openbox on older computer ?

[Muppet]

hello Melodie,

thank you for the explanation. i have found the corresponding file. the text in it was there set for 10 minutes and now i have adjusted the line for never be off.

now, something spookie.............

after shutting down the computer , when i am done working with it, after a few seconds it starts automaticly up again by itself.................

what could cause this mysterious problem ?

Willem

[melodie]

after shutting down the computer , when i am done working with it, after a few seconds it starts automaticly up again by itself.................

what could cause this mysterious problem ?

Several things can cause it and it happens in some machines only. You can fix it 2 different ways. One way by reconfiguring GDM, to add a personalized shutdown command.
Open a console as simple user, type "dbus-launch gdmsetup", you will be prompted for the root password, then in the tab "General" there is a button down on the right side : "Edit commands", click on it. Then in the field for "Extinct commands" you will see this:
/usr/bin/poweroff;/sbin/poweroff;/sbin/shutdown -h now;/usr/sbin/shutdown -h now

at the beginning of the line add "/sbin/halt;" like this:

/sbin/halt;/usr/bin/poweroff;/sbin/poweroff;/sbin/shutdown -h now;/usr/sbin/shutdown -h now

Then click on the button "Apply the modifications of the commands". Then try a few shutdowns after a reboot.

If this does not do the trick, you may try to use "acpi=off" on the kernel command line of the file /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Either or has worked so far for the persons meeting with this issue in Openbox versions.

Let us know how it goes.

[Muppet]

hello Melodie,

unfortunate adding /sbin/halt;/  did not do the trick...................

where can i find the /boot/grub/menu.lst ?

Willem

[melodie]

You will find it under grub/ which is under /boot

here you can see a file system tree:

http://www.datarecoverytools.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/linux-file-system-layout.png

(it is simplified, it's just to give you the idea);

This sign : /

means the root (not root as user root, but root as the start of the filesystem)

and this sign : /boot means the boot directory under /

and this : boot/ means the boot directory. This : home/ means the home directory.

/home/willem

means : full path to willem home user directory, starting from / (root)

[melodie]

hello Melodie,

unfortunate adding /sbin/halt;/  did not do the trick...................

I didn't tell you to put "/sbin/halt;/" but "/sbin/halt;".

Please check the file where it is written:

/etc/X11/gdm/custom.conf

you should see a line with this in it now:

Code:

HaltCommand=/sbin/halt;/usr/bin/poweroff;/sbin/poweroff;/sbin/shutdown -h now;/usr/sbin/shutdown -h now

If it does not look strictly like this you can edit it (with root priviledges). It is the file which is written by the gui GDM configuration.

[Muppet]

hello Melodie,

i did add /sbin/halt;/ to the complete line. it was therefore
/sbin/halt;/usr/bin/poweroff;/sbin/poweroff;/sbin/shutdown -h now;/usr/sbin/shutdown -h now

it was showing in the
/etc/X11/gdm/custom.conf

since it is all new to me sorry that i did confuse you. it did not correct unfortunate.

then i went for the suggestion ;

"acpi=off" on the kernel command line of the file /boot/grub/menu.lst.

after editing i did a reboot and everywhere error messages and no display anymore.

i have done a complete new install. after the install i did immediate a check for the shutdown sequence. it went ok.

then i did the update thru synaptic and after this was done a check for the shutdown sequence and went ok aswell...................

for now the problem of shutdown in resolved.

had a busy day and have learned something more about linux.

what i have noticed (this was also in the previous install after the update) that when i have done the update thru synaptic i have 2 icons for mixervolume in the taskbar........

any suggestions for fixing this perhaps ?

Willem

[melodie]

what i have noticed (this was also in the previous install after the update) that when i have done the update thru synaptic i have 2 icons for mixervolume in the taskbar........

any suggestions for fixing this perhaps ?

Willem

This is caused by the new Openbox version which has added it to it's own default autostart setting. You can remove it from the /home/willem/.config/openbox/autostart.sh file.

regards,
Mélodie

[Muppet]

hello Melodie,

double seeing volume icon is resolved.

in addition i would like to ask the following;

i have in this 'old' computer  2 hard drives installed of 40Gb,
on the first is windows and on the second now openbox

i notice that if i have started up openbox and the desktop is on the screen, there is some harddrive activity going on, even if i am not doing anything. could this have to do that one of the drives is a windows installation or is it something different perhaps ?

