To Linux or Not to Linux

[Surfing HalfOrc]

OK, here's the problem. I bought an Acer netbook about a year ago, and just before the warranty expired, the hard drive beat it to the punch. No problem, a warranty is a warranty, and a receipt is a receipt, and Acer after hemming and hawing for a bit agreed to take the computer and see what they could do. Of course, they replaced the hard drive, and sent it back to me in Korea.

But a few days later, and only a few days into my 90 day warranty on the repair, I've gotten the Blue Screen of Death, three times... But both Windows AND Linux Netbook Reloaded (Thumbdrive boot) say the hard drive is just fine. So, any suggestions? The netbook is being used by my son (9), and he mostly uses it for YouTube. And the BSoD happened when he's watching YouTube videos (twice) or at the Official Bakugan website (once).

So, should I do a Linux install, or is there something wonky with the Java application as it plays the YouTube videos? He mostly watches BeyBlade (Songs or Episodes), or Bakugan... We never have problems when he uses Linux on the thumbdrive, and Firefox with the correct Java Applet works fine. Ubuntu looks mostly good, only a little "Industrial."

I just ran the Linux SMART Data hard drive check, and the drive checked out 100% good. But the grinding and buzzing from the hard drive sound anything BUT good.

Virus? Microsoft/Java problem? Hard drive problem that neither Linux or Microsoft can diagnose through normal scans? Shipping back to the States and back can take a long time, and Acer only does repairs at their facility in Texas. No way to get a local Korean computer shop to look at it, then send the bill to Acer. :smallannoyed:

[Mystic Muse]

I like Linux so far. Have yet to get a virus.

[Haruki-kun]

OK, here's the problem. I bought an Acer netbook about a year ago, and just before the warranty expired, the hard drive beat it to the punch. No problem, a warranty is a warranty, and a receipt is a receipt, and Acer after hemming and hawing for a bit agreed to take the computer and see what they could do. Of course, they replaced the hard drive, and sent it back to me in Korea.

But a few days later, and only a few days into my 90 day warranty on the repair, I've gotten the Blue Screen of Death, three times... But both Windows AND Linux Netbook Reloaded (Thumbdrive boot) say the hard drive is just fine. So, any suggestions? The netbook is being used by my son (9), and he mostly uses it for YouTube. And the BSoD happened when he's watching YouTube videos (twice) or at the Official Bakugan website (once).

So, should I do a Linux install, or is there something wonky with the Java application as it plays the YouTube videos? He mostly watches BeyBlade (Songs or Episodes), or Bakugan... We never have problems when he uses Linux on the thumbdrive, and Firefox with the correct Java Applet works fine. Ubuntu looks mostly good, only a little "Industrial."

I just ran the Linux SMART Data hard drive check, and the drive checked out 100% good. But the grinding and buzzing from the hard drive sound anything BUT good.

Virus? Microsoft/Java problem? Hard drive problem that neither Linux or Microsoft can diagnose through normal scans? Shipping back to the States and back can take a long time, and Acer only does repairs at their facility in Texas. No way to get a local Korean computer shop to look at it, then send the bill to Acer. :smallannoyed:

If you hear a grinding and buzzing from the hard drive, it's most likely a hardware problem, not software.

[raitalin]

Is there any reason *not* to use Linux? It seems to solve the problem, and unless he's looking for high-end gaming, there's not much Windows does that Linux doesn't. You can change the appearance pretty easily, and I think my desktop is more attractive than a typical windows one.

As far as the HD problem, it could be an issue with a physical component that a HD scan can't check, like the motor, spindle or arm. Not sure why the BSoD is hitting, usually it has an error code on it, can you find that?

[Erloas]

Usually the BSOD tells you what piece of software caused it, generally a driver.

Are you sure the sound is coming from the hard drive and not a fan close by? If in the process of changing the drive they got something in a fan that could cause a lot of noise and you might be getting the BSOD from overheating because the fan isn't running correctly.

Any noise caused by physical problems will not be effected by a change in software.

[valadil]

What everyone else said. Linux won't fix a busted hard drive. If your hard drive is audible, something is wrong with it.

You might want to try convincing Acer to send you a hard drive instead of having you ship your laptop away.

[Whoracle]

Firstly, migrating to Linux is always a good choice.

Secondly, seeing that your Thumb Linux runs fine, this seems to be not hardware related. Wipe the harddisk, reinstall Windoze and see if that solves the issue. Personally I think this is because of some problem with flash and the graphics drivers.

If the problem persists, go for Linux but stay away from ubuntu. Try openSUSE or Fedora instead.

[raitalin]

If the problem persists, go for Linux but stay away from ubuntu. Try openSUSE or Fedora instead.

For a computer a child is using? I'd stick to Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

[lesser_minion]

If you want to use Windows, you might want to try either looking around to see if there's a driver update, or doing a clean install. I don't think I've heard of many BSODs caused by hard disks, so I'd guess something, somewhere, has become corrupted, somehow. If the same thing happened to a Linux install, you'd probably be in just as much trouble.

