From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sat Apr 30 18:34:36 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 19AE4B22F6F for ; Sat, 30 Apr 2016 18:34:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D6A9F1F09 for ; Sat, 30 Apr 2016 18:34:35 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-216-66.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.216.66]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 43B113CD36; Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:34:27 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id u3UIYQJR002140; Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:34:26 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:34:26 +0200 From: Polytropon To: Manish Jain Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Is 10.3 i386 jinxed ? Message-Id: <20160430203426.a9d5841b.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: <20160430084415.03be443d.freebsd@edvax.de> <5724604D.3020804@hotmail.com> Reply-To: Polytropon Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.22 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2016 18:34:36 -0000 On Sat, 30 Apr 2016 23:43:47 +0530, Manish Jain wrote: > I reinstalled the whole system using xfce as the desktop. While things > have improved, the system is still not workable. > > 1) The installer 'forgot' to place the boot code on the MBR. I had to > use live CD + boot0cfg to fix that. Use MBR only if needed. Today's preference is to use GPT for partitioning. Compare: http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/disksetup.html Use MBR only if you have a valid reason as it probably has reached the state of "not supported anymore". > 2) The first time X started, xfce4-panel crashed > 3) The second time, xfce-terminal crashed > 4) The third time, trying to launch firefox rebooted the system. This (and especially the last problem) leads to the impression that there is a _massive_ problem, it's probably not related to the FreeBSD OS, and surely not to installed applications. Are you sure there isn't a hardware problem lurking in the background? Like... starting a web browser reboots the system... this simply sounds totally wrong. > Overall, 10.3 i386 seems to have gremlins in the belly. What do I do ? I have a 10.2 installation on an older Dell laptop, running Gnome 2, no problems so far (but I haven't tried updating it yet, as I'm a big fan of "never touch a running system", a symptom of lazyness and "fat fingers"). :-) > Try some linux distro ? This is exactly what I have been trying to avoid. Check out PC-BSD or try the Lxde desktop. Maybe you can also settle for a less convoluted desktop, i.e. a window manager that you like. > BTW, does anyone have any idea where can I get Windows XP drivers for > the NE56R laptop ? >From the manufacturer of course. :-) > If nothing else works, XP remains my fall-back option. For offline use that's probably more or less okay. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...