Debian Kernel Problem - Crashing

[thepoetwarrior]

I've had Debian up for a few months now, but after a power outage, I can't get Debian up and running. It crashes 9 out of 10 times before getting to the Login then Desktop, but even if I make it that far, it crashes the second I try to use the internet, either web browser or starting EQ Server. The PC turning off instantly, no warning message, just instant off.

So, I have a list of Kernel to select during boot up, basically the original that only supports 1 gig ram, and the updated kernel to run over 1 gig ram. The old kernel with 1 gig ram boots up perfectly, and runs the eqemu server too just fine.

I have 2x2Gig Ram in that I want to use, so I thought maybe bad kernel, so I tried to uninstall/reinstall the kernel with these commands after su - root:

dpkg -P kernel-image-2.6-k7
apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-k7

which appeared to be successful, but when rebooting, and choosing that 2.6-7k kernel that I hopefully reinstalled, it still crashes still.

I've tried google searching and haven't found any answers to this problem. Can anyone help please?

[Angelox]

Here's what I'd do;
I would suspect faulty hardware as the first thing, so I'd have to somehow check it.
-A full, all sector scandisk (bootup might have overlooked something a full scan will not).
-Memory since you have 2x ram chips, put one on, then switch to the other, see of problem goes away.
-Video card, try another one (maybe you got an old one laying around?)
if you still haven't found anything, pull out/disable all possible hardware (LAn, Modem, etc. I've seen a faulty modem create problems like this. If problem goes away, add hardware back one at a time, tell you se the problem again.
Usually I snagged the problem by then.
I suspect you might have bad memory either video or ram, but could be any of the cache.
You can run one gig with the 2 gig kernel, it should be ok for testing

[thepoetwarrior]

Figured those would be the steps. Was hoping for a simple reinstall kernel would fix it. My old kernel works, which makes me suspect its not hardware, unless its the RAM since the new kernel uses more than 1 gig ram.

Thanks

[Angelox]

My newest Mandriva came with a memory check utility - pre-install. I guess memory is a big issue with Linux, since it will use all you give it.
You could probably download the Mandriva CD and just use it for memory check; I found numerous problems with wrong or bad memory on mine. (I always by the cheapest memory, and you knwo the rest).

[trevius]

Ya, from reading your first post, I suspected a possible memory issue as well. Power hits on a PC are never a good thing, and on Linux they are even worse lol. Did you remove the kernel properly before you reinstalled it? Is that what the "dpkg -P kernel-image-2.6-k7" command is? I normally just use "apt-get remove kernel-image-2.6-k7" or some very similar command to automatically remove everything.

[thepoetwarrior]

Yup, I tried the apt-get command too to remove it. Then reinstalled, but still problem. I'll work with the memory first and let ya know if I find out what it was.