Ubuntu install has 'killed' my laptop!

During the install procedure my laptop screen went black and after about 10 minutes I could hear no more activity.

Now the machine won't power up. The lights flicker on for a second or two then nothing. The drive doesn't spin up and I can't get to the BIOS screen either.

Put the old XP drive in and still nothing!

WTF do I do now?

i doubt the install has killed it, your laptops just come to end of its life

It seems to be an issue but I can't find anything about how to get it restarted. If I leave it for a few mins the HDD makes and attempt at starting and just spins without loading anything.

I guess you have already pulled the power and battery for a couple of mins.

Yeah! I got as far as the XP password screen before it 'died' again.

Someone on the Ubuntu forums just said change the CMOS. Like I know how or what that means.

If you can get into your laptop and find the CMOS battery (its like a watch battery) take that out for a min or so along with your laptop's battery. This will clear the CMOS and take it back to factory default. While you are at it i would also take out the memory, give it a little clean and clean any fluff and dust from any of the fans as it sounds like your laptop is overheating.

As said, leave everything unplugged for a few mins then whack it all back together and give it a go. I get the same error from my wifes lapptop when she has had it sitting on her lap for hours. It turns itself off and i have to wait on it cooling down as it either won't turn on at all, or when it does it only stays on till it overheats again.

Hope that helps

Overheating?

I've just put a lovely 80gb drive in it this morning. I wonder if that's the problem.

Overheating?

 

I've just put a lovely 80gb drive in it this morning. I wonder if that's the problem.

Doubt it would be the HDD but you could give it a go. The HDD doesn't come into play until after the bios has done its thing. IF you were turning it on and it wasn't getting that far it definitely sounds like overheating.

Whether the harddrive is causing the overheating or not i have no idea but i would be surprised if it was.

Would lots of CD activity cause overheating?

I wouldn't have thought so. Age and dust, fluff is usually the main cause of overheating. If the fans weren't able to ventilate the system properly the CPU and RAM temps would go through the roof causing your computer to shutdown for safety.

The thing is, if your lappy has been sitting for a while now without any activity it should boot up. My wifes takes around 5-10 mins to cool down so that its safe enough to use.

Do you have the old HDD handy with windows or something on it?

MIght be worth while swopping them over to see what happens.

Sticking the old drive with XP on it back into the machine gets me as far as the windows log-in screen then it all goes black again.

Ahh right, its not looking good then mate. Try taking off the covers and getting out all the fluff from the heat sinks.

If it's overheating, it's usually caused by dust turning into fluff and blocking the heatsink. Most laptops have a fairly fine-finned heatsink. Access to the CPU fan/heatsink is easy on most laptops and the fluff is usually on the innermost edge of the heatsink where it comes into contact with the fan.

Here's an example, a common occurrence on some Toshibas:

Laptop now runs for about five minutes then goes black!

On the plus side I'm on a full Ubuntu install on our main PC despite some scary GRUB error 21 message and the BIOS not recognizing the new HHD.

UPDATE: Laptop is, IMO, dead.

It won't stay on for more than 15-20 minutes at a time and died halfway through installing Ubuntu so now won't even boot as I wrote over the original 12gb drive!

It's weird that it decide to die/overheat on the day I put a new HDD in. Too much coincidence especially as it never shut down prior to that.

Time to buy a new one I s'pose.

Did you try taking it apart and cleaning out the fans?

I've got a defibrilator you could borrow... *zap*

No, in all honesty if it's running for five minutes I doubt it's a bad block issue on your hard drive(s). If it's running for 5 minutes then shutting down it sounds like something's reaching it's thermal envelope then going down like a sack of s*** to protect itself.

Heatsinks, mobo, CPU itself, not great to diagnose. Maybe you can boot it up to any OS and get some stat monitor that shows you CPU/Heatsink/GPU/HD heat levels?

Did you try taking it apart and cleaning out the fans?

I did. They weren't too bad TBH.

I've got a defibrilator you could borrow... *zap*

 

No, in all honesty if it's running for five minutes I doubt it's a bad block issue on your hard drive(s). If it's running for 5 minutes then shutting down it sounds like something's reaching it's thermal envelope then going down like a sack of s*** to protect itself.

 

Heatsinks, mobo, CPU itself, not great to diagnose. Maybe you can boot it up to any OS and get some stat monitor that shows you CPU/Heatsink/GPU/HD heat levels?

I'd try that but I've no idea how to get an OS to run on it when it won't stay on long enough to get one re-installed.

I'd try that but I've no idea how to get an OS to run on it when it won't stay on long enough to get one re-installed.

You need a place with low ambient temperature I guess (if it is a heat thing). Work outside late at night, or do you have a chest freezer you could temporarily climb in?

mmmm chilly.