Topic: Like windows?

[Sean Browne]

Hi,

Me e-smith 5.6 has started crashing daily.  Before this it was up as a 5.5 for about a year and as a 5.6 for about 2 months.

Last night I went to access webmail and had a load of error messages in browser so I connected onto server-manager and rebooted and the thing been down since.  Have to have a look at it when I go in this morning.

With Windows, I found quite often a format / reinstall / restore would solve problems.  Is this a possibility with e-smith?  Or is there another procedure.

Any help appreciated.

Sean

[James Pybus]

I have had many problems with e-smith & Linux in general but all were my fault. I have installed, played and broken many distributions. Have you added many add-ons or similar?

I am by no means any kind of learned Linux guru only been playing in my spare time for a couple of years. But the only time I have had the kind of issues that you describe is when I have done something. The same goes for dreded Windows, I know it is inherently unstable but if you install it on a PC with office and stuff you really use, then dont do anything other than use it. Chances are that it will run for many years.

Also could quite possibly be a hardware issue.

I have heard quite a few people sing the praises of the Knoppix boot from CD distribution as an extremely proficient rescue utility. Perhaps you could get hold of that and see if you can use it to find out more about your problem. If you had no luck with that I suggest doing an upgrade from the e-smith CD you have got. That way you would not loose any info on the system. If all else fails I would then do a format re-install.

I hope some of this is of use.

James

[RayG]

I've had stability issues with SME in the past. In both cases I was able to solve the crashes by removing the snort guardian package.

Power problems can also wreak havoc on linux boxes without proper battery backup and automated shutdown.

[Michael Smith]

I'd REALLY suspect hardware here, specifically flaky RAM.

[Tom Keiser]

I'd agree about the hardware. My only crashes were the result of bad power, and, in another instance, a boot disk that had gradually gotten corrupted.  (Power problem turned out to be a power cord with a broken internal wire; when disturbed only slightly, it would kill, then re-establish power to the server). Including flaky memory, those are 3 good places to look. And if you're on a UPS, substitute a different one and a different power cord, just to be certain.


Michael Smith wrote:
>
> I'd REALLY suspect hardware here, specifically flaky RAM.