Build tips
Tips for troubleshooting and repairing common problems that we see in the build workshops.
Hard drives
GRUB GRUB GRUB GRUB
symptom: The system does not go into grub, but instead chants GRUB GRUB GRUB GRUB ad infinitum.
solution: Go into the BIOS, change the hard drive detection from auto to user, and change LBA to LARGE. Dave says this works 90% of the time, and the remaining 10% might be able to be fixed with a BIOS upgrade but - who's got the time for that? switch the hdd. we have more. --User:ideath 13:06, 12 May 2005 (PDT)
Hard drive clicks
symptom: cool noises
solution: recycle that drive!
SMART warning
if the SMART utilities say the drive is gonna die, replace it. --User:ideath 13:06, 12 May 2005 (PDT)
System not booting after baseserver install
- Reboot from a cloner disk
- Choose {boot to harddisk if grub failed to install}
- login as root
- do grub-install hd0
- reboot
BIOS problems
Password lock
No visible way of getting into BIOS
Hardware problems
When trying to enter BIOS, and you can't, try swapping out the IDE cables. I think this needs more detail. There are many cases when it is difficult to get into BIOS; i don't think i've seen one where the culprit was the IDE cables. -laurel
Sound
not finding sound card
symptoms: message reading "/dev/dsp can't be found"; onboard sound; IRQ 5 has nothing on it; alsaconf doesn't detect a PCI or PNP soundcard. This happened on two Dell Optiplexes.
solution: Google says they use a Crystal ISA sound card, which was an option in alsaconf. You may be able to find information about the sound chip used for your onboard sound. --User:ideath 13:06, 12 May 2005 (PDT)
won't play audio CDs
symptoms: the audio test in basiccheck plays sound, but you don't get any sound from an audio CD. KsCD ("Audio CD") recognizes the CD and looks like it's playing.
solution: make sure the cable from the sound card to the CDROM is plugged in to both; double check if there are multiple places it can plug into the sound card and look for labels that might give you clues; try a different cable if it still doesn't work. --User:ideath
"device /dev/dsp can't be opened"
symptoms: when KDE starts, an error message pops up saying "Error while initializing the sound driver: device /dev/dsp can't be opened (no such device)". Then sound no work. Wah.
solution: in a FreekBox, this is generally a problem with the sound card (often an AE Vortex PCI sound card), which should be replaced, and the offending card given to Dave so he can figure out a good fix. If you're working on a non-Freekbox/Grantbox/Storebox system and have this problem, here's a method for troubleshooting /dev/dsp can't be opened.
Video
X tries to start & fails
symptoms: you get the grey screen as if kdm were starting, but it eventually blinks out and drops you to the text login.keyboard and mouse are PS/2
solution: make sure the mouse is plugged in properly and in the correct port and reboot. X won't start if it doesn't think it has a mouse. --User:ideath 13:06, 12 May 2005 (PDT)
symptoms: you're returned to the console with the message "no screens found" and you're using certain kinds of ATI card (including the Riva128 card)
solution: Change the default color depth to 15, in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 --User:Jeff
X won't start; video driver for onboard chip identified as "unknown"
Video problem with onboard video chip : VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623 [Apollo CLE266] integrated CastleRock graphics (rev 03).
solution: Change the driver to via in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 Jeff 03:13, 6 Aug 2005 (PDT)
second solution: Change the driver to vesa in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 if via doesn't work. Jeff 03:14, 6 Aug 2005 (PDT)
X overdrives monitor
symptoms: monitor presents high frequency scan lines and displays squished version of x
solution: check for IRQ conflict and set IRQ 3 only to legacy.
Magix identified the chip but chose "unknown" driver. X wouldn't start. When we substituted "via" for "unknown" in the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file, x windows would start but the only resolution we could get was 600x480. A bunch of googling later we tried "vesa" for the driver and kdm worked fine. --Roy Marshall
symptoms: everything's fine until you try to go into X; then the monitor says FREQ OUT OF RANGE. it's the first time this previously-configured system has been used with this particular monitor.
solution: run magix to reconfigure X with the proper frequencies.
Login problems
Can't log in
symptoms: you try to log in with kdm, it pauses very briefly and drops back to grey screen/login.
solution: no clue.
suggestions: go to the command line (ctrl-alt-f1) login as root, turn off kdm and run startx
freekbox~# /etc/init.d/kdm stop freekbox~# startx
see what the error message is. If that doesn't work, try checking the logs in /var/log/X<tab>
- I am assuming this is where the kdm login screen appears, but logging in does not go to the desktop, but back to the kdm login. I have had two situations where this happens. One was a box with all the hard drive space used up. The other was where I was trying to log into a window manager that was not actually installed. -- MW 09:39, 19 Aug 2005 (PDT)
Networking
Flaky ethernet card
symptom: the computer can't connect to the network after it's been imaged.
solution: Some ethernet cards will work to install the image, but not to connect from the OS. I generally end up swapping out the NIC and it will work fine. -- MW
Modems
moved to modem configuration
CD Drives
Troubleshooting
CD Drive not being recognized? First, check all of your connections, are they are secure? Is the jumper set to master?* Check the BIOS and make sure there isn't a misconfiguration. Open up a term, and run "dmesg | grep hd"--does anything come up on hdc? Finally, you may have a bad cable, try attaching a new one to the motherboard. If all this fails, grab a new CD drive and start over, going through all these steps. If your result is the same, you may have a bad CD controller, or IDE connection, consult a build instructor.
note: if the jumper is set to slave, you'll probably have trouble even booting up.
Extras
- CD burners are not a standard part of FreekBoxen, but some builders install them in their own computers. See: Installing a CD burner
- DVD players -- see Enabling a DVD-ROM
- Dual processor support see: SMP Kernels