[Solved] Spreadsheet freezes in Ubuntu 9.10

[Hagar Delest]

I am running Ubuntu 9.10 and Open Office 3.1. If I run Office spreadsheet (could be other elements of OO too - I just tend to use Spreadsheet more than anything else) after 10 minutes or so, the whole computer freezes. Even if I have shut down spreadsheet it still happens. Only answer is to turn computer off and on again.

I read some other people's posts listing the same problem and as a result uninstalled Open Office and then installed it again. I also uninstalled Compiz. Neither of these seem to be the solution. I have just installed Lotus Symphony and there are no problems with freezing and so the issue is definately with OO and Ubuntu.

The above problems are exhibited on my desktop. I also have an ASUS EEE Netbook running Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook remix. This is fine - the problem does not seem to affect the netbook.

Any ideas? I would really like to continue to use OO - I like it a lot. Unfortunately this freezing issue is making it unusable.

Thanks

Mike

[Hagar Delest]

Have you installed the Ubuntu version or the Sun version?

NB: please avoid multi-posting. I've deleted your other topic.

[mje1708]

I installed Open Office through Ubuntu using the software center.

Is there a difference between this version and the one issued by Sun?

Thanks

[TheGurkha]

The Ubuntu version is made by Ubuntu out of the OOo source code. They make their own changes to it some of rth ebetter, some for the worse. By default it doesn't contain the database componenert of OOo.

[Tutorial] Installing OOo on Ubuntu, Debian and Co..

[mje1708]

So you are saying uninstall the OpenOffice version which came packaged with Ubuntu and reinstall the version downloaded directly from OpenOffice site?

I will have a go at this tonight - thanks for your help.

It seems strange that a program bundled with Ubuntu should cause this problem when whole aim of bundling was to avoid incompatibility problems!

Thanks again - I will let you know the outcome.

[Hagar Delest]

No, that's part of the open software concept: Novell tweaks the OOo original code to add features. All the GNU/Linux versions prefer to bundle that version (I don't know why but that's the fact). Some say that the go-oo.org version (from Novell) is better integrated in the desktop, I've never really seen any major difference.

[mje1708]

Hi again

Followed the instructions and all seemed to be going well until the very last step - which I understand adds OpenOffice to the drop-down applications menu. I got the following -

mike@mike-desktop:~/OOO320_m12_native_packed-1_en-GB.9483/DEBS/desktop-integration$ sudo dpkg -i *.deb
Selecting previously deselected package openoffice.org-debian-menus.
dpkg: regarding openoffice.org3.2-debian-menus_3.2-9472_all.deb containing openoffice.org-debian-menus:
openoffice.org-debian-menus conflicts with openoffice.org-bundled
openoffice.org-core provides openoffice.org-bundled and is present and installed.
dpkg: error processing openoffice.org3.2-debian-menus_3.2-9472_all.deb (--install):
conflicting packages - not installing openoffice.org-debian-menus
Errors were encountered while processing:
openoffice.org3.2-debian-menus_3.2-9472_all.deb
mike@mike-desktop:~/OOO320_m12_native_packed-1_en-GB.9483/DEBS/desktop-integration$

Any ideas what this means? It means nothing to me I'm afraid

Thanks again

Mike

[Hagar Delest]

dpkg: regarding openoffice.org3.2-debian-menus_3.2-9472_all.deb containing openoffice.org-debian-menus:
openoffice.org-debian-menus conflicts with openoffice.org-bundled
openoffice.org-core provides openoffice.org-bundled and is present and installed.

There is still an Ubuntu package of OOo installed. Open Synaptic and remove all the packages that have the 'ubuntu' string in the version number.

[mje1708]

Before anyone takes the trouble to answer my query I wanted to say that I managed to resolve it myself.

Previously I uninstalled the Ubuntu version of OpenOffice using Ubuntu Software installer. Evidently this did not remove all traces of the previously installed OpenOffice. I had to go in to Synaptic Program manager to do that.

Once I had done this then the procedure worked ok and I now have OpenOffice installed. Unfortunately whilst I was using Synaptic I must have got a bit heavy-handed and also uninstalled Thunderbird and a couple of other programs accidently But never mind I should be able to get those back fairly easily.

