[Qagak]

Question: Does any one know how to fix this & what in the world is happening?! Any suggestions?

Problem: Mini 9 turns itself off randomly & I have no idea why. It does this whether it's on AC or battery power. Battery can be at 100% charge + be on AC power) & it will STILL just up & turn itself off at any given time (at least after 1 hour, but sometimes more or less than that).

The screen just goes entirely black & moving the mouse or tapping on the keyboard doesn't do any thing.

What I tried: Changing the Power Options in Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS under System-->Preferences-->Power Management (I disabled suspend and sleep.)

fschk on the system checked out fine; a memory test I did before installing UNR 9.04 checked out fine.

Details: Purchased used recently for under $200 as my 1st netbook + for exploring Linux; Previous owner bought in early November 2008 & should still be on warranty... (I haven't done a transfer of ownership or whatever yet, though. )

Specs: Atom N270, 512MB RAM, 4GB SSD, No camera, Alpine White, Wireless 802.11 G Card, A00 BIOS (I believe), Bluetooth???, Intel GMA 950

Problems I Had Before This One: The Mini 9 would freeze when I used it at first under 8.04.1 LTS (even after updating it), so I installed UNR 9.04 & that resolved that issue.

I hadn't really used it much, & then, I noticed the Mini 9 started powering off randomly. I reinstalled 8.04 LTS from the CD, updated it & so far it hasn't frozen on me (yet).

Extra: I use a laptop cooler with my Mini most of the time, since the mouse pad gets kinda warm for my tastes....

Things I'll do at some point: hardware testing + update BIOS

Let me know what you think is wrong. THANKS!

[Qagak]

Okay.... I ran some hardware tests. Every thing checked out fine, as far as I saw. I did 2 sets of tests: 1 that's in Ubuntu System --> Administration--> Hardware Testing & one that came with the utility at Ubuntu on the Dell Mini 9: Dell Mini 9/Vostro A90 BIOS Flashing Utility .

The only tests that weren't in-depth were the ones for the Intel Onboard Video (Vendor 8086, Product 27AE), Broadcom 802.11 G Wireless Card (Vendor 14E4, Product 4315) & the Ethernet Controller (Vendor 10EC, Product 8136). I think they're working okay, though.

I also flashed the BIOS from A00 to A05.

I also took out the battery, let it sit out of the computer for a while, snapped it back in + clicked those tabs on the side back into lock position & turned it back on to use it (before it shuts off completely on me like it usually does).

However, this time when I pressed the power button the power light was flashing. After the screen came back on, what I had been working on was still there on the screen! Firefox was still open!

Maybe there's been some progress.... I will keep on testing it.

What's troubling is that suspend, hibernate, standby or some one of those appear to STILL be enabled when I disabled it all. I don't even have blank screen enabled.

Does any one know if there are hidden power options settings some place? THANKS!

[Qagak]

Okay. I've kept looking around & trying to figure out what's wrong.

Here's what I'm doing now....

I don't know if there is a hidden setting for sleep in the Dell Ubuntu 8.04+ LTS, but I was able to add an icon to the panel that inhibits or enables automatic sleep. You just sort of right click, then hit Add to Panel & choose the Inhibit Applet.

I also disabled SpeedStep in the BIOS. Every thing in the Power Management options is disabled or turned off, except for Blank Screen when close lid. I had had that option enabled at some point then turned it off in my previous post & have turned it back on again for this post.

We'll see how it goes.

[Qagak]

Well.... I think I might be home free. My computer has stayed on for a WHOLE 5+ HOURS plugged up & hasn't shut off once. Oh my gosh. I'm SO relieved.

THANK YOU INHIBIT APPLET.

I'm still going to test it out some more at a later date.

[Qagak]

Well, I've continued to test it & yesterday was absolute hell. Minetta (my nickname Mini 9) just continued to shut off all by itself.

Today was better though. My current workaround is to charge up the Mini until the power light goes off & then use it in battery mode.

I've had it on for a while now & that's what has helped. It's odd how Minetta seems to start giving me problems after I update UNR 9.04. My latest fresh install is working beautifully. Somehow downloading is slow today for me from the repositories, so I didn't get a chance to update. (Web pages load fine, though; I don't know what's wrong. ~lol~ I hope I wasn't banned/blocked. xD)

I don't know if this made a difference, but I charged my battery today for the most part with the battery backup that I use for my desktop: (Amazon.com: APC BE750G 10-Outlet Power-Saving Uninterruptible Power Supply: Electronics), instead of what I was using: (Amazon.com: APC PF11VT3 11-outlet SurgeArrest with Tel2/Splitter and Coax Protection: Electronics ).

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I haven't even been using the Inhibit Applet today & I didn't mess with the power management settings, since the fresh UNR 9.04 install.... I don't know how many times I've reinstalled now, due to bad errors I got from the instant power-offs. Maybe today is a good day. I don't know & I still can't pinpoint the cause.

If there's any one who knows any thing, I'd love to hear from ya!

[Qagak]

Well, I still have the problem. I have tinkered with computer settings, so I have finally purchased a new battery & will try that out to see if it makes a difference.

(I have a 600M & I had to replace the power adapter at least 2x when it worked. Then, one day it just died without warning.)

I'm hoping the new battery will solve the issue. I will write again later after it I get it.

Noteworthy: The power light comes off very quickly when the Mini is put to charge for the most part (anywhere from 5 - 20 mins to a couple of hours). I've decided to leave it on charge for hours, regardless of the light turning off after a few minutes to see if that will help any thing.

[Z4i]

Unless you notice that it runs on AC power with the battery removed without issue, I don't think buying another battery is the best next step.

Leave it in BIOS setup for several hours and see if it does it. If it does, reseat the memory and try again. If it still does, try another stick of memory if you have any available. If it works then, contact Dell for replacement memory. If it doesn't work, contact Dell and expect to send the system in for repair.

[Qagak]

Hi Z! First off, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your response. :-) I will try out your suggestions.

[Qagak]

Well, I switched out the 512 MB RAM for a 1GB stick. Of course, it shut off like usual, so I will try to get it to Dell. I am officially stumped. If I can't get it to Dell for whatever reason, then I will eventually open it up & take a look to see what I can see.

I bought another Mini 9 (XP) for less with more features, & it seems to work pretty okay. I put the 512 RAM in there (after it had in 1GB), & it did not like the 512 stick at all.
(I was trying to see if the new mini would power off too.)

At 1st, the new Mini beeped about 4 times with the power light on, so I reseated the memory. Then, it booted like how it normally does & all seemed well, but when the startup programs were loading, the display went crazy leaving me unable to access Task Manager & other programs.

When I say the display went 'crazy', there were moving lines, distortion & something like several dos prompt windows at the top of the screen scrolling through words quickly. (absolute weirdness)

[Qagak]

I believe that Snow (previously Minetta) has a problem with the either the motherboard, power supply and/or cpu.


Now, here's the joke. I went to Dell Chat & inquired about the cost of a new motherboard. Alright.... Ready? I was told that it'd be close to $500 (MAYBE including the cost of shipping).

~lol~ You know, I just sat there & shook my head. Who do they think is going to put out that much for the part when it costs more than the laptop under a lot of configurations?

The salesperson said it was due to the configurations of the computer & I