Browsers crashing

[Dodge]

I've been having major Web Browsers crashing. I thought maybe it was due to not having enough memory. So I just added 512mb's Crucial PC2700 ram. Ran for a few minutes and browsers are still crashing. I checked and I was using 270mb of 768mb's. So thats not the problem.

Any Ideas?

Also I have a 500mb Swap file setup on a separate HD. Mandrake isn't accessing it for some reason. I set it to 500 before adding the extra memory...


EDIT

Just as I was typing this, the Konqueror browswer closed on its own for some reason. I had just made a reply to a post at Vdr, and I'm guessing it didn't get to post...

[twistedcranium]

Are you noticing this just in Konqueror or in other browsers as well? Mozilla, Netscape, Galleon etc?

[Dodge]

Its in all the browsers. Seems like Gnome is the worst though. It hangs and doesn't want to close at all. Mozilla has only done it once. Konqueror seems to just close automatically for some reason, which is better than hanging.

[twistedcranium]

Dodge....

I just stumbled onto something in the Red Hat doc where they discuss Netscape crashing when attempting to run java and it might have something to do with the font server.

Here is the intro blurb....

" Question:

Netscape keeps crashing when I reach a page with Java applets in it. I have also noticed that some of my applications do not display fonts correctly. What is going on?

Answer:

If could be possible that your system does not have a complete list of fontpath for X to use. "

If you think this might help, check the following link...
http://www.redhat.com/support/resources/faqs/rhl_general_faq/s1-install.html

and do a 'find in this page' on "Preventing Netscape From Crashing"

[janusz]

Greetings!

Re: browsers crashes

My 2 cents worth: Just for the record, a couple of things to be aware of:

1. Alt-F4 closes any open program.

2. Selecting another desktop will make any open program disappear. If so, then you should still have some indication that the browser is active in the KDE panel taskbar (bottom)

3. Clicking on the XKill button and then on ANY open program will definitely terminate any frozen program.

I use Mozilla, Opera, and Konqueror. All work just fine and Opera is super! Konqueror will once in a while "stall" on some web pages but recovers. But to have several browsers crash is unusual, indeed. I could understand it if it were Windows but this is Linux, one stable OS.

So, obviously, whatever the problem, it seems to be common to all of the browsers.

Do you have the latest Java plug-ins? Shockwave Flash?


Re: wine

You had a post on another site about Linux/WinMX and Wine. Just a comment: You might verify but I think Wine requires Intel x86 processors.


Janusz
Age doesn't always bring wisdom. Sometimes age comes alone.

[Dodge]

Thanks for the suggestions. Since upgrading the ram. After a few minutes of running the machine, Konqueror just closed out, Mozilla froze majorly, and netscape froze later on also. Since then though, Mozilla has been the one wanting to freeze. The other seem to work fine. I'll put them through more of a test this weekend when i have time.

I kinda think it may have something to do with the swap file not working. It shows the swap file, but doesn't use it. Not sure why. I'll try to figure that one out later on.

Will take a look at that link TC posted.


As for WinMx, I was just curious about that one. Didn't know if it was wine or what that let it install.


Thanks again.

[janusz]

I have 256Mb ram and I see little or no swap activity - even when I load up the programs there's little activity (1%). I monitor it with KDE Control Panel-Information-Memory graphics. It is a dynamic display and you can see memory effects as you load programs, etc.

You have a 768Mb ram?!! You may never see swap activity!! ;)

Ummm. Is is possible that the original ram to have some bad cells resulting in errors? I say this because lockups, freezes, etc. may also be an indication of ram problem. Let's see, you had the problem before you added the new ram, so . . . what if you removed the 'old' ram and see how it performs with the new 512Mb?? Just a thought.

j

[Dodge]

Good Idea Janusz. Here is what I have done and found out today.

I went into Partition magic and found that the Partition that I told Mandrake to install to was empty. Nothing had been installed there. So evidently Linux installed in with Win/98 on C drive. I only had 589mb's left out of 6.2 gig that I had set for C: drive. Not sure what I did wrong there. Doesn't make sense actually.

I used Partition magic to format the Unused space that linux was supposed to be on and then Mandrake wasn't accessible..... (Confused to say the least on this crap)

Anyways. I got rid of everything on my 60 gig drive including Win/2000 & XP. I got rid fo all partitions. Then created new ones.

I told Mandrake to install on Hdb and it did.

