[COLUG] Boot problems

[jep200404]

Mark Erbaugh wrote:

> In the last two days, my workstation has developed a booting problem, or
> actually, the problem has worsened. 

> Is my computer telling me it wants to be replaced?

No, it's telling you to give the motherboard to me. :-)

More seriously, first you need to figure out if you have 
a hardware problem, or software problem. One of the 
general rules of debugging things is to do the easy stuff 
first. Here's some easy stuff. 

1. Look at the electrolytic caps on the motherboard. 
   I've seen bad caps cause wierd inconsistent boot problems. 
   If they are bulged, they are bad. Replace them. 

      http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Acolug.net+bulged
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

   If the caps are bad and you don't want to replace them, 
   pass the motherboard to me. 

2. Boot a Knoppix disk. If you have trouble doing that, 
   it suggests that you have a hardware problem. 

3. If you get to Knoppix's boot prompt, run memtest. 
   If memtest fails, you have a hardware problem. 
   However, beware of treating symptoms. If memtest 
   fails, your hardware problem might _not_ be bad memory.