PCLOS 2010 Live CD won't run on a machine running PCLOS 2008

[gilado]

This is an old eMachines T3302 running fully updated PCLOS 2008. Everything works.

The PCLOS 2010.7 Live CD boots up and gets (sometimes) to the desktop screen.  This takes a long time, with the CD drive making a lot of seeking noise. If I switch to a command line screen (Ctrl-Alt-F1) while its going I can log in as root (verry slow) run top and see IOWait is at 75% or so.

I tested the CD on another machine and it works fine. To check the CD drive on this machine, I booted the machine into its installed PCLOS 2008, mounted the CD and copied livecd.sqfs to the desktop.  The CD spinned up properly and the transfer rate was 4MB/s.

Sometimes before I get to the desktop, the screen changes to show smeared colors and the machine freezes.

Sometimes it gets to the desktop, start loading (very slowly) the different panel widgets, then the screen goes blank.  The machine still works and if for example I press  Ctrl-Esc I get the process list, however, I don't have a desktop.

The installed PCLOS 2008 reports:

# uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.22.15.tex2 #1 SMP Mon Dec 17 23:18:44 CST 2007
i686 AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3300+ GNU/Linux

# cat /etc/release
PCLinuxOS release 2010 (PCLinuxOS) for i586

Kde control center:

KDE version: 3.5.10
User: odinak1
Hostname: local.localdomain
System: Linux
Release: 2.6.22.15.tex2
Machine: i686

PCC hardware info:

Vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
Description: VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller
Media class: IDE interface
Bus: PCI PCI domain: 0 Bus PCI #: 0 PCI device #: 15 PCI function #: 0
Vendor ID: 0x1106 Device ID: 0x3149 Sub vendor ID: 0x1509 Sub device ID: 0x6001
Module: sata_via
Description: VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE
Media class: IDE interface
Bus: PCI PCI domain: 0 Bus PCI #: 0 PCI device #: 15 PCI function #: 1
Vendor ID: 0x1106 Device ID: 0x0571 Sub vendor ID: 0x1509 Sub device ID: 0x6001
Module: pata_via

Vendor: Seagate Technology
Model: 160021A
Media class: hd
Vendor ID: 0x0000 Device ID: 0x0000 Sub vendor ID: 0x0000 Sub device ID: 0x0000
Bus: ide Channel: primary
Old device  /dev/hda
Primary partitions: 2 (hda1, hda2)
Extended partitions: 3 (hda5, hda6, hda7)
Geometry: 19457/255/63 (CHS)
Disk controller: 0

Vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
Description: K8M800/K8N800/K8N800A [S3 UniChrome Pro]
Media class: VGA compatible controller
Bus: PCI domain: 0 Bus PCI #: 1 PCI device #: 0 PCI function #: 0
Vendor ID: 0x1106 Device ID: 0x3108 Sub vendor ID: 0x1509 Sub device ID: 0x6001
Module: Card:S3 UniChrome-based cards with 3D support


Processor ID: 1
Vendor: AuthenticAMD
Model name: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3300+
Cpuid family: 15 Model: 44 Model stepping: 2
Vendor ID: 0x0000 Device ID: 0x0000 Sub vendor ID: 0x0000 Sub device ID: 0x0000
Frequency (MHz): 2000.000 Cache size: 128 KB Bogomips: 4004.66
Fdiv bug: No Coma bug: No F00f bug: No Halt bug:No
Is FPU present: Yes Whether the FPU has an irq vector: Yes
Cpuid level: 1
Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat
       pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext
       3dnow up pni lahf_lm ts fid vid ttp tm stc
Write protection: Yes

[gallup]

I see your hardware is pretty dated, might not work well with full kde version. Have you tried lxde, openbox or xfce versions?
I have a machine that is much more capable than yours as a spare (Pentium D @ 2800 MHz with 2Gig ram, radion x300 gpu) and it does not run kde verson of 2010.7 speedily as I like, but does play well with lxde.
Realize I am not patient and kde 4.5 does work on my machine, just not nearly as fat as 2008 kde3 did.

[T6]

my dektop has similar specs on mainboard and slower cpu(only a 2600)

i don't use the via s3 video card, i have a ati 9200 in the agp port, kde4 works very well here

how much ram do you have?

about the cdrom drive, it sounds like it is time to replace it, some drives will work for 5+ years but others can die in 6 months

[gilado]

Just to be clear, the HW works perfectly with the already installed PCLOS 2008 (fully updated to the last 2009) including the CDROM.

The machine has 512MB of ram, 64MB is shared video ram.  I tried booting the Live CD into safe mode. It worked better I got a working desktop, sound worked, network (ping) worked.  When I tried running Firefox, it started to load, then the machine froze.