Anyway I will report back in a few days to let you know whether the freezing problem is now resolved or not.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

[mje1708]

Sorry - didn't take a few days

Problem is still there ... computer freezes after 10-15 minutes if OpenOffice is open or has been opened.

Any other possibilities to resolve?

[Hagar Delest]

after 10 minutes or so, the whole computer freezes.

If you deactivate the Save AutoRecovery information feature in Tools>Options>Load/Save>General, does it change anything?

[RoryOF]

I tried Sun OOo3.2 running on my "out of the box" Ubuntu 9.10 UNR installation on my laptop and it runs Writer for long sessions and Impress for hour long lectures with no problems. I ran Calc on it for ten minutes, also with no problems. I cannot check Calc on a desktop Ubuntu 9.10 at present (computer at other end of sleeping house) but certainly writer has worked on that machine for long sessions. I suspect there is some problem on your desktop machine, but do not know what to suggest.

[mje1708]

Tried deactivating autosave feature - unfortunately no change - system still freezes after 10-15 minutes if OpenOffice is or has been running

[RoryOF]

You could try running System Monitor from Ubuntu /System /Administration concurrently with OOo and seeing if that disclosed anything, such as a memory leak.

[mje1708]

Well I have System Monitor running - although not sure what I am looking for???

And, would you believe it, the thing has been running for about 30 mins now without freezing - so who knows what that means? Is it possible that System Monitor can be doing anything to alleviate the problem? - don't know exactly what this program does.

Anyway - will leave running for longer and see what happens .....

[mje1708]

Just a follow-up note -

I tried desperately to make the system freeze yesterday evening. Ran lots of applications simulataneously. Opened and closed various OpenOffice applications multiple times, left some running for an hour or two whilst I did other things etc - but no freezing!!!

I left my pc on overnight with Openoffice and various other things running. Came down this morning and everything is still fine - no freezing!!

So I am now clueless - did something fix the problem? Has the bug fixed itself? The only thing that is different is that I have system Monitor running - but this doesn't do anything, does it? Just monitors the system as its name suggests?

So am keeping fingers crossed....

[Hagar Delest]

To sum up:
- What is the OOo version in the end (what gives the Help>About OOo dialog)?
- Is AutoSave feature activated or not?

[RoryOF]

Close System Monitor and see if the problem returns.

[mje1708]

Version of OOo is - 3.2.0
000320m12 (build:9483)

Autosave is off.

PC was on all day with OpenOffice running - and clearly hadn't frozen.

I closed down System Monitor this evening and since then the system has frozen once. Don't know if the two events are related because I have been using it intermittently ever since (about 2 hours ago now) with OOo sometimes open/ sometimes closed and System Monitor not open and no freezes!

So now I am completely confused

But, looking on the bright side, when I first started it was freezing after 10 minutes - now at least this seems to be getting rarer

[RoryOF]

The only suggestion I can make is that running System Monitor concurrently exercises some form of restraining effect of the OOo code - perhaps preventing "bad" memory misinterpreting an instruction - but I am grasping at straws.

[Hagar Delest]

I just noticed that we haven't talked about the profile it seems. Can you try to reset your OOo user profile? But during the welcome process, don't transfer your personal data (if you had 2.x), former configuration files might corrupt the new profile.

I can't see how the system monitor could have an impact on the OOo behavior...

[RoryOF]

I can't see how the system monitor could have an impact on the OOo behavior...

I doubt that it does have, but thinking back to very early microcomputer days I can remember early computer designs where computers failed on certain memory sequences due to bad board layout and design. Sometimes the cure was to slow them down. However, we must accept the OP's report that running System Monitor does help. Of course, System Monitor might introduce some (more effective?) process, such as garbage collection, which might override a fault in OpenOffice.

[mje1708]

I have solved the problem !

I had an ATI Radeon 9500 graphics card and so I installed this. Instantly all problems disappeared

So obviously Ubuntu/ Open Office or whatever didn't like my antiquated on board graphics (not that the Radeon is that new !) - so I am happy !

Have been using it all day and absolutely no problems whatsoever !!!

I like Open Office and so am very pleased that I don't have to stop using it.

So thanks to everyone for all the help.

Hopefully this will be my last post on this subject

[RoryOF]

Out of interest, what was the orther video card?