Virus or memory problem?

Forum: Apps
Topic: Virus or memory problem?
started by: frodo

Posted by frodo on May 18 2004,18:29

I have problems with firefox and dillo even other programs
I have 128MB RAM I use Live CD
I it a virus or a not enough memory as I download some tar.gz?

Posted by maybrick on May 18 2004,21:36

Maybe you got a bad download of the iso, or even worse: your RAM is defective.

I got those problems a few days ago with a new machine, and it was a faulty DDR module. I replaced it and everything works like a charm now.

Posted by ke4nt1 on June 18 2004,17:49

Doubtful if it's any kind of "virus".
There certainly is NOT one residing within the DSL .iso file.

I use 96 megs RAM in my thinkpad 770, works fine.
I load Firefox.tar.gz, dsl-dpkg.dsl blue-theme.tar.gz on boot.
Then load several more .dsl's after I get to the desktop.

I have setup an 80 meg swapfile partition, which DSL finds
during bootup. It rarely uses it, unless I'm really heavy into it.

Did you ever get your soundcard working?

73
ke4nt

Posted by Cirvin on June 25 2004,02:10

Yea, I got the spontaneous program shutdown thing, I shudder to think that my RAM is defective, but a simple reboot fixed it. I was downloading alot of things to the ram, so the memory probably just had some errors on it.

Posted by l0st on June 27 2004,12:49

That spontaneous program shutdown issue caught my eye.
My box is P4 2GHz and 256ram, and it's quite safe to say there are no hardware problems. However, DSL sometimes just closes some apps for no reason.

While I'm on this I'll report that DSL sometimes goes to 100% CPU for no reason. Killing apps and restarting X doesn't seem to work either. This condition happens mostly with firefox and some .dsl files.

Posted by cbagger01 on June 27 2004,16:54

Have you initiated DMA support for your disk drives?

Try:

dsl dma

at the boot prompt and see if the 100% CPU goes away. Disk operations without DMA can produce temporary large surges in CPU usage even on faster computers.

Good Luck.

Posted by roberts on June 27 2004,19:23

I have experienced the closing of Firefox on machines with small ram size.
I solved the problem by tuning Firefox cache size. I cut it way down.

From within Firefox Tools->Options->Cache

Your tuning options will be saved in the .phoenix directory. From liveCD be sure to add .phoenix directory to your filetool.lst for backup.

Posted by l0st on June 28 2004,10:06

Ahhh, thanks. Everything's running smoothly now. Thanks again!

Posted by Joat_Mone on July 02 2004,03:18

Unfortunately I'm having the same problem. DSL would be fine if I wasnt doing anything, but if I start to work with DSL it would jump to 100% CPU and things start closing. There doesnt seem to be anything consistant I would do to cause it. Somtimes it happens early, and sometimes it would take a while to crash. I tried running DSL dma, but, I think, since I am using the CD to run off it would not work (plenty of errors and no boot up). I have been using only one .dsl package (rox.dsl). I'm going to try just a plain boot and see if I can crash it.

The computer is an old hand-me-down and I'm not sure what is in it or what is bad in it. I'll let you know if not using the Rox.dsl will fix it.

Matt

Posted by roberts on July 02 2004,06:04

How much memory? That is probably the issue with the older computers.

Posted by Joat_Mone on July 03 2004,00:37

It has 96 MEGs of RAM. It seems like when I use the .dsl packages it wants to crash. Am I pushing the limits when I am adding like that.
It has not had a problem when I run it just with what was included origionally.

On a different note, I want to congradulate you on a fine distrobution, and your availibility when there are questions.

Posted by roberts on July 03 2004,01:31

Yes, I would say you are pushing the limits. The base should run fine. But most any extension will be pushing it. Maybe, I should consider doing more .ci types. They use less memory. Have you tried the firefox.ci extension? I know you don't have enough memory for openoffice.

Posted by Joat_Mone on July 03 2004,03:02

I have not tried firefox. I was under the impression firefox was a web browser. Rox is a file explorer, and that is what I wanted to use. I can get away with not using any .dsl's and working with what is included. You have more than enough on disk to do what I need.
Just so you know, I have set it up as a web server, and is about all I use it for. I boot off the CD, and the HD is only used to store the files. A great and secure server with the added benefit of not needing to worry about viruses.
Also, this forum looks alot better through Linux then it does through XP.

Thanks again for your help

Posted by cbagger01 on July 04 2004,01:03

FYI,

The rox.dsl itself does not use much memory. Your web browser's "cache" will use up more memory after a little while surfing the internet. You can check on your memory usage by typing in the following from an Xterminal window:

free (total free memory)

or

ps -aux | more (memory usage for each process. Look at RSS value)

If you install DSL to hard disk, you will be able to add a bunch of *.dsl extensions without paying any penalty because they will be saved on to the hard drive file system instead of the ramdisk.

First, do a hard disk install (full install, not a poormans or frugal install).

Then reboot, open an xterminal and type in the following:

sudo su
tar -zxvf rox.dsl -C /
exit
/opt/.start_rox

and you should have the Rox Filer installed to your hard disk with a desktop icon.

Good Luck.

Posted by ke4nt1 on July 04 2004,01:20

Recently, after the cache 'fooled" me a couple of times,
( It wasn't refreshing with EVERY change to a page,
although I could force it to do so with a shift-reload )

I have been setting the cache limit to 1kb

With a DSL connection, why use cache?
Especially from the LiveCD..

73
ke4nt

Posted by Joat_Mone on July 04 2004,04:27

Thanks cbagger for that info on finding out the free memory. Is there any way to have linux free up memory it sectioned off for something (like Rambooster for Windows)? Does Linux work that way?
I'm not knocking Rox.dsl. It's a wonderful program and I wish I could use it. Unfortunately it seems to do enough to lock up my machine. I dont use this machine for surfing the web, just for serving for the web. One of the things I like about DSL booting off the CD is you dont have to touch the Hard drive which makes it just about impossible for a virus to have a lasting effect (just incase someone wrote a virus for Linux). I can work without any extras because DSL is a very complete package in its self.
Thanks again for helping me out.

Posted by cbagger01 on July 05 2004,19:45

FYI,

If your CDROM will not work with the DMA boot option, you can still try using DMA acceleration for your hard drive.

Try this. Substitute /dev/hda with the device name for your hard disk. It is usually /dev/hda:

Open up an Xterminal window and type:

sudo su
hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda
exit
exit

Good Luck

Posted by Joat_Mone on July 06 2004,15:16

Well... It did something. Not sure what. I will find out in a day or two if the whole thing crashes. Is there a nice reference point for all this information or do I just have to bug the Linux guru's in my city for whatever bits of information the portion out to me? I really feel bad about bugging you for something I should be able to find out on my own.

Thanks,

Matt

Posted by Joat_Mone on July 08 2004,22:27

chbagger01

That seemed to work. I have Rox running and it hasnt crashed (the power out did cause me to go down, but I dont expect DSL to fix that). Thanks again. Maybe someone should put that in the FAQ or tips page.