I have a laptop with only 512MB of memory running PCLOS 2007.7 with no issues.  My suspicion is that the Live CD steps over the shared video memory.




 

[gallup]

Can you partition your hdd or use an existing partition to install to do some testing on an install vs live cd?
Just remember you will wipe that partition when installing.

[T6]

the new pclinux kde4 requires more ram specially with that particular video card using that much shared ram(i only let those to use 16 or 32 mbs), you need at least 768 mbs to load woll the livecd and also to work with the installed system, 1 gb is better, this is why cdrom is working so hard when loading livecd

upgrade ram to see improvements or consider loading gnome, xfce, lxde or e17 versions and then add kde4 to compare performance

on the laptop you will have the same problem, video card not cooperative and low on ram and you need more ram to load kde4

[MGBguy]

I see your hardware is pretty dated, might not work well with full kde version. Have you tried lxde, openbox or xfce versions?
I have a machine that is much more capable than yours as a spare (Pentium D @ 2800 MHz with 2Gig ram, radion x300 gpu) and it does not run kde verson of 2010.7 speedily as I like, but does play well with lxde.
Realize I am not patient and kde 4.5 does work on my machine, just not nearly as fat as 2008 kde3 did.

My thought also. You are working with hardware way before what can be considered current. Go with a light distro. I'm using Xfce on an very old (2 years) motherboard.

It's amazing how fast technology moves forward. 

[T6]

i disagree with you MG, i have similar hardware and running a atom and both runs kde4 perfectly, including compiz, it is not necessary to use a more light desktop/os

the problem here is the amount of ram and livecd

[gilado]

I had a 256MB stick so I put it in the machine. It now has 768MB (704MB for the OS because of the shared video memory)

I am running it off of the Live CD as I write this post. I had to boot it in safe mode, as the normal mode ended with a pinkish screen ?

So it looks like indeed you need more memory to boot the Live CD.  Too bad it does not say something like "Out of Memory" and instead randomly crashes or freezes.  The Hardware requirements on the download page should also be changed as currently it says "RAM : 512 MB minimum, 1 GB recommended." (although it's true that this machine actually had a bit less than 512MB, however, even with 704MB I still have to boot it into safe mode)

[Crow]

Just was to post about memory but I see you solved that point.

1GB RAM and a cheap video card could make that computer run much better, otherwise a lighter DE should be a better choice.

[Texstar]

As a test, I'm running KDE 4 on an original eeepc 701 with 512 mb of memory and a 4 gig sd card. I used a usb cdrom to install it on the computer. It runs a bit slow but it does work.

I also have a nforce2 mobo system and it chokes real bad with 2010.07. Guess it is just too old.

[Old-Polack]

As a test, I'm running KDE 4 on an original eeepc 701 with 512 mb of memory and a 4 gig sd card. I used a usb cdrom to install it on the computer. It runs a bit slow but it does work.

I also have a nforce2 mobo system and it chokes real bad with 2010.07. Guess it is just too old.

Slap 2GB Ram in that puppy and it should be fine.

[root@littleboy ~]# uname -a
Linux littleboy.home.local 2.6.33.7-pclos2 #1 SMP Sun Aug 22 13:16:52 CDT 2010 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2100+ GNU/Linux

This is also an nforce2 mobo, and except for the lack of a proper nvidia driver for the on board graphics, runs pretty good. It was a dog with only 768 MB RAM, but with the two 1GB sticks runs like a champ.

[Ramchu]

Definitely more ram is the answer !

I was also running 512MB of ram and running the live PCLOS CD was a real pain, I did finally get 2010.7 installed
and thought that it was running good - that was until I purchased and installed 2X1 gig sticks of ram.

What an amazing difference, I can now run the live CD with no problems and it runs as fast, if not faster, than the install on 512 MB ram.

just my 2 cents

Ramchu   

[T6]

"So it looks like indeed you need more memory to boot the Live CD.  Too bad it does not say something like "Out of Memory" and instead randomly crashes or freezes."

it at least try but since it doesn't find enough ram because video card steals some required ram it makes the process fail

in the case Texstar presents the video card is a intel and it can be voluble in the amount of shared ram it uses

about the amount of ram and the video card, after the installation process you can remove the extra module and leave it with 512, i have used kde 4.3 with 256, i think i tested 4.4 too, it uses lots of swap, it is fun

if you install 1 gb, kde doesn't use it all, only uses 400 to 500 mbs, the rest remains unused, one of those weird things with kde4 

[gilado]

After adding memory and testing all features using the Live CD, I upgraded the machine and now it works great and is fast.

Indeed, it only uses about 400MB of ram. It looks like the live CD needs a ramdisk of about 300MB that it carves out of the available memory.

Could a boot option be added where instead of ramdisk the live CD would use a swap partition if one already exists and is large enough?