you most likely have a x config error.. Firstly ctrt-alt-Backspace will kill just X, not the linux box, the unmout errors are caused by you reseting.. or restarting.. you need to run Xconfigurator, type in : locate xconfig then go there (locate will tell you where it is...) then run it... then you will need to enter all your screen and graphics adaptor details again... when you post a question like this, its a good idea to mention the following: 1. What graphics adaptor? 2. How much ram (adaptor and main memory.) 3. Motherboard brand Model and chipset. 4. CPU type and Speed.. 5 log messages.. go to /var/log and have a look at the log messages... they will most likely tell you what caused it... That will help alot in determining your problem.. regards Frank -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of An-Guo Sent: Thursday, 21 June 2001 3:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [newbie] Linux Mandrake as unstable as Windows98?? no, it is not a rant: I would appreciate help on this one. I newly installed Mandrake 8.0 on a new machine which does not include windows (yet), so this time one cannot blame microsoft (damn!). Linux, or maybe more precisely xwindows/KDE has crashed on me several times already and that puzzled me. I had to make a hard shut down which of course I'd like to avoid (I wouldn't want to have to reinstall everything again). the situation is like this: I run one application when I suddenly notice that in the background the whole desktop disappears, meaning the desktop icons, the control panes and even the window's frame (with the resize buttons) which I guess is controled by KDE/xwindows. I can then carry on using the application I was using but of course can no longer resize, move, minimize the window. I can quit the application using the pull down menu. If I do, I can then close other windows/ applications that were open in the background. The application that were running but whose windows were minimized are of course no longer accessible. Once I close everything, I am left with a clear background with absolutely nothing on it. There is no key stroke that I found that could bring up any dialog box or at least allow me to shut down properly. crt+alt+dek doesn't help either. At that point the only solution is to make a hard shut down. On startup the kernel of course complains that devices were not properly unmounted. I get a series of messages saying things like: i-blocks is 64, should be 8. FIXED. So I guess it's a problem with the windows environement. I thought linux was more stable than windows. I now have three questions: 1- how do I manage to shut down properly, should that happen again? 2- what can I do to help diagnostic what is the source of the problem? 3- and of course, how can I fix the problem? It happened several times already and each time I was running KMail and Netscape at least. (only that plus a small game last time it happened). I guess netscape could be involved in the problem (I didn't open it so that I could write this email). It was already pretty shitty under windows, made it crashed. I thought such a thing couldn't happen under Linux. Still, I may be wrong about netscape because the funny thing is that I could carry on using it after the desktop crashed. What do I do now? Is someone able to help me?
