No where else to ask this

[manoynmonic]

Ok guys, at my wits end here. I think I've tried everything. This isn't really a Fedora problem, or even a Linux problem, but I know a lot of you guys are pros, maybe someone here has an idea/can help me troubleshoot this:

My laptop will regularly and predictably die - as in turn off/hard power-off while in use. Here's what I've tried so far:

At the suggestion of Dell tech support, I ran the Dell BIOS diagnostic tool (hold Fn at boot and use the built in tools). I also tried the one from the website. I also thought it was heat - cpu and gpu seemed to be running a bit hot. I recently warrantied the Dell motherboard, and thought maybe that the guy who put it in didn't put the heat-sink crud on there. I pulled it apart, reapplied the heat-sink goop, made sure the fan vents were clear while I was in there. Things began running much cooler. But the problem persisted. Then I got a Dell utility that lets me manually control the fans, and cranked them up to full-speed all the time. Things were running very very cool, high 30's low 40's C. The problem persisted. I thought perhaps it could be a bad PSU (I know it's a lappy and it should be ok, but anything's possible), so I tried running on just battery power. Still getting the shut downs. I ran the Dell BIOS diagnostic, it says everything is fine. I tried reinstalling my OS - actually, I even switched OS's. Same problem.

There are a few ways I can guarantee it will shut down: watch youtube clips, make a skype video call, or let the kids play flash games on it. I want to say maybe the onboard video card is bad, but that is why the motherboard was just replaced (as in just a month or so ago). This happens on the current 64 bit OS I'm using, and the 32 bit OS I was using when all this started.

System specs: Dell Latitude D830, 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 Gigs of ddr2 PC5400 RAM, Nvidia Quadro NVS 140M 512 MB. Currently running Ubuntu Hardy 64.

[shaolin]

I'm a LAN Admin and I've dealt with with the exact same issue your currently experiencing with one of my endusers...however not with Dell but with HP. I had them replace the system board, reapplied thermal paste on the CPU and it would still power off.

The problem was resolved once I had HP replace the heat sink....not sure why this would actually go bad since its just really a piece of hollow metal...no electrical components but its worth a try. The laptop ran great without ever shutting off after the heat sink was replaced.

I'm assuming that when it powered-off on you..your not getting immediate BSOD (if your running windows)..or when when it boots up your getting a message indicating windows has recovered a from a severe error...if so then that maybe a different issue

Hope this helps.

---------- Post added at 07:41 AM CST ---------- Previous post was at 07:33 AM CST ----------

just saw the specs you posted:

System specs: Dell Latitude D830, 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 Gigs of ddr2 PC5400 RAM, Nvidia Quadro NVS 140M 512 MB. Currently running Ubuntu Hardy 64.

So the Windows stuff I mention may not apply to you. Worst case scenario have you tried wiping the HD I in case you have some sort of corruption just to rule out any software issues? I know this might not be ideal but like I said this would be a worst case scenario and may be needed.

[manoynmonic]

this would be a worst case scenario and may be needed.

Yeah, I am posting this from a fresh Vista 32 install; used the DVD that came with the machine. Thought it would help isolate possible driver issues, and would cover me if Dell questions what OS I'm using.

I am now wondering if the problem is/was related to the *nix Nvidia driver (though I tried both the proprietary and the xorg with the same results). I went to Dell and got their official driver for this box. So far in Windows I haven't been able to duplicate the problem that I had in both PCLOS and then Ubuntu 8.04. (I haven't run Fedora for a looooong time ). Though I've had days when I thought I fixed the problem before, so I'll give this box a real stress test tomorrow: my 4 year-old daughter and access to barbie.com. On a side not, if you really want to put your cpu and gpu through their paces, that is the site to do it.

[shaolin]

I'm sure that site is flash intensive....however since your on a Duo Core machine it shouldn't tank your system down to the point of powering off.

Have you ran the top command and taken a look how your CPU's are doing at any point in time..regardless if your at the site or not.

just curious if your not running on Fedora why come to a Fedora Forum...not being a smart a$$ or anything just curious...this could also be a good time to switch over to Fedora 12.

[manoynmonic]

Originally Posted by shaolin

I'm sure that site is flash intensive....however since your on a Duo Core machine it shouldn't tank your system down to the point of powering off.

Have you ran the top command and taken a look how your CPU's are doing at any point in time..regardless if your at the site or not.

just curious if your not running on Fedora why come to a Fedora Forum...not being a smart a$$ or anything just curious...this could also be a good time to switch over to Fedora 12.

Yeah, top doesn't show anything to be running excessively. Flash stuff bumps it up to maybe 25% or so, but that's about what I expect. The new 64bit libflashplayer from Adobe that came out last month really reduced the cpu usage for me.

I started out in Linux with Fedora. I had this ancient box, and I tried a few live cds, and Fedora was one of the only ones that could get the old on-board graphics card working out of the box. I kinda got tired of endlessly fiddling with stuff and moved on to PCLOS where could just do my work and forget about the OS. But when I have REAL computer issues, there are just so many friendly knowledgeable guys on this board that I really don't know anywhere better to go and get answers. Nothing against the other distros, it's just that I've always gotten good help from you guys.

I go like this: Fedora 8 -> PCLOS -> Fedora 9 -> PCLOS -> new computer, tried Hardy 64, made a remaster dvd -> PCLOS (this issue with shutdowns popped up) -> install that old Hardy remaster I made way back when -> today, Vista

But I still search here for rpm related issues along the way. Yeah, might be a good time to try f12 Seriously, I might just give the livedvd a spin and see if I get the same shutdown issue there.

Thanks very much for you input.

-manoynmonic

[kona0197]

Wow. I hope you get this resolved.

[manoynmonic]

Well, this box just finished up an exhausting round of crumby barbie games. It passes the 4-year-old test.

Here is what I did: installed windows (after failing to resolve the issue with two different *nix distros, :sigh: ). Windows was still running the cpu and gpu waaaay hot, as in GPU was in the high 60's, and the cpu was running in the low 70's. I searched around some more, and found a driver for my video card on nvidia.com that was just released last month. Now the gpu is running in the high 50's when idle, low 60's when under a load, and the cpu is in the high 30's when idle, and mid 50's when under a load.

The linux driver at nvidia.com for the same card hasn't been updated since '07.

In Linux I tried both the xorg nv driver, and the proprietary nvidia one with the same power-off bug. Perhaps the xorg one is based off of/reverse engineered from the nvidia blob?

Sad to have to give control of my machine back to windows, but at least the machine wont die an early death.

Thanks for your thoughts shaolin.

-manoy