F8 very slow to boot, hangs; Hangs on reinstall, too!

juanzo007 · #1 18th January 2008, 05:53 AM

Hey Folks...

New to linux (tried ubuntu for 10 days or so) and am trying to get my first Fedora 8 install up and running. If you could just point me in a direction to do my own problem solving, I'm happy to do the digging, I don't want to impose on anyone to hold my hand!!

Install seemed fine. Now trying to boot the system up, it takes several minutes to get to the user logon page, then serveral more minutes to get to the desktop, which then only displays a few desktop items. There is this error message:

"There was an error starting the GNOME Settings Daemon, last message was:

Did not receive reply, causes:

remote application did not send reply, message has security policy blocked reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

GNOME will try to restart next log in."

I did a media check before the install. I tried to reinstall, but that locks up to right after checking media.

Any suggestions? Much thanks in advance...

juanzo007 · #2 18th January 2008, 06:26 AM

uh oh....

Guess I'm gonna get a little more education here... I decided to try to reinstall Ubuntu back on the machine in question, and I'm a constant string of errors:

[394.xxxxxxxxxbuffer i/o device sr0 errors
[605.xxxxxxxx] SQUASHFS block fac07d5... errors, constant stream of them...

Wipe the disk? Killdisk?

Thetargos · #3 18th January 2008, 07:52 AM

Congratulations, you seem to have a dying HDD on your hands. Or some other components might be failing (I lean strongly towards HDD, but it could also be the PSU or the power rail the HDD is attached to), RAM is also likely, though not as highly likely as both the HDD and PSU (in that order), especially if was working correctly before (and there were no other symptoms). Has there been any power surges recently?

juanzo007 · #4 18th January 2008, 08:01 AM

geez, this is a brand new system less than a week old. installed easy, ran fine on ubuntu. No power surges. Is there some stupid way I could have fried the HDD on my own by installing Fedora? Any way to bench test this?

I tried an ubuntu reinstall, no luck. tried to install F7 live version, and it wont even bother to try to boot from the DVD (selecting boot device, of course), it goes straight to booting F8. Am considering wipiong the disk with dban. Suggestions?

juanzo007 · #5 18th January 2008, 08:10 AM

I think you're right about the HDD, its spinning, but very weak and not much activity otherwise. I'll hunt around to see why a brand new drive would fail like this, I won't doubt user error, but the fact that it happened right after a first time fedora install is suspicious as well.

Thetargos · #6 18th January 2008, 08:17 AM

Or rather unfortunate coincidence... Has happened to me as well, not with Linux, but when I moved from Win'98 to Win2K, exactly the same... Albeit it was a drive with a few years on its back

I don't think it is a software related issue, since:

Ubuntu and Fedora, both use the same filesystem.
Ubuntu and Fedora, both perform a quick format, no lowlevel, surface checking format (which takes forever on big partitions, heck it takes almost half an hour on a ~50Gb partition)
There is no low-level manipulation of the drive's firmware from any drivers (Ubuntu does have a more dated kernel and hence older drivers than Fedora, so the chance is there that a driver might have messed up the drive, though very remote, especially if you can tell which brand the disk is), the drivers do not manipulate the drive's directly, but rather through the disc controller on the motherboard or addon-cards.

If you can, try to place the HDD onto another computer and try that, that may be indicative of a PSU problem rather than an HDD problem, some PSUs are more prone to failure than others, and it may indeed have died doing its duty to protect your computer's internals, and frying itself in the process.

Edit

By the way, the fact that your PC isn't booting from the DVD drive, is indicative of either:

The CMOS memory cleared BIOS settings (this might actually corroborate a power-related problem).
There's no data connection between the motherboard (BIOS) and the drive

I find it most likely to be the first case, personally, especially if otherwise the drive is seen (say, like in the boot POST screen)

havelday · #7 18th January 2008, 09:42 AM

Strange, but is sr0 your CDROM drive or your hard disk? If it's the CDROM
then the prompt your getting doesn't make much sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by juanzo007

uh oh....

Guess I'm gonna get a little more education here... I decided to try to reinstall Ubuntu back on the machine in question, and I'm a constant string of errors:

[394.xxxxxxxxxbuffer i/o device sr0 errors
[605.xxxxxxxx] SQUASHFS block fac07d5... errors, constant stream of them...

