So...why won't it work? (Gaming computer trying to drive Linux Mint)

[Casey Jones]

Bought a used gamer's computer...an Asus FX507...three years old, but this one is optioned to the max. Has 64gb of RAM. That was an aftermarket, not-really-supported, upgrade - and yes, this motherboard and box is upgradable, I checked online. Brave AI says it's not clear if the 64-gig upgrade is validated with maker's data.

Anyway...got an Intel processor (series 7, whatever it is, now...most of my recent boxes have had AMDs) and shipped with Windoze 11. My first exposure to it, and hopefully my last (ads even in working the OS, separate from the browser). And I don't think it's hacked - I bought it at a pawn shop I trust and they had wiped it. Verified, in that the user account is the shop's name and there's no activity older than 45 days ago.

So. I put Linux on it, and that wasn't smooth. Which surprised me, because this is my fourth Asus computer and they all just love Linux. I bought this because I sometimes push the system hard with three, four video pages up, when falling down the rabbit hole. I don't like having to bookmark pages and close them (especially not video links) and then having to cleanse the bookmarks later. I can be audio-stripping one file, watching another, with about a dozen browser pages open and maybe two browsers (I handle money and email on Chromium; general surfing on Brave, and isolated tasks I might do once a month, that don't entail money, on Firefox). That's my security - I don't track crumbs from my bank websites to this site, or to a video link.

It works well on this box, with about 16gb of RAM, but this one will crash after many days not shutting down. AND...this computer is almost six years old. Best time to buy a new computer is before you need it, right? Have all the links and PWs already prepped.

Problem is, this one is freezing on routine tasks. Just now it froze on a (small) order with Bezoszon.

That's beyond inconvenient. It's un-manageable. That was about the third freeze, requiring reboot, in a day's use.

Brave AI is not much help. It and Search steered me to a few Reddit and Linux forums, and the consensus is, flashing the BIOS and making changes in the BIOS settings that I don't understand.

Anyone have any inspiration or clarification? Brave AI suggested Fedora Linux is better suited to Asus models - my good experience with Mint makes me wonder if that's true - but also, Fedora is a commercial product. Not eager to rush out and BUY, as ordered by our AI gods.

Thoughts?

 

[Voodoo]

Its been a long time since I messed with computer OS too much. Does sound like a Memory issue and since you said it has an aftermarket amount, I think it more likely you have an issue with too much / non-supported memory.

 

[Casey Jones]

That is an even longer story...buckle up your gaming-chair belt. But the Executive Summary is...the Sytem Information box in Mint, shows all the memory, 67gb, there. Likewise, the System Monitor, which shows used and available RAM (and memory, and processor use, etc) shows it all.

Here's why this got to my attention: I had a Mint bootable flash drive, it's how I installed Mint on the last three boxes. Had it made for me about three, four years ago. I know the OS is out of date, but the plan was to load the old OS in, and then update online.

I booted it up, started Installing, and it stopped. I have 1 TB of hard drive space on it, but it only saw 6 GB of hard-drive space.

Well, at great inconvenience, I made another bootable flash, with the current Mint Cinnamon distro. It did read the HD correctly (and the internal key pad and touch pad, something that the old distro couldn't do.

But it didn't go in smoothly. Graphics were distorted, in the first booting-up on this flash...unlike the older drive, where graphics at least were correct. But I got the loading going, until it crashed when trying to install various required codecs.

Let's try again. This time it did boot up correctly and finish. BUT, right off, I was told, it had a PROBLEM...UNDERSTANDING its Linux/Unix instructions.

The install went in; and I started loading and setting to taste. I was having a hard time with the Standby mode, it didn't like it, either. So I did the searching and found that there was some disagreement as to how much RAM was supposed to be in there and if it was supported.

The machine was sold me with that RAM - and yes, with Windoze, it showed it was in there. I didn't test it - Windoze today is no more secure than a Stupephone. As secure as a public-access library computer. I used it to make the new bootable flash drive, with online freeware...just in that one simple task I was innuated with ads, and somehow LOST the Progress window of the formatting of my flash-drive.

Microsquish garbage. Some things never change.

So...sad to say, the whole system is wonky. That it's not working out as intended, I can accept. But repeated freezes and crashes, just make it useless to me.

And I overpaid for the thing. I wanted the excellent graphics (which it has) and the memory (which means nothing if it freezes anyway)...I'm not a happy camper.

