Puppy on HP laptop with 192 MB of RAM (Solved)

[greengeek]

I have played around with gparted.
Original partitions
UNallocated 7MiB
SDA1 1.02 GiB Fat16
SDA2 5.%% FAT32 GiB BOOT
UNallocated 7MiB

I did a windows cleanup and defrag and reduced the Fat 32 by 1.6approx GiB
Added a swap file or partition of 512MiB and another partition of about 1.0 GiB
I saved the 2fs file in the swap file. and the remaining files in the new FAT32. I'm not sure if you would call this a frugal install.
I don't like the way the puppy 394 shut down. The system message is system halted and your left with a flashing cursor for a long time. Then I think the power to the computer shuts down.

I am finding it a little hard to visualise exactly what your setup is now (my fault, not yours...). Would it be possible to run Gparted (without changing anything), and take a screenshot of the partition analysis that it brings up? To grab the screenshot you could do the following:
Click Menu, Graphic, MtPaint, File, Actions, Time delayed screenshot. (then wait for the screenshot to occur maybe 10 seconds later...)

Then while the image is displayed in MtPaint you could shrink the image to 760 (to meet the forum posting rules) as follows:
- click Image, then scale canvas
- change the "width, new" to 760 then click ok and the image will resize itself.

(Sometimes rather than shrinking the whole image you can just grab a portion of it by doing a click / drag, to stretch out a selection box over the screen portion you want, then go Image, crop).

Save the image (probably best to change the filetype at lower left from png to jpg to get a small file size).

Once I have a better mental image of your partition setup I might have another thought or two pop into my head.

Couple of other things:
- screenshots of the contents of the swap partition and boot partition might also be handy.
- You mentioned 'swap file' a couple of times - note that a 'swap file' and a 'swap partition' are two different things. Both are methods of giving Puppy more virtual ram but they are used in different circumstances. I think it was forum member jpeps who has a thread somewhere dedicated to swapfile creation and use. I don't know anything about it but I think it was supposed to be useful when a puppy install is co-existing with a Windows install on the same partition. (I'm not making any value judgements about which method you should use because I just don't know - but I think a dedicated swap partition is generally best if you have the disk space for it. It seems like the swap partition is what you actually have...)

At this point I am wondering if the shutdown failure is due to some file being in an unusual place, or some partition not being unmounted at shutdown time. My gut feeling is that if we could get your install tidied up to match the standard setup the problem might go away. I just don't want to suggest how to do that till everyone sees exactly what you've go so far...

[frerom]

Hi Greengeek,
I'm working on it online now. I decided to put a usb stick in the only usb port I have. So I'm working the laptop without a mouse. I keep forgetting how to select stuff when the mouse is not installed. So it may take some time.

I'll look at your input shortly. I'll try and get a screen shot. I don't seem to be able to see what's loaded in the swap partition. After I booted with Win Me and deleted whatever files were in the Fat32 partion, I used gparted to shrink Swap partition to 300MiB approx. At this time I'm not sure why I did that. It's just that I don't know how to use the filing system yet.

[frerom]

Hi Greengeek,
Partition screenshot attached. Let me know if you need another.

[greengeek]

Thanks. If you are able to click on each of the partitions and take a screenshot of the contents of each one that would be great. Don't worry about the swap contents - I don't think thats ever visible.

[frerom]

The SDA1 bottom was included but maybe I exceeded file limits. If you need it I have it ready. But I believe it is the recovery partition.

[ardvark]

Re

As mikeb has suggested, please insert the card and then open a terminal and post the results of:
Code:
lspci -v

No results - I tried the terminal emulator but I guess that's not what is meant.

No, that's what I meant, I'm not sure why you didn't get a readout. Perhaps the version of Puppy you're trying to use doesn't have pciutils already installed.

What error message did you receive when you typed in the command?

Regards...

[frerom]

Hi Ardvark,
At first I did not include code: in the command, but I just retried and I am not sure what the first letter is. I tried all the keys I could think of. The Pix shows codes with the network not started and after I started it.