Now for the freezing and stuff... As of right now I only have Konqueror browser open and of coarse Kppp.... It shows that I'm using 213mb's of 756 available. (Still dont quite understand the linux usage of memory, read a bit on that last night and will read more tonight)

Anyways. When I got on here this evening with my old setup. I was using 751 of 756mb's available. After a reboot I only gained 3mb's back. Which leads me to beleive it was mainly in the way it installed.

If I have problems this time with it, I will most definately take out the Old ram and see how it operates then. (thanks for the suggestion) I actually had mentioned to my wife about a month ago that I thought the memory was going bad. Numerous problems in windows lead me to the ram as being the culprit. Just couldn't narrow it down exactly. Intermediate problems....

Will post back with results later tonight or tomorrow....

[janusz]

Yup. Been down that road . . . of frustration. Linux will "develop" your patience - or your frustration! :) You have to be philosophical about it . . . it's a learning experience with trials and errors!

Here are some things that I made notes on when I was trying to setup a dual boot system:

After installing Windows XP and doing the Partition Magic stuff . . .

When installing Mandrake instead of the default installation select Expert (advanced) mode. The beginner's installation (default) will not let you control the boot process. It's okay for single Mandrake OS but not for dual boot system.

(As far as what programs to select the first time, be generous. You can always uninstall later. If you're not into development, then you may not want to select those programs, but no harm if you do. If you're using Mandrake as simple desktop you may not want to install all the server stuff, but no harm if you do.)

Okay to let Mandrake automatically create the Linux partitions on your HD's unformatted space. IMPORTANT: take note of the./ (root partition) hdaX (where X = a number), you will need it later to configure lilo. Write it down somewhere.

IMPORTANT: When the boot configuration come's up, Mandrake will set the lilo boot loader to start on hda1 - make sure you replace this with the ./ hdaX (the one you made a note of). Otherwise, it may write to MBR of windows.

Make sure you make the Mandrake boot floppy! Are you using Boot Magic as your boot loader? Well, you can reboot to windows and run Boot Magic. All should work okay.


Janusz
Age doesn't always bring wisdom. Sometimes age comes alone.

[Dodge]

I'm using Bootmagic now as I had a slight problem a bit ago. I installed mandrake on the second hd. Everything went great. Got online quickly etc..... Then for some reason while I was posting a reply to someone in the xp forum. Which took me about 15 minutes total. Konqueror just shut down. Everything else was working great. Only using about 150mb's of memory and no swap file. So it should have been fine.

Anyways, I ended up rebooting a few minutes after that. No bootloaders at all. Just came up writing 99 99 99 99... So I tried reinstalling the linux bootloader. Didn't do anything. So I ended up using my 98bootdisk and ran fdisk /mbr... Got it going there. So I put bootmagic to use then. Linux and windows are now booting fine. So far everything is running ok.

Also, I did take the old stick of ram out. Wasn't much different. When I installed Mandrake this time, I configured all the Processes that were going to startup. So there isn't much here now. ALso decided to take the Rockwell Modem sound card out of the system. Just incase if maybe the Rockwelll Modem drivers were causing problems with the USR drivers.

Right now it is just a simple process of ellimination.... (excuse the spelling):D

[janusz]

Glad to hear it's A-OK. Have fun!!

[Dodge]

Well I changed a few settings in Konqueror and it hasn't shut down yet. So maybe it is OK. Not to sure yet though.

So far it is doing alright. There is something that is causing problems somewhere, I've just got to narrow it down to what and where.

[twistedcranium]

Dodge, If you get the chance, tinker with the java that you have installed on the machine. I've heard a bunch of issues with java causing some conflicts here and there. Nothing concrete enough to send you a link on it yet. But I'm guessing that might be where it is if it is happenining in all browsers.

[smurfy]

Bah! Use Opera!

:D

J/K (Sort of).
Dodge, Haven't had browser freezes in any flavour EXCEPT on Lycoris with a BETA Opera 7.? used to freeze 9/10 times I hit submit reply here at CTH, never anywhere else. Only way to clear it was to KILL the process (fortunately/dangerously, Lycoris gives easy access to "manage running processes" GUI which allowed me to kill it quickly, sort of like a task manager in NT/2K).

Have had no problems with Opera 7 on Mandrake 9.0.

[Dodge]

Since changing a few settings (not sure what it was that done it though) Konqueror hasn't shut down and I've been online for almost 4 hours now with it.

Haven't tried the others yet. Will do that later....