Wipe the disk? Killdisk?

leigh123linux · #8 18th January 2008, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by juanzo007

uh oh....

Guess I'm gonna get a little more education here... I decided to try to reinstall Ubuntu back on the machine in question, and I'm a constant string of errors:

[394.xxxxxxxxxbuffer i/o device sr0 errors
[605.xxxxxxxx] SQUASHFS block fac07d5... errors, constant stream of them...

Wipe the disk? Killdisk?

These errors seems to relate to the cd drive and a LiveCD problem ( SQUASHFS is the file system used for liveCD's )

forkbomb · #9 18th January 2008, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by juanzo007

I think you're right about the HDD, its spinning, but very weak and not much activity otherwise. I'll hunt around to see why a brand new drive would fail like this, I won't doubt user error, but the fact that it happened right after a first time fedora install is suspicious as well.

I too doubt this is a software-related issue.

As far as why brand new components fail, it happens. Fact of the matter. Some parts are even DOA (dead on arrival). Some parts fail after a week. Some last a few months then fail.

Had a Rosewill PSU fry on me for no apparent reason. Died - completely - about a week after I put the box together. When I took it out, I was able to shake it and hear something loose inside the PSU

. Hate to fathom what happened (apparently fried while I was off to class, so I wasn't around to hear any mysterious noises). I RMA'd it to Newegg, got my replacement, plugged everything in, and the PSU has been great ever since. Just the way the chips fall.

Hopefully you find hardware vendors where these sorts of problems (DOAs, premature failures) are minimal.

Is this a custom build box or a "brand name" box?

juanzo007 · #10 18th January 2008, 04:23 PM

Thanks for the detailed replies, guys - one of the reasons I switched to Fedora was because of the reputation of this forum. lots of good problem solving info. Much appreciated!!

It's a custom built box. My first one, so I also don't doubt operator error, b/c i think i accidentally fried the first HDD (this latest one is brand new, I was super careful, studied up on how not to screw it up). Anyways, I'll do a little more digging tonight and post the results..

Thetargos · #11 18th January 2008, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by juanzo007

Thanks for the detailed replies, guys - one of the reasons I switched to Fedora was because of the reputation of this forum. lots of good problem solving info. Much appreciated!!

It's a custom built box. My first one, so I also don't doubt operator error, b/c i think i accidentally fried the first HDD (this latest one is brand new, I was super careful, studied up on how not to screw it up). Anyways, I'll do a little more digging tonight and post the results..

If you weren't "grounded" when plugging in the components, there's the small chance for static electricity discharges that can fry some parts (for instance, the HDD's motor). If you can, get a wrist "discharger" (A small bracelet with a metal plate (electrode) attached to a cable which you can attach to a "grounded" metal surface (say, a door frame, the computer's case metal frame, etc)

forkbomb · #12 18th January 2008, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thetargos

If you weren't "grounded" when plugging in the components, there's the small chance for static electricity discharges that can fry some parts (for instance, the HDD's motor). If you can, get a wrist "discharger" (A small bracelet with a metal plate (electrode) attached to a cable which you can attach to a "grounded" metal surface (say, a door frame, the computer's case metal frame, etc)

You also may want to crunch the numbers on your components' wattage to make sure you have ample power from the PSU.

Thetargos · #13 18th January 2008, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjvanwyk

You also may want to crunch the numbers on your components' wattage to make sure you have ample power from the PSU.

Indeed, and never, NEVER manipulate your PC's internals with the power cord attached to the PSU, even if the power switch of the PSU is set to 'off', think of those poor electrons flowing in the air!

!

juanzo007 · #14 19th January 2008, 08:17 AM

Thanks again for the conscientious responses, everybody.

Ok, well, a new hdd was installed. I was stupid-careful, that damn hdd touched nothing except the silicone it rests on in the slide-in drive, and the sata and power connections. Everything disconnected, grounded myself, grounded the box, no carpet. New surge protector.

500w psu...

Fedora 8 installed without issue, but does not connect to my ethernet/network. A seperate issue I put into networking forum.

Now if u have any input into how to get F8 to recognize my eth0 adapter........ Much appreciated!!!