system slower all the time

  • Thread starter Thread starter Olivier
  • Start date Start date
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Olivier

Hi there,

I'm running a linux server on an old PentiumPro machine. Last week it
suddenly started to run very slow until no repons at all. When I wanted
to reboot the system it didn't pass the BIOS boot. Only several hours
later I was able to reboot the system, but after about 10 minutes the
machine slowed down again.

Does anyone have an idea what the problem can be?

Thanx, Olivier
 
"Olivier"
I'm running a linux server on an old PentiumPro machine. Last week it
suddenly started to run very slow until no repons at all. When I wanted
to reboot the system it didn't pass the BIOS boot. Only several hours
later I was able to reboot the system, but after about 10 minutes the
machine slowed down again.
Click to expand...


Have you replaced the lithium battery on the motherboard since
you bought the machine? Or have you cleaned the oxide off the
battery's surface where it meets the motherboard's electrical contacts?

*TimDaniels*
 
Olivier said:
I'm running a linux server on an old PentiumPro machine. Last
week it suddenly started to run very slow until no repons at all.
When I wanted to reboot the system it didn't pass the BIOS
boot. Only several hours later I was able to reboot the system,
but after about 10 minutes the machine slowed down again.
Click to expand...
Does anyone have an idea what the problem can be?
Click to expand...

Most likely the motherboard has failed and the main cpu clock
isnt being produced at the correct freq when the fault is present.

Clearly that problem is temperature sensitive since
it does work after its been cooled down, for a while.

In theory it might just be a cpu fan clogged with fur, but from
memory the PentiumPro didnt have an automatic slowdown
on cpu over temp and that is trivial to check anyway.

I doubt its the battery, but its obviously cheap
to try if you are about to discard the system.
 
Rod Speed schreef:
Most likely the motherboard has failed and the main cpu clock
isnt being produced at the correct freq when the fault is present.

Clearly that problem is temperature sensitive since
it does work after its been cooled down, for a while.

In theory it might just be a cpu fan clogged with fur, but from
memory the PentiumPro didnt have an automatic slowdown
on cpu over temp and that is trivial to check anyway.

I doubt its the battery, but its obviously cheap
to try if you are about to discard the system.
Click to expand...

I doubt it's the temperature causing the problem; the CPU doesn't feel
very hot and the fan is still working fine. I will replace the battery
just to be sure, not expecting to much from this.

Could it be something like a failing power supply or bad memory?
 
Olivier said:
Rod Speed wrote
Click to expand...
I doubt it's the temperature causing the problem;
Click to expand...

There isnt any other possibility with it working fine for a while if left
off and then goes bad again relatively soon after its used again.
the CPU doesn't feel very hot and the fan is still working fine.
Click to expand...

Sure, but that is just the cpu. Its likely the oscillator that provides
the cpu clock that is the problem, or a bad joint or cracked trace
and both of those are often temperature sensitive.
I will replace the battery just to be sure, not expecting to much from this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, not very likely at all, particularly leaving it off for a while
making it come good. You can certainly see a failing battery
seeing the system run way underclocked as the cmos settings get
lost, but it wont go back to the good values again just by leaving it
off with a bad battery. If anything the battery will be being used
more with it off, keeping the cmos values and the system clock.

You do very occasionally see some bizarre symptoms with a bad
battery, and its cheap to try that, but the prospects are unlikely.
Could it be something like a failing power supply
Click to expand...

That shouldnt produce that extreme slowdown effect.
or bad memory?
Click to expand...

That either. You can check the memory using
memtest86 but its unlikely to be the problem.
 
Thanks for your reactions, Rod.
So what you are saying is: this can't happen?

Olivier

Rod Speed schreef:
 
Olivier said:
Thanks for your reactions, Rod.
So what you are saying is: this can't happen?
Click to expand...

No, that something is causing the cpu to run very
slow and whatever that is is temperature sensitive.

Most likely a bad oscillator, could be a bad joint or
cracked trace or bad caps on the motherboard, but
the last doesnt usually produce that drastic slowdown.
 
Olivier said:
Hi there,

I'm running a linux server on an old PentiumPro machine. Last week it
suddenly started to run very slow until no repons at all. When I wanted
to reboot the system it didn't pass the BIOS boot. Only several hours
later I was able to reboot the system, but after about 10 minutes the
machine slowed down again.

Does anyone have an idea what the problem can be?

Thanx, Olivier
Click to expand...

Probably hardware. Do you really want to fix a machine that old? You
can get a p3 for well under $100. You can even get someone to give you
their old one for free. Or is this a special machine in some way?


Have you checked your hard drives?
 
(e-mail address removed) schreef:
Probably hardware. Do you really want to fix a machine that old? You
can get a p3 for well under $100. You can even get someone to give you
their old one for free. Or is this a special machine in some way?


Have you checked your hard drives?
Click to expand...

I agree, it probably _is_ hardware, but what part? It isn't the costs
I'm worried about. Over the years I've now a configuration on the
server that I like, plus it contains a lot of my data. I checked the
data harddisk, which seems ok. I still need to check the other disk,
which contains the OS (Debian linux).
 
Olivier said:
(e-mail address removed) schreef:


I agree, it probably _is_ hardware, but what part? It isn't the costs
I'm worried about. Over the years I've now a configuration on the
server that I like, plus it contains a lot of my data. I checked the
data harddisk, which seems ok. I still need to check the other disk,
which contains the OS (Debian linux).
Click to expand...

This is a powerful diagnostic. It maps the hard drive(s) based on seek
times, and reports any errors. It's a bootable CD, or floppy. What's
nice about this tool is that it shows you how LONG it's taking for data
to be read, rather than a simple pass/fail kind of test.

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/
 
(e-mail address removed) schreef:


I agree, it probably _is_ hardware, but what part? It isn't the costs
I'm worried about. Over the years I've now a configuration on the
server that I like, plus it contains a lot of my data. I checked the
data harddisk, which seems ok. I still need to check the other disk,
which contains the OS (Debian linux).
Click to expand...

Do you plan on having a server for much longer? If so, it's
inevitable that you will come upon a time when the problems
with this aging system are unworkable, or at such great
expenditure of time that you might as well have replaced it,
then have the successor set for the next tour of duty.

Unfortunately nothing lasts forever, you may be only shortly
delaying the inevitable. Your primary suspects would tend
to be the same as with other systems, power or motherboard.
Perhaps at this point if the environment was poor you might
have excessive dust or residue accumulation or deterioration
of electical contacts, so you might also try pulling cards
and cables, inspecting the cards and slots and considering
replacement of cables.

This presumes you are able to rule out the HDD, which could
also be the cause but it seems doubtful if there is no
filesystem corruption, generalized inability to run things
if the system were otherwise stable enough. Even so,
stripping the system down to bare essentials then re-adding
parts back can be useful, or substitution of other known
good parts, though at this age, other substitute parts known
good years ago might not necessarily be considered good
still until retested.
 
Thanks for all your answers.

I turned out it was a bad memory bank. I had put that in the machine in
the early days. It didn't work (no extra memory), but it didn't give
trouble either. I left it in and forgot all about it. After I checked
that the disks were fine, I remembered the memory again. I took it out
and now the machine is working again.

It was that or something magical happened...

Olivier

Olivier schreef:
 
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