 

[Bottom Feeder]

It came with windoze 11?
windoze 11 has a UEFI device requirement so that may be the problem. Good to know about Linux install, though.
Here's the run down —

UEFI Secure Boot is a critical security standard that ensures a computer boots using only software trusted by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). It works by verifying the digital signatures of early-stage boot software—including firmware drivers, EFI applications, bootloaders, and the operating system kernel—against a database of authorized keys stored in the motherboard's firmware. If a component is unsigned or has been tampered with, the system blocks it from executing, effectively stopping rootkits, bootkits, and malicious code before the OS can even load.

 

[pmbug]

...
It works well on this box, with about 16gb of RAM, but this one will crash after many days not shutting down. ...

Some program that use periodically likely has a memory leak (doesn't release memory properly) and eventually, that will cause the computer to crash. Shutting down the computer (or restarting/rebooting it), clears out the memory leak build-up. Save what you need to save and reboot once in a while.

 

[Casey Jones]

Some program that use periodically likely has a memory leak (doesn't release memory properly) and eventually, that will cause the computer to crash. Shutting down the computer (or restarting/rebooting it), clears out the memory leak build-up. Save what you need to save and reboot once in a while.

Oh, yeah, but it's deeper.

The Toob of Eww, seems to infect the system. Use it a few times, and it's okay; but use it a few moar, and I find I start losing features. On this box I'm using right now, it's the Bluetooth program that gets unhappy - I use Bluetooth for everything, since the speakers on this laptop are like a kazoo. I have a standalone speaker, and headphones; but once the program gets destabilized, I lose those, and have to use an audio jack and wired headphones.

If it gets bad enough, I lose that, too. In a moar severe bind-up, I have to reboot several times.

Other things can do it, too...seems memory related. Like, moving files on external drives. Something I have to do a lot (choose to do) because I have an extensive audio library and quite a few pirated movies (thank the old LimeWire for that). Trying to organize. Although now it's looking moar like that won't matter much...

Get the RAM demand up there, and get the Swap File involved, and a crash is inbound.

The greater resources of a gaming computer were to avoid this; but now it looks like I just bought a truckload of problems.

 

[Casey Jones]

It came with windoze 11?
windoze 11 has a UEFI device requirement so that may be the problem. Good to know about Linux install, though.
Here's the run down —

I'd seen reference to that, in my cursory reading/searching. I didn't understand a bit of it.

So it's Windoze poison that's doing this?

I can completely wipe Windose off the face of the drive...I didn't want to; I wanted a dual-boot (what I have in there now) but if I cleanse everything of that Seattle virus, will it likely then work?

Is there a less-drastic way? Windoze is what everyone wants...including any buyers, if I have to re-sell this thing. Take the Dumboze 11 off the system, and nobody will be interested.

 

[Bottom Feeder]

No, the UEFI device is on the mother board.
I have no idea what OS the chip will approve of but it also stops 'unknown' programs from executing.

Here's moar than you ever wanted to know UEFI

 

[Casey Jones]

Judas Priest.

I gotta become a Lecktikal Injun-ear just to use an alternative OS.

And of course, my go-to guy on this sort of thing, Unca Walt...he's gone to be big cannon yard in the sky.

I'm to the point, where I'm gonna conclude we're in a point of Diminishing Returns. This recent purchase was to be on standby when this current box, about five years old, goes rubber-pads up.

Maybe when it happens, I'll have to reduce to library computers. I don't think I can deal with the Woke, Corporate, advertising-imbued Microsquish slop.

 

[Joe King]

But repeated freezes and crashes, just make it useless to me.

How is the airflow through it? On my laptop I can feel air coming out of the vent when it's on. If there is dust and dirt blocking it, it can cause overheating and exactly the type of behavior you are describing.

Excess heat will cause random freezes and lock ups similar to what you are describing.

And I overpaid for the thing

What'd you have to give for it, if you don't mind me asking?

Get the RAM demand up there, and get the Swap File involved, and a crash is inbound.

I checked, and that machine has two slots. Try pulling both sticks and test them one at a time.
Check for any dust or debris when reinstalling.

Windoze is what everyone wants...including any buyers, if I have to re-sell this thing

This recent purchase was to be on standby when this current box, about five years old, goes rubber-pads up.

Ok, this sounds as though you will have it awhile. Like several years.

If your current one is five years old and this new one was to be it's replacement when it finally goes tits up, then I wouldn't give two shits about keeping winslop 11 on it.

Even if your current machine dies later this year, that means you'll likely use this newer one for at least five or six years.

With Linux, you can a lotta years of web surfing out of an old PC.
....and by that time it won't matter if it still has winblows on it or not.

I would say turn off secure boot and all the TPM shit, and just let Linux format the drive and be done with it.

