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Old Computer manages to crash linux

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  • Windows XP
  • Linux
Last response: in Linux/Free BSD
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February 19, 2014 9:25:36 AM

I'm trying to turn my old desktop into a linux box. The xp that it's running won't properly update, and lost its programs and data a few months back. Decided linux rather than trying fix the XP and then my kid could have a starter computer.

I installed Plop manager so it would boot from the USB. I tried loading 3 different linux distros through the USB. Linux Mint (cinnamon and mate) and lubuntu. Both show me the first screen (mint autoloads lubuntu gives me a choice). They both show the loading screen and then the system crashes. I have done this multiple times with each.

Mint shows me a pattern of colors that repeats 4 times across the top quarter of my screen. With Lubuntu I can see it's a slightly distorted desktop that repeats (6 times for lubuntu). Neither responds to keyboard or mouse.

my specs:

Intel Pentium 4, 1.4 GHz
640 MB ram
18.6 GB HD
Linksys LNE100TX ethernet card
ATI Rage Pro Ultra 128 video card


Google tells me this video card has issues. And when I tried to update its drivers through XP, it promptly crashed. It displays on XP fine though.

I have little experience with linux (ubuntu) I'm not wedded to any distro, if there's one that will run on this system I'll use that one. Is this fixable, or should the system just be thrown out? I would prefer to fix it. I thought linux would be a cheap/free way to get a few more miles out of it.

More about : computer manages crash linux

a b 5 Linux
February 19, 2014 1:39:04 PM

Sounds like video card is dying...
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a b 5 Linux
February 19, 2014 1:50:09 PM

More likely the newer distros don't have a compatible driver for that ancient video card.
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February 20, 2014 9:05:03 AM

I added the "vga=788" and it changed the distortion I got to purple.

I then started looking into VESA mode (which I was ignorant of) and found this webpage http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1779 I used the code it gave to try to boot into VESA, I think it was successful. I don't know because my monitor then informed me that it couldn't display the input was receiving.

So I think that's that until I get an old monitor for the thing. I appreciate the suggestions.
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March 2, 2014 12:16:13 PM

Could you try adding nomodeset when booting as a parameter, that doesn't autoload the video card, worth a shot I think.
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April 3, 2014 9:10:32 AM

Hello again,

I found an old monitor at goodwill for 5 bucks and tried again.

Still using the lubuntu distro, I booted from the USB and appended the code: "xforcevesa=xforcevesa nomodeset"

the monitor told me "input signal out of range change to 1280x1024 - 60hz"

I don't know where to go from here, or what I did wrong.


I found an ubuntu page (http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2010/05/06/ubuntu-10-04-luc...) and worked through its suggestions.

Namely deleting "quiet splash" and replacing that with "nomodeset" or "xforcevesa" or "i915.modeset=1" or "i915.modeset=0"

the i915.modeset options showed text as it went through the boot process but ended with the original error display I described in my first post.

The other two options similarly showed me the text but I got a monitor display telling me "signal out of range"


The final piece of info I found was that the monitor if I turned it on and off told me that it was getting a VGA display
"H=46KHz V=44Hz"



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Best solution

a b 5 Linux
April 3, 2014 7:43:28 PM

It's about a year old, but thisl Phoronix article may be of interest.
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