On Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 7:45:32 PM UTC+1, William Unruh wrote:   
   > >> >   
   > >> >   
   > >> > Well, I tried the alt-ctrl-PrtScr alt-ctrl-e combinations and ended up   
   having to cut the power for a while and then reboot with an older kernel (the   
   previous version).  Let's just say I won't be trying that again in a hurry.   
   > >>    
   > >> Interesting. I have never had any problem. What happened when you did   
   that?   
   > >> And why did you have to reboot with an older kernel?    
   > >>    
   > >> Remember I said "Once it hangs", not immediately.    
   > >>    
   > >> > Obviously I need to see what went wrong but I may even need to buy a   
   new PC as a primary, given that my old emergency backup PC died completely in   
   September and I have been living without a safety net ever since.   
   > >   
   > >   
   > > 1 - Yes, I tried that when it was hanging.   
   > As I said, very strange. What happened after you did ACPrtScr ACE tjat upi   
   > felt you had to do a power off? Again, why did you have to boot from an older   
   > kernel   
   > after that? And was there anything displayed on the screen   
      
   I tried the first keyin combination.  Nothing happened, no I/O either.   
   After a while I tried the second combination.  Ditto.   
      
   After hitting "reset" the beast was simply hanging.   
   Running out of options, I booted kernel 4.4.103-36 instead of 4.4.104-39.    
   That actually worked.   
   When I try to boot the machine, sometimes nothing happens and sometimes it   
   gets to the Boot menu.  If I try to boot to 104-39, sometimes that works and   
   sometimes it hangs.  Booting to 103-36 has worked every time up to now, I'm   
   thinking of removing the    
   newer kernel.   
   My responses to this thread depend on being able to boot this machine (in   
   particular if I want to report progress).  Sometimes that simply does not   
   work.  A new machine is being built and I will "take possession" next week,   
   then I'll try and get this one    
   fixed.   
      
   One possibility is that it is booting to 104-39 and then hanging while I am   
   looking away for 30 seconds.  That would make it a pure software problem.  The   
   new machine is going to be *much* faster.   
      
      
   >    
   > > 2 - The PC was built some time around 2008 and it appears to be having   
   > > difficulties.  I am in the process of organising a new one and will then   
   try   
   > > and get this one repaired so it can act as a backup if the new one gets   
   > > sick.   
   > > My PC doctor thinks it could be a power-supply problem.  We'll see.   
   >    
   > That is the usual suspect. Power supplies tend to be built cheaply and run   
   > hot, drying up the capacitors in them. But after 10 years, it could be almost   
   > anything.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)