Winslop doesn't play nice on a dual boot machine anyways. The Braxman (computer security guy) made a vid about how windows 11 deleted his Linux partition without even asking first.

It's possible that just having Redmond's shit on the drive might just be the cause of your problems with the thing.
.....but if you just have to keep the Winslop working, do you perhaps have a spare HD you could swap it for and see if the problem goes away?

Edited to add: might have missed it in your posts, but does it exhibit any of the issues you are having when booted into windows?

 

[Bottom Feeder]

Overheating, yeah, that is a good suspect also.
I looked up your Asus FX507 on gurgle and Ho-Lee-Shit!! Everyone and their next door neighbor has a u-toob or disassembly instructions on that laptop. Your laptop has prolly been 'enhanced' by some previous teenage gamer.

 

[Casey Jones]

How is the airflow through it? On my laptop I can feel air coming out of the vent when it's on. If there is dust and dirt blocking it, it can cause overheating and exactly the type of behavior you are describing.

Excess heat will cause random freezes and lock ups similar to what you are describing.

Airflow is/was fine (it's at the geek shop right now; minimum $75...) I could hear/feel the fan, and in the cooling slots and around the keys, no dust buildup.

That especially is noticeable in that Asus, for years now, has come to depend on thermal paste for cooling. Like this machine, my five-year model. Look ma, no fan!

I'm always afraid it'll overheat, but it hasn't so far. Of course that could be what causes those sound-card or Bluetooth freeze-ups...who knows?

What did I pay for it? I'm ashamed to say, but I will. $650. One third its new retail price. Keep in mind that gaming boxes are still in demand...not so much netbooks or utility computers, but gaming boxes.

The geeks think all is probably well...they're gonna evaluate the hardware and rule out that possibility; and then we're either gonna wipe the HD and do a clean install (Linux distro to be determined) or re-load both, loading the Linux first, and THEN Windoze.

There's two reasons I want Windoze available: First, at odd times I've come across a software need - like a scanner, or, what's that program that allows you to sign email documents?...that doesn't run with Linux. Others as they pop up, which now is getting more rare.

The other is, as I say, when the time comes to sell. It may be a long time. Yeah, old boxes are where Linux really helps - puts new life into good-but-obsoleted hardware. I get it.

The need right now is that I may be traveling a bit this fall, and will need to take a tether computer with me. Email, all that rot.

My mini-netbook doesn't like modern email, and chokes up (1gb RAM) with one browser window open. It's not a good choice.

Take my utility laptop with me, and then it gets broken...I B skreuet. Have to buy and set up a new/used machine based on WHAT IS AVAILABLE AT THAT MOMENT.

Have THIS, which is no gem - it's been loved a lot for three years, USB plugs are worn - and if IT drops or breaks, o-frikkin-well. The inconvenience of being out for a few days or weeks with no other computer, is all it will be. Get home and pick everything back up.

 

[Casey Jones]

It's possible that just having Redmond's shit on the drive might just be the cause of your problems with the thing.
.....but if you just have to keep the Winslop working, do you perhaps have a spare HD you could swap it for and see if the problem goes away?

I'd thought about that, but I'd have to buy a new/newer-used HD. SSHDs are not that cheap.

We may go that route. My geeks were going home at noon today - I dropped the machine off just after posting the thread. Got in there twenty minutes before they were locking up (visions of firecrackers dancing in their autistic brains).

They'll check for hardware failure on Monday, and Monday late in the day we'll decide what to do. A new solid-state HD may be the easiest, and best way to go.

 

[Joe King]

Asus, for years now, has come to depend on thermal paste for cooling. Like this machine, my five-year model. Look ma, no fan!

I'm always afraid it'll overheat, but it hasn't so far.

Imho you are better off that it doesn't have a dedicated fan.

After years of dealing with PC's and other electronic devices with dedicated cooling fans, I've seen too many cases where a fan goes out and no one notices until the thing is fried.

If something needs a fan just to not burn itself up, it'll burn itself up soon as the fan fails. Most mfg's use the cheapest fans possible, too.
Ie: short life.

What did I pay for it? I'm ashamed to say, but I will. $650. One third its new retail price.

Well that's mostly because of where you bought it. Pawn shops think everything they give a loan on is worth squat, and everything they sell is made of gold.

Don't you have any shops that deal in used hardware near you?

The geeks think all is probably well...they're gonna evaluate the hardware and rule out that possibility; and then we're either gonna wipe the HD and do a clean install (Linux distro to be determined) or re-load both, loading the Linux first, and THEN Windoze.

If I were you, I'd just go with linux on the machine.

