System alternately freezes and unfreezes - PC-BSD Forums

Munguanaweza · #1 11-26-2007, 10:37 AM

Hi,
this is my first post on this forum, it is too bad that I have problems to discuss right away. To start out on a positive note, I have to say that PC-BSD is pretty neat. I was able to install it for the first time as a new user without any prior bsd experience, and get my ethernet and wireless working right out of the box.

I am an average user, and have no training in computers other than what I have picked up over the last five or so years. Before that I never used a computer, I was living where a straight line was high tech. Last year I began to experiment with Suse Linux and have come to enjoy it. I just decided to give bsd a go, and after doing a little reading I decided to start with PC-BSD.

Okay, now on to the problems.

Problem One.

The system boots and works normally, but when I try to install some new software by downloading a port or running the CVS server update it then starts to freeze up and then unfreeze about every five seconds or so. I looked at top in terminal and found this when it was unfrozen after trying to download and install a port:

last pid: 3325; load averages: 0.56, 0.50, 0.30 up 0+00:07:44 05:12:20
59 processes: 1 running, 58 sleeping
CPU states: 10.1% user, 0.0% nice, 5.8% system, 1.2% interrupt, 82.9% idle
Mem: 65M Active, 47M Inact, 64M Wired, 836K Cache, 60M Buf, 313M Free
Swap: 512M Total, 512M Free

PID USERNAME THR PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE TIME WCPU COMMAND
1419 root 1 97 0 30444K 28092K select 0:11 6.49% Xorg
1722 bsdmark 1 96 0 26904K 22004K select 0:23 2.98% kdeinit
3052 bsdmark 1 96 0 28456K 23568K select 0:02 1.52% kdeinit
1699 bsdmark 1 96 0 21280K 16668K select 0:06 0.88% pbbattery
1694 bsdmark 3 20 -76 12088K 8804K kserel 0:06 0.00% artsd
1602 bsdmark 1 96 0 29844K 24288K select 0:03 0.00% kdeinit
1630 bsdmark 1 96 0 28004K 24036K select 0:03 0.00% kdeinit
1720 bsdmark 1 96 0 30360K 23988K select 0:03 0.00% kdeinit
1053 root 1 8 0 1724K 1244K wait 0:02 0.00% sh
1012 haldaemon 1 96 0 4908K 3764K select 0:02 0.00% hald
1632 bsdmark 1 96 0 28824K 24356K select 0:02 0.00% kdeinit
1090 root 1 8 0 1316K 912K nanslp 0:02 0.00% powerd
1619 bsdmark 1 96 0 27032K 21500K select 0:02 0.00% kdeinit
1723 bsdmark 1 96 0 33996K 27444K select 0:01 0.00% kdeinit
1533 bsdmark 1 96 0 3760K 2584K select 0:01 0.00% gam_server
1026 root 1 96 0 2788K 1628K select 0:01 0.00% hald-addon-storage
1734 bsdmark 1 96 0 24416K 19600K select 0:00 0.00% kdeinit
1232 root 1 96 0 1432K 900K select 0:00 0.00% moused
3073 bsdmark 1 96 0 2468K 1720K RUN 0:00 0.00% top
1584 bsdmark 1 96 0 23436K 17692K select 0:00 0.00% kdeinit
1696 bsdmark 1 96 0 24084K 18848K select 0:00 0.00% kdeinit
1618 bsdmark 1 96 0 24068K 18816K select 0:00 0.00% kdeinit

I wasn't able to copy the display from terminal after I tried to install a port and it began to freeze and unfreeze, so I had to copy some of the information by hand. I think that this is the pertinent stuff:

last pid11983: load averages 9.08 10.92 9.55
79 processes: 15 running 71 sleeping 1 stopped
CPU states: 1/1% user 0.0% nice 62.0% system 0.2%interrupt 34.4% idle
MEM: 150M active 206M Inact 74M wired 21M cache 60M buffer 39M free
Swap: 512 total, 512M free

PID Username THR PRI Nice Size Res State WCPU Command

1026 root 1 131 0 2788k 1424k select 70.17% hald-addon-storage

It seems that something is drawing a lot of power and locking up the system, other than the downloaded port and the attempt to install the software, I haven't changed anything in the system. My only solution to this has been to shut down and restart the computer, then it will run normally until I try to install a port, or update via the cvs server.

Anyone have any ideas on what is going on and how to fix it?

My computer is an Inspiron 5000 laptop with a PIII 600, 40G hd, 512M ram, 8M video card. Yes, it is old, I use it for experimenting with new systems before installing them on other computers that I use daily.

Problem Two.

I am not sure if this is a problem or the normal mode of operation, but when I shut down the computer the shutdown sequence begins. I read text of everything shutting down until I get to

all buffers synced
uptime: 14m34s

then the system hangs up. To complete the shutdown I have to hold the start button down for six seconds to get the computer to power off. Is this normal? If not, what do I do to fix it?

Thanks for your help.