I'm new to using KDE. I didn't get any response on the kubuntu-forum, so I hope you don't mind me cross-posting this:
I added the Kubuntu-desktop 1.205 to my Ubuntu, but it always freezes after a few minutes.
It looks like no particular application or so is the cause.

I found this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1667432
and it taught me that my swap wasn't on, so I set that right with the instructions about fstab. Now at least

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swapon -s

gives me an output

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Filename                Type        Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sdb5                               partition    2117628    0    -1

I hoped this would solve the freezing, bit it still happens and I can't use Kubuntu for more than a few minutes. I have to turn the computer off with the manual start button.

Ubuntu under Gnome works fine though - so what could be the problem?

Please try disabling Desktop Effects in System Settings > Desktop Effects.

If you cannot remain logged in long enough to do this, it is possible to run the following command to achieve the same thing (as long as KDE is not running)

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kwriteconfig --file kwinrc --group Compositing --key Enabled --type bool false

bcooksley wrote:Please try disabling Desktop Effects in System Settings > Desktop Effects.

I found that suggestion earlier when Googling for a solution and I succeeded in doing that yesterday, but it didn't solve the problem.
It still froze after some 15 minutes. It happened this time when starting Firefox, but the other times (before disabling Desktop Effects) it wasn't with Firefox, so I guess there's no connection.

Which graphics driver is in use? This seems likely to be hardware related.

bcooksley wrote:Which graphics driver is in use? This seems likely to be hardware related.

I have no idea
I'm very unaware of hardware in general. If you can tell me the command that will show this, I can post the output.

edit: btw, I should stress the fact that the freeze never occurs in Ubuntu.

I would love to try out KDE though - a narrowed down version with less eye candy is fine - I'm not after the flashy stuff.

The output of "lspci" should reveal which graphics hardware you have.

bcooksley wrote:The output of "lspci" should reveal which graphics hardware you have.

Here it is:

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00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb Host Bridge (rev a1)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb LPC Bridge (rev a2)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce 250Gb PCI System Management (rev a1)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK8S USB Controller (rev a1)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK8S USB Controller (rev a1)
00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev a2)
00:05.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation CK8S Ethernet Controller (rev a2)
00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK8S Parallel ATA Controller (v2.5) (rev a2)
00:0a.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce3 Serial ATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb AGP Host to PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:0e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 250Gb PCI-to-PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV40.2 [GeForce 6800 LE] (rev a1)
02:07.0 RAID bus controller: Silicon Image, Inc. PCI0680 Ultra ATA-133 Host Controller (rev 02)
02:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs CA0106 Soundblaster
02:0a.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306/7/8 [Fire II(M)] IEEE 1394 OHCI Controller (rev 46)

I hope it reveals something.

You have a nVidia Corporation NV40.2 [GeForce 6800 LE].
You are likely using the opensource nvidia driver, which may have problems with your card. I suggest using the Ubuntu utilities to install the Proprietary nvidia driver.

bcooksley wrote:You have a nVidia Corporation NV40.2 [GeForce 6800 LE].
You are likely using the opensource nvidia driver, which may have problems with your card. I suggest using the Ubuntu utilities to install the Proprietary nvidia driver.

That's something new to me, so I googled and found this:
http://ubuntuguide.net/how-to-install-nvidia-graphics-driver-in-ubuntu-10-10-maverick-meerkat and it worries me to see that so many comments report a broken system after doing that.
Also, I'd like to stress again, in Ubuntu I don't have any problem. Is it possible that this problem occurs in Kubuntu and not affect Ubuntu?
Not doubting your expertise here, just being extra cautious

Can you elaborate on what exactly happens? Do you get a black screen? Does your mouse or keyboard still work? Can you use e.g. Ctrl+Alt+F1?

And for your information, you're still running the same base system ("Ubuntu") - just with a different workspace (KDE Plasma Desktop instead of the default GNOME). Kubuntu is pretty much Ubuntu but shipped with some different packages (e.g. default workspace and applications)[

Hans wrote:Can you elaborate on what exactly happens? Do you get a black screen? Does your mouse or keyboard still work? Can you use e.g. Ctrl+Alt+F1?

And for your information, you're still running the same base system ("Ubuntu") - just with a different workspace (KDE Plasma Desktop instead of the default GNOME). Kubuntu is pretty much Ubuntu but shipped with some different packages (e.g. default workspace and applications)[

There's no black screen.
Mouse and keyboard don't react, although sometimes the mouse can still be moved, but it can't click.
No short cut keys work at all.

Come to think of it, I did have a similar problem with Ubuntu some weeks ago, but was convinced it had to do with Firefox problems - now I'm not so sure anymore.

I have a friend who had a problem with Ubuntu where everything except the mouse would "freeze". We tried to find the error and found that it was still possible to SSH into the machine - you might want to try that if you have more than one computer. This allows you to run commands on the freezing computer from the other computer, for example you can look at the processes and try to kill some.

(We didn't have time to find the real cause, but it was X that caused the trouble if I remember correctly.)

I had a similar problem, and used the same "cure". To find what needed killing I used Ctrl+Esc to start the system monitor, moved it to the bottom right of my screen, made it small enough to only show the top 3-4 items and set it to prioritise on CPU usage. I made sure that other windows didn't cover that small area. When I got the freeze I used another computer to ssh in and killed the offender. All was well and I didn't lose any of the unsaved work. Oddly enough, I've never had to do it since them (says me, crossing fingers )

i had the same, the open source nvidia driver is bugged. You need to install the binary driver. Don't worry, it wont break your system (the fact that it is broken anyway right now makes that choice even easier).

In you menu, go to system/additional drivers to install the nvidia drivers.

Asraniel wrote:i had the same, the open source nvidia driver is bugged. You need to install the binary driver. Don't worry, it wont break your system (the fact that it is broken anyway right now makes that choice even easier).

In you menu, go to system/additional drivers to install the nvidia drivers.

I don't see "additional drivers" in System - I guess it's in one of the sub-menus?

I do have a 2nd computer, a netbook with Crunchbang-Debian, but don't know (yet) how SSH works. And if I did, I still wouldn't know which process to kill and how.

Thank you all for helping out!
EDIT: Found it - it's not in System, but in Control Center - Hardware - Additional Drivers.
I chose the Recommended = version current (as opposed to version 173) and clicked Activate.
After the download and automatic install it now tells me to restart the pc.
If I edit this message again within 5 minutes, all went well, if I don't...