I'd thought about that, but I'd have to buy a new/newer-used HD. SSHDs are not that cheap.

.......and if you must have it, get an older cheap regular external harddrive to put winslop on that you can plug in and boot to when/if needed.


I would also suggest installing winslop on that drive yourself.

The reason being is that you can use a program called Rufus* to create your own custom windoze installation media.

It will allow you to strip all the bloat out of it.

Ie: no recall, no copilot, no telemetry reporting to Redmond, no advertisements, AND you can install using a local account.

I highly doubt that the geek shop you took it to will be willing to install windows like that for you. With them, you'll get a stock install.

* Rufus is a safe, standalone program that doesn't even install on your PC. It just runs when you click it.

 

[Casey Jones]

Well that's mostly because of where you bought it. Pawn shops think everything they give a loan on is worth squat, and everything they sell is made of gold.

Don't you have any shops that deal in used hardware near you?

We had two. HAD two. One was a Fruit Company specialist - if the fruits made it, he repaired and sold it. He offered pretty-good value; I bought a Mac Mini from him, and used it seven years; but it's gone and so is he. Left for a much-smaller town 70 miles away, and then, closed out there and went to Florida.

Young drifter, early 30s.

Second shop...his prices made the pawn shops seem reasonable. And he had the business ethics of a grave robber. He sold crap, and even when it was okay equipment, it was grossly overpriced. And he wouldn't deal.

He's gone, too. Don't know where. Do not care where. He wasn't offering any Redeeming Social Value.

We're a strange demographic - this working-class town, featured in the book A River Runs Through It (made into a movie but the movie didn't closely follow the book, which was a vignette of short stories of life here in the 1920s-30s)...the town now is 80,000 paper-pushers, government, NGO, direct political, university, etc. And a large number of professorettes and permanent students, over at the state university. Such people don't buy to a price - they live on debt; they're sure they're indispensible and thus will never, ever be laid off. So they get the item pushed by the paid-promoter sales crew at Bust Buy. Or they buy on Bezoszon.

New, always new. Because **I** am NOT one of **THOSE PEOPLE**...

The rail crews are mostly gone. The lumberjacks live in their seasonal camps, close to much-smaller, a-bit-cheaper surrounding towns. Everything that made this town live, from gold, to lumber, to the Milwaukee Road railway, all gone.

 

[Joe King]

* Rufus is a safe, standalone program that doesn't even install on your PC. It just runs when you click it.

Forgot the link.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Rufus: Create bootable USB drives the easy way

rufus.ie

To use Rufus for a local Windows installation, download the portable app from Rufus. Plug in your USB drive, select your Windows ISO, and click Start. In the "Windows User Experience" prompt, check "Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account" and "Create a local account" to bypass forced Microsoft logins.

The Windows ISO can be downloaded from Microsoft's site.

 

[chieftain]

US$650 for a six year old PC is nuts. I find newer, higher specced PCs and laptops in e-waste dumps and sell them for far less. Some even have 30-series NVIDIA GPUs.

As for your situation, as the others have suggested, check if it's over heating, then test the power supply, it might be dropping the ball when it is placed under load.

 

[Casey Jones]

US$650 for a six year old PC is nuts. I find newer, higher specced PCs and laptops in e-waste dumps and sell them for far less. Some even have 30-series NVIDIA GPUs.

As for your situation, as the others have suggested, check if it's over heating, then test the power supply, it might be dropping the ball when it is placed under load.

From what I've seen, last six months that I've been watching, it's not that overpriced for its specs. Most PCs on the secondhand market are laptops, some big, some smaller...but their RAM varies from 8gb to, on a few, 16gb. I paid $220 for this one, five years ago at the same pawn shop, with 16gb of RAM.

Typically the ones that get turned in for sale tend to be lower-spec. Ten years ago I bought a used Toshiba, bottom shelf. That, too, got loaded with Linux Mint, but its deficiencies - cheap video card, no upgrade of RAM (4gb) and other issues, told me that was not the way.

I probably did overpay but not by that much. Powerful computers don't seem to appear for resale here. And Liste of Craig? I bought a doozie of a netbook online - needed a new battery. I never bought it one, since the use I had for it had an outlet close by, but I was really PO'd when I found that out.

Kinda negates the $75 (2014) price.

 

[Joe King]

I bought a doozie of a netbook online - needed a new battery. I never bought it one, since the use I had for it had an outlet cl

Gotta be careful of old laptop batteries, IMHO.

I pulled a battery out of one that was blown up like a balloon.

Not the hard plastic shell, but the actual battery inside of it.
I was afraid that if it got poked, it might explode. Looked like a puffed up condiment pack full of rotten mayo, or something.
Ie: Under obvious pressure.