[Flash]

Frerom, try this:

Open a console window and maximize it, then hit Tab twice, then Y. This will show you a list of all the console commands Puppy understands. Keep hitting the Enter key to scroll down, until you see where the command "code" should be. Is it there? Probably not. I think the use of the word "code" meant in the context that what followed it was to be entered in a console window, leaving out the word "code."

[greengeek]

Hi frerom - could you repost the sda4 pic but with the file manager window stretched a little so we can see the labels of the two directories? cheers.

[frerom]

this may be a duplicate post. 2 files attached with terminal pix showing lspci -v

[frerom]

Hi Greengeek,
Sorry about that. The easiest one. I was surprised when I looked at it.

[frerom]

Saved file 2fs to SDB1 again this time but it didn't ask me if I wanted to save any of the other files. Saved quite fast but the system halted again.

[ardvark]

Hi Frerom...

It might help us if we could get a clearer picture of your hardware. As you might imagine, normally folks don't have your experiences while trying to install Puppy.

If you would...

1. Open Puppy Package Manager and search for and install the terminal emulator called "Sakura."

2. Open Sakura and type in (without the word "code"):

Code: Select all

lspci

and post the entire output. With Sakura, you can copy and paste using the mouse buttons. If Puppy Package Manager cannot find this program, you can download it here. Choose the "sakura-1.pet" package. Take note of the destination folder and then navigate to the file and click on it to install it.

Thank you for your snapshot, however, the information didn't display correctly. Usually, it will also display chipset information. Plus, I would like to see the entire report.

Thank you for working with us so patiently. Hang in there, hopefully we'll get this worked out.

Regards...

[mikeb]

If the card works with 4.31 why the need for lspci?

mike

[frerom]

Hi Ardvark,
I saved the file as txt. I was ready to upload and then my computer appeared to quit, screen blank and fan stopped. I'll wait a while before I kill the power to see what happens as the power lite is still on. I noticed the fan is running again but the screen is blank. I'll see if I can revive it without losing all my work. I just thought of something, I'm not using the vesa graphics driver and computer may be getting too hot. This may take a while

[frerom]

Hi Ardvark
attached is the terminal lspci info.

# lspci -v
00:00.0 Class 0600: 1106:0501 (rev 04)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 16
Memory at 20000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 2.0

00:01.0 Class 0604: 1106:8501
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000afff
Memory behind bridge: 40000000-470fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 48000000-4f0fffff

00:07.0 Class 0601: 1106:0686 (rev 22)
Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 0

00:07.1 Class 0101: 1106:0571 (rev 10) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 64
[virtual] Memory at 000001f0 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
[virtual] Memory at 000003f0 (type 3, non-prefetchable)
[virtual] Memory at 00000170 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
[virtual] Memory at 00000370 (type 3, non-prefetchable)
I/O ports at 1100
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:07.2 Class 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 10)
Subsystem: 0925:1234
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 128, IRQ 10
I/O ports at 3000
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:07.4 Class 8006: 1106:3057 (rev 30)
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9
Capabilities: [68] Power Management version 2

00:0a.0 Class 0607: 1217:6872 (rev 05)
Subsystem: 103c:0016
Flags: bus master, stepping, slow devsel, latency 168, IRQ 11
Memory at 18000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=05, sec-latency=176
Memory window 0: 10000000-13fff000 (prefetchable)
Memory window 1: 14000000-17fff000
I/O window 0: 00001800-000018ff
I/O window 1: 00001c00-00001cff
16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001

00:0d.0 Class 0401: 125d:1998
Subsystem: 103c:000e
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 128, IRQ 5
I/O ports at 3100
Memory at 22000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:0d.1 Class 0780: 125d:1999
Subsystem: 103c:000e
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
I/O ports at 3200
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

01:00.0 Class 0300: 1023:8420 (rev 5d)
Subsystem: 103c:000f
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 8, IRQ 5
Memory at 40000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8M]
Memory at 40800000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
Memory at 41000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8M]
Expansion ROM at 48000000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [80] AGP version 1.0
Capabilities: [90] Power Management version 1

02:00.0 Class 0200: 1186:1340 (rev 10)
Subsystem: 1186:1340
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 1800
Memory at 14000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

#

[frerom]

Re shutdown, Fan runs most of time.