However, if you're this willing to switch over to Linux, I'd be tempted to suggest just taking the plunge. If I'm using Linux, I usually go with Fedora's xfce spin, which you can grab here (http://spins.fedoraproject.org/xfce/) (unfortunately, it's only ever distributed as a torrent).

Bear in mind that the largest Linux distros all have a few things in common - you're usually offered a choice between the three main desktop environments (KDE, Gnome, and XFCE). You should be able to install all three, take them for a ride, and pick whichever one you prefer.

[Haruki-kun]

Is there any reason *not* to use Linux?

Needing to use job-specific software like Maya, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, etc. in a situation where switching to open source is not an option for professional reasons, gaming, not wanting to configure your own operating system, running the more popular operating system in order to test how 90% of the people will run your software/see your website, and so on.

And yes, I am a Linux user.

[raitalin]

Needing to use job-specific software like Maya, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, etc. in a situation where switching to open source is not an option for professional reasons, gaming, not wanting to configure your own operating system, running the more popular operating system in order to test how 90% of the people will run your software/see your website, and so on.

And yes, I am a Linux user.

Agreed, but I meant "Is there a reason your 9 year old son wouldn't be able to get everything he needs out of Linux?"

[Whoracle]

For a computer a child is using? I'd stick to Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

Especially there. The 9-year-old is bound to try some things sooner or later (I know I bricked my PC when I was 11, and I'm in no way a prodigy or kid genius or something), and with the sudo c**p needing your own password instead of root he can actually brick the thing. You can circumvent that, sure, but why make a system secure if you can use one that's already secure?

And "Terminal -> sudo rm -rf /" is not something that's above the facility of a 9-year-old if he can read. Plus, it's one of the more common jokes on the net.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but hey, who isn't? :smallbiggrin:

[Haruki-kun]

And "Terminal -> sudo rm -rf /" is not something that's above the facility of a 9-year-old if he can read. Plus, it's one of the more common jokes on the net.

Is that the one that deletes the hard drive?

Well, really, kids can't just use the computer without supervision. Even in Windows the Internet could trick the kid into deleting System32 or something like that.

[RS14]

Especially there. The 9-year-old is bound to try some things sooner or later (I know I bricked my PC when I was 11, and I'm in no way a prodigy or kid genius or something), and with the sudo c**p needing your own password instead of root he can actually brick the thing. You can circumvent that, sure, but why make a system secure if you can use one that's already secure?

And "Terminal -> sudo rm -rf /" is not something that's above the facility of a 9-year-old if he can read. Plus, it's one of the more common jokes on the net.


It's fairly trivial to secure against this. Just don't give your kid an account with sudo permissions. Any account created after the first will be of this sort.

Besides, if he's determined to soft brick it, booting into single user mode works just as well on any Linux distro.

[Yarram]

Why would you WANT to brick it? Trust has to come in at some level, and what kind of parent lets their child brick their computer without some kind of reprimand?
It's like letting a kid burn down the house, and takes as much effort for the kid to do so.

[RS14]

We should distinguish between "bricking"--destroying the hardware in some way such that the computer will not boot, and "soft bricking"--rendering it unbootable by e.g. erasing the OS. Many people believe that the later doesn't really count.

I've "soft bricked" many computers. It taught me much. I reinstalled them myself, though.

Missing operating systems, overwritten operating systems, missing MBR, broken partition table. All were learning experiences.

[psilontech]

If you don't have a reason for switching to Linux, don't.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Linux server to death, but if you don't have a reason for learning a new operating system, why do it? Especially when a child is going to be using it -- Unless you plan on training said child to take over the world. Then definitely give him Linux to play with. CLI only. None of that GNOME crap!:smallbiggrin:

[Surfing HalfOrc]

If you hear a grinding and buzzing from the hard drive, it's most likely a hardware problem, not software.

Yes, that is what I thought. But analysis usually shows problems with the drive when they are going down. The new drive came out clean as a whistle.

Ran malwarebytes, came back with two registry problems. Fixed them on the spot. Downloaded Adobe Reader 9 just to see how the drive handles new data, no problem. JUST handed it back to my son, and I can hear the opening bars to Star Wars as I type this... If it's going to screw up, it will be in the next few minutes, or at least in the next hour. I've been tinkering with it, getting rid of McAfee, installing Avast! and doing all that kind of thing.

I'll update this thread if things go south.

OK, just went south. atapi.sys - address something or other, shut down and began to restart. Annoying. Worked like a charm for several hours, went bad within minutes of handing it to my son. Maybe he doesn't compute...

EDIT: playing the same video he was playing: Top 5 Star Wars Lightsaber battles. No problems at all for me... Not sure if it is the hard drive or something making the speakers buzz when it BSoDed on me.

Looked up Installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix Linux and XP, saw something saying it is one or the other, no dual booting. :smallannoyed: