Diagnosing Laptop Shutdown

[chuck34108]

I have an old Gateway W350A that used to run Windows Vista. I purchased a new Laptop and a few years ago I converted this to Linux Lxle, a build designed for older laptops with limited resources. Worked fine for a little while and, though I didn't use it as my daily laptop, I would power it up occasionally and play around with the OS, see what it does and all that.

Prior to installing Linux, I've replaced the battery with an awesome Anker and also had to have the power jack repair. After the repair, it worked great and never had an issue with shutting down though the underside would get hot when running Windows and I used a cooling fan under it.

Now when I power it up, it will run for 10 or 15 minutes before suddenly shutting off. It doesn't give me any blue screen, no messages or other warnings. I've taken the bottom of the laptop off, made sure all the vents are clear and cleaned out what I could. When it shuts off, I'll slide my hand under it and it doesn't feel excessively hot. I've considered replacing the heat sink.

Any suggestions on what might be going on or how to diagnose?

 

[darksky1x]

Sounds like there is a problem with Linux Lxle. I've used Linux for 18 years. played with every Linux distribution you can think of and loaded it on hundreds of laptops and towers, here's what I would do and what I suggest you do.

There is a much better, more reliable distribution of Linux that is specifically designed to install on older laptops.Not only have I personally installed it on more than 15 different, very old laptops, I have used it on one such laptop and never had a problem. Works great, older laptops run like they are brand new and you still have all of the "Bells & Whistles" you expect from a Linux OS.

I suggest you load and install Linux Peppermint on the Gateway, replacing Linux Lxle. I can not make any guarantees but I would bet the problem you describe above will disappear. I also bet you will like Peppermint more than you could ever like Lxle

 

[chuck34108]

So you think it's software, not hardware? I'm pretty open to trying various Linux distos, not fixated on one.

 

[darksky1x]

I've played around with many different distributions of Linux often on the same computer and experiences has taught me that no two flavors of Linux act will alike on the same computer. One Linux distro might freeze up every time during the boot process, while an entirely different distro will sail right through the boot and hit desktop in record time and never give you a problem and a third different distro will load, boot, hit desktop and then an hour later shut down suddenly forcing a restart.

I've used Linux for 18 years and will never return to Windows. Windows compared to Linux is like Kindergarten compared to college. Some Linux Distros will run flawlessly on one computer but give you nothing but trouble on a different computer. That's just the reality of the Wonderful World of Linux. That being said I have learned to never assume (at least where Linux is involved) that any problem a computer exhibits is hardware related before first verifying that the problem is or is not Linux related.

First step- either eliminate Linux as the culprit causing the problem or eliminate the problem by verifying that the dsitro of Linux was indeed the culprit.

Once step one is completed we have either solved the problem or we move to step two. It's a whole lot cheaper and faster to download a free OS and install on your computer in a search for answers than it is to attempt to diagnose and fix a hardware related issue that may or may not be caused by the OS. Elimination of the OS should always be the first step especially when the problem only started happening after changing the OS from Windows to Linux.

Try Linux Peppermint and keep me informed

 

[chuck34108]

fun times! So I downloaded Peppermint, saved it using Rufus to a thumb drive and then went to install onto the Gateway. Well, first I got a Kernel Panic then the second time I get a SMART warning that the hard disk is predicted to fail. Oh, then shuts down on it's own.

I'm thinking the laptop is not long for this world.

 

[darksky1x]

I think you got your answer there, faulty Hard Drive. Got another HD laying around you can use to swat out?

Oh yeah, one other thing, you said "saved it using Rufus to a thumb drive and then went to install onto the Gateway. " Did you save it to the USB drive OR did you make a USB boot drive with Rufus using Peppermint for the OS? There's a distinct difference between saving and making a bootable USB drive.

What I wanted you to do was make a USB boot drive using Peppermint as the OS. If you boot from a USB drive you don't need a hard drive. Believe it or not, you don't even have to have a hard dive in the computer if you boot from the USB drive.Your hard drive is definitely going bad but if you will make a bootable USB drive and then boot from that we can find out if there are any other problems with you laptop.

When you first start to boot from the USB with peppermint you will be presented with a boot screen with a list of choices, choose "run (or start or something like that) in compatibility mode". That way Peppermint will run a check on the Gateway looking for any hardware or other item that may cause a conflict and by-pass that item when it loads. That will just about guarantee a clean start without any boot hang-ups.

if you can boot into peppermint and use your computer without any other issues then you know all you need to do is replace the HD. Either that are you can say "screw the HD" and continue using your laptop booting from the USB drive. Might even waht to by a larger thumb drive to use as a bootable drive so you have plenty of free space for storage of any files or data you make while using peppermnit.

Make a bootable USB drive, boot from that and let me know how thins go.