I won't leave a laptop plugged in constantly.
....and if I had one that was only used where it could be plugged in constantly, I'd use it w/o the battery in it. Esp if an old battery.

 

[Casey Jones]

Gotta be careful of old laptop batteries, IMHO.

I pulled a battery out of one that was blown up like a balloon.

Not the hard plastic shell, but the actual battery inside of it.
I was afraid that if it got poked, it might explode. Looked like a puffed up condiment pack full of rotten mayo, or something.
Ie: Under obvious pressure.

I won't leave a laptop plugged in constantly.
....and if I had one that was only used where it could be plugged in constantly, I'd use it w/o the battery in it. Esp if an old battery.

Removable batteries are like cigarette lighters in cars.

Gone, gone, gone. Last one I saw, was the first-gen Toshiba netbook, that I'd bought in 2010. Later, heat from the processor distorted the plastic bottom (a grille opening) of the case.

I hadn't bought a new laptop since then. Had a few with removable batteries; now they're pretty-much obsoleted and disappeared. With tiny amounts of RAM and Intel Atom processors (same day response) it's well that they're gone.

Back when I had removable batteries, I'd do as you say - pull the battery out. Now that's not an option. I have this box I'm writing on, and my Asus Government School Special (I believe those were distributed free to kids; and were completely worthless with Winslop. I have Linux on it and it works okay that way). According to my computer geeks, they've mastered the art of power management, and whatever program controls it, shuts the power off as the battery hits capacity.

I can verify that with a measurement of power usage off the cord, off the wall-wart that provides power. Power use drops to about four watts; the wall-wart remains cool. I suppose some day the battery will break down, trick the management program into believing it needs full charging, and then explode into flames...but, what the hell. Nobody lives forever.

I REALLY want a desktop box, but those just aren't out there. I can buy new, and wind up with useless crap from Bezos - been there, done that; fortunately got it returned - or I can accept what used stuff is available. At least the battery system means I don't have a crash when the power winks out, which is happening moar and moar frequently.

 

[Voodoo]

I'd seen reference to that, in my cursory reading/searching. I didn't understand a bit of it.

So it's Windoze poison that's doing this?

I can completely wipe Windose off the face of the drive...I didn't want to; I wanted a dual-boot (what I have in there now) but if I cleanse everything of that Seattle virus, will it likely then work?

Is there a less-drastic way? Windoze is what everyone wants...including any buyers, if I have to re-sell this thing. Take the Dumboze 11 off the system, and nobody will be interested.

I remember Martin Armstrong saying something about Windoz 11. Once its installed it leaves a program that CAN NOT be removed. He warned strongly against it.

 

[Casey Jones]

I remember Martin Armstrong saying something about Windoz 11. Once its installed it leaves a program that CAN NOT be removed. He warned strongly against it.

I don't know how that's possible - it's not magic; it's not spiritual. It's code.

All you have to do is find a way to rewrite the surface of the medium. That may involve using a tool that isn't running the same program you're trying to remove; but it's certainly doable.

There used to be wiping programs available, like PGP's hard-drive overwrite, or BleachBit. Of course since Her Hillaryness had her bathroom-server wiped, TPTB had to take such tools away. From us.

I wouldn't fear a HD that had Windross Elebbin on it. Just that it might be easier and cheaper to pop another, clean drive in instead.

 

[Joe King]

Removable batteries are like cigarette lighters in cars.

They can be removed. Might have to crack the case open, but long as you are careful, you should be able to get access to it.

The one I removed that was all bloated was like that. It didn't have it's own clips or screws extremal on the bottom of the laptop.
I had to pop the whole bottom off and unplug the cable from the motherboard and unscrew several screws holding the battery in.
....but with the cover back on and plugged in, it seemed to work fine.

 

[chieftain]

I REALLY want a desktop box, but those just aren't out there. I can buy new, and wind up with useless crap from Bezos - been there, done that; fortunately got it returned - or I can accept what used stuff is available. At least the battery system means I don't have a crash when the power winks out, which is happening moar and moar frequently.

Have some fun and build one yourself. You could put together an AMD based system using DDR4 RAM (16-32GB), a 1TB SSD and a decent AMD GPU for under US$1000. And no need to run Microshaft shit, you can run any flavour of Linux you like.

I remember Martin Armstrong saying something about Windoz 11. Once its installed it leaves a program that CAN NOT be removed. He warned strongly against it.

He has no idea what he's on about. Windows can't write anything to UEFI, and if it somehow does install such a malicious program to the disk, format it or throw it away.