Saving session to /pupsave ...(SDB1)
Terminated
after a minute or so "#System halted" and remains on screen. Fan and (DVD I think) keep running
I was able to stop the fan ( and maybe the DVD if it was running) by making the selection for the other monitor although it wasn't connected. I'll have to verify next time I boot.

[greengeek]

I noticed the fan is running again but the screen is blank. I'll see if I can revive it without losing all my work.

The blank screen you described sounds like it might be the default 'screensaver' that kicks in after a period of inactivity. It is quite common for many PCs to fail to wake up from this state. (something to do with ACPI functions or similar??). Usually holding the power button down for 10 seconds as a hard reset is the only way out that I know of when you get into that state.

Just in case this setting is contributing to that problem I recommend you do the following:
click menu, desktop, 'pupx set properties of x', screensaver, and then untick the 'enable screensaver' box. At least that will eliminate one potential cause.

With regard to the lspci information - it is worth saving that information in case you decide to go back to an earlier, faster pup. Someone suggested a series 4.12 or 4.20 pup (which is likely to be slightly faster than 4.31), but they may not have the full driver set (so you may end up with the network card driver missing again...). Because of the hardware limitations you will probably be wanting to run the most lightweight pup that supports your hardware so the card info becomes important again if you choose a pup that requires you to manually load drivers.

[greengeek]

With regard to the halting problem - I would like to back up a step and slightly change the method you are using. If I understand you correctly - so far you are booting from CD and when you shut down you are saving the 2fs savefile to sdb1. Is that correct?

If this is correct, you have not installed puppy at all yet (which is a good, safe place to be so far). So there are two things I would be keen for you to do:

1) Remove any 2fs files that you may have anywhere on hard drive (I couldn't see any but some files are offscreen..). Remove sdb1 and leave it out totally while you boot from the 431 CD (ie: booting without any savefile at all). Check that the system runs fine then shutdown and say NO to creating a savefile. If I understood your previous comments correctly you will be able to shutdown from this state without any hanging. (Is that correct?)

2) Repeat the same process but this time when you shutdown tell it to create a savefile in sda4 (which seems to be a hard drive partition with plenty of free space, and should not interfere with any of your Windows files). My thinking is that there may be some functional difference between having the savefile on usb stick or on harddrive.

Bear in mind that nothing is installed in this process - you just happen to be making a file in sda4 that contains your own personal changes - not the puppy itself (puppy still resides on the CD and only grabs the savefile to 'overlay' your personal settings on top of it's original files that came from CD and get loaded into RAM)

[frerom]

Hi Greengeek,
[

2) Repeat the same process but this time when you shutdown tell it to create a savefile in sda4 (which seems to be a hard drive partition with plenty of free space, and should not interfere with any of your Windows files). My thinking is that there may be some functional difference between having the savefile on usb stick or on harddrive.

This is where I got into trouble when I was trying to find a puppy. When I was using pup-394 I had many boots so I did finally save the file in the hard drive like you are suggesting. But when I did this, it asked me if I wanted to install the other files from the DVD. And I did.

Trouble is that later on I found that pup-431 was much better. During the learning process ( I was trying puppies on 3 different computers) I beleve I may have mixed files during a boot.
This leads to a question. When puppy loads a pup-sfs file and then a 2fs file is it possible to mix the files?

So now I would rather keep that 1 2fs file on a new usb that I just purchased.

I notice you are also helping out on a HP where there are problems with hovering over the touchpad.
I think I'm suffering from the same issue. I'm going to look into it.

Another thing - There was 1 day where I saw a menu for selecting power down after so many minutes of mouse inactivity. The setting was 0 (never) I changed it to 10 but nothing changed and I didn't follow up on it. What is the recommended setting?

Summary. I think we can put the investigation into "System Halted" on hold for now. If you run across something that I can try, I will do it.

I will stay alert and report any changes. Also I will make a copy of the present save file and put it on another computer. I will continue to save only the 2fs file. I'll do a search on Windows for *.sfs and*.2fs files.

Plan now is touchpad hovering, mouse inactivity setting. upgrade seamonkey 1.18 to 2.23, Look for a puppy graphics driver forTridentCyberbladeI7 AGP 8420-64.