Ubuntu Maverick on Toshiba Laptop Problem

[ShavedBare87]

So I decided to install Ubuntu Maverick (10.10 64bit) on my laptop. It is a Toshiba Satellite L350D (Athlon X2).

The problem I am having is a random shut down. Without warning the laptop will power off completely. Ubuntu does not even try to terminate any processes, it just dies. This has happened a few times now and is becoming a slight annoyance.

The first thing I thought of was a thermal protection trip, where the CPU is over heating and forces a complete shutdown of the system. A pretty easy diagnosis but the issue I have is, when using Windows (XP Pro), I never had this issue before. True, dust and other debris could have built up over time on the CPU fan and it has taken up until now to impact CPU temp. But I think I would have seen an overheating issue well before I installed Ubuntu.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I would like to know for sure this isn't a software issue before I go dismantling my laptop to clean out the CPU fans.

My question is, does anyone know of any incompatibility issues with Ubuntu and Toshiba systems? Like certain chipset drivers not functioning normally with Ubuntu, that kind of thing. Should I try switching distros?

Any help you guys can offer is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Corny]

are the fans runnning with full force or with the lowest speed all the time by any chance? with some BIOS linux has power management issues. this can result in it not interpreting the temperature or controlling the fan speed correctly. if the system gets too hot, the laptop itself forces a power off.

other than that .. check the log files in /var/log

kernel.log or messages .. not sure right now what ubuntu uses

 

[T-Rexx]

This is kernel bug #16521.

It is a known issue with Toshiba laptops and Maverick Meerkat.

The laptop overheats, apparently because the fan does not spin up rapidly enough. This, apparently, happens because the Toshiba application control program interface (toshiba_acpi) does not work properly under Maverick Meerkat with certain Toshiba laptops which use a BIOS not written by Toshiba.

http://memebeam.org/toys/ToshibaAcpiDriver

Try running Ubuntu 11.04 "live" from the CD drive, just to see if the new kernel still has this issue. If everything is okay, then you can go ahead and upgrade.

I imagine you have not upgraded yet because of the stupid "Unity" interface in 11.04. You can disable Unity (and return to Gnome) in 11.04 as follows:

1) Log out of Ubuntu 11.04

2) When the login screen appears, select your user id.

3 At the bottom of the screen, a task bar will appear. Click Ubuntu>Ubuntu Classic.

4) Log in with your normal user id and password.

 

[T-Rexx]

^ Not long after I posted that reply, I got an email from Amazon, urging me to purchase a new Toshiba laptop.

Coincidence?

other than that .. check the log files in /var/log

kernel.log or messages .. not sure right now what ubuntu uses

General messages in Ubuntu are logged in /var/log/messages

Kernel messages are found in /var/log/kern.log


You can view the log files in Ubuntu from the Gnome desktop by clicking System>Administration>Log File Viewer

 

[Corny]

allright. and my gut instinct wasn't too wrong about the cause of the power off either

 

[T-Rexx]

^ I have to say your gut instinct was amazing!

After reading ShavedBear87's OP, I was 99% sure this would be a hardware issue. But, after I did a little investigating, I realized you were absolutely right.

 

[star-warrior]

By the looks of his avatar, Corny's gut is a treasure (trail) trove....

 

[ShavedBare87]

Thank you Corny and T-Rexx! I'm so happy that I don't have to take apart my laptop now! Knowing my luck I would have bricked it in a heartbeat.

As for the fans running I have noticed that in Windows whenever I did something remotely system intensive the fans would spin up, but they don't seem to do that much in Ubuntu. I just thought Linux was running more efficiently than Windows. Derp is me.

And yes T-Rexx, Unity was why I went with Maverick instead of Natty. I will give 11.04 a try to see if it resolves the issue.

Thanks guys for all your help!