Willem

[melodie]

Hi,

No idea about that. You have the full Openbox, right ? How much time does the activity last ? Is it when you have just started the session, or a while after ? Does it last long ?

You could open htop and look for what processes are using CPU, or RAM, or doing whatever you can find about them. Htop is in the monitoring section, but you can also open a console widely : open the terminal, hit F11, it will be then in full screen, type htop, hit enter. You have menus at the bottom of the screen. When you want to quit hit F10, if you want to get out of full screen hit F11 again.

Here I have Windows, PCLinuxOS, and one more distribution installed to the same hard drive and no such thing as the hard drive making noise.

[Muppet]

hello Melodie,

i have opened the terminal with command htop and watched processes. couldn't see abnormal things. but, still....something is going on. i see the lightindicator unregulary blinking and on some moments my cursor is stalling for a second or  two. this is going on as soon as i have started the session and conitues some time. sometimes it freezes also my computer completely and do i have to make a hard reset.

sometimes i see that the clock is behind time and even if i can still can work in the program that i have opened i know when i am closing it, all the rest is frozen and do have to make a hard reset also.

since windows is on a seperatedrive, is it perhaps mounting this drive at the background ?

if not, i will continue to monitor what could cause this perhaps. i have the impression it is only in the first 10-15 minutes after startup

i use openbox 2011.8 with update and default login.

i have noticed something about the shutdown sequence;

if i use the normal menu from the taskbar to logout and then choose shutdown it goes al ok.

if i rightclick at the desktop and choose shutdown as shortcut it starts automaticly my computer after a few seconds up again..........

Willem

[melodie]

Hi,

Does you machine have a 32bits cpu or a 64bits cpu ? And one more question : have you considered setting up your timezone and activate ntp with the closest time server near your place ? In PCC, System, Manage date and time.

since windows is on a seperatedrive, is it perhaps mounting this drive at the background ?

I don't think so. You can check it with the command "mount" without any argument, in a root console.

if i use the normal menu from the taskbar to logout and then choose shutdown it goes al ok.
if i rightclick at the desktop and choose shutdown as shortcut it starts automaticly my computer after a few seconds up again..........

It is a random behavior. The command line is the same in both cases. You should first setup your timezone, activate ntpd, then after a few sessions if that behavior continues, add "acpi=off" on the kernel command line (again). This what it should look like:

title linux
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=A-LONG-NUMBER acpi=off splash=quiet vga=788
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

Regards,
Mélodie

[Muppet]

hello Melodie,

thank you for all the info.

my computer has a 32bit cpu. i have set up the timezone according to your suggestion.

the coming days i will watch how the things will work out. i come back with an update next week.

greetings,

Willem

[Muppet]

hello,

i have tried several distro's like; lxde,lxde mini,kde mini and at the moment openbox bonsai

i have still the issue that with all these distro's short after startup my computer freezes.

i have opened as suggested by Melodie htop and could see at open that there was 1 program open and although i did nothing else i saw that sometimes change to 2 or 3 and then back to 1 open program. i can not identify what programs are doing that , but i have the impression that one of them is stalling my computer..........

now i have openbox bonsai installed i have noticed a certain error message (openbox 2011.8 had same message) like;

when shutting down i can see shortly something with tt1/ localhost.login:libpng error, read error

is this something that does need attention ?

regards,

Willem

[melodie]

when shutting down i can see shortly something with tt1/ localhost.login:libpng error, read error

is this something that does need attention ?

regards,

Willem

Hi,

No, the "libpng read error" message is not important. It does it on all, it's when Plymouth finishes to display the boot image. We never quite understood how this message appeared and what triggers it, but we all have been living with it for more than one year now. You can neglect it.

Now, let me think about this freeze, which occurs with all versions : is your Graphic Card a nVidia ? If yes, which model exactly ? If it is a nVidia and according to the model, there might be some options which can be added in the xorg.conf file for it.

If your GPU is not nvidia, we will have to continue seeking for some clues.

[Muppet]

hello Melodie,

yes, nvidia is my graphic card, but which program can i use to identify what card it is exactly ?

Willem