with the lappy.

um there is no floopy drive and we dont have any usb floppy drives. it seems to have magically began to run normally from stupidity!!!!!!!!!!!111111

The simple solution was: Let the battery die, plug in and turn on and it loads normally

strange isnt it?

not sure if this is permanent but now it is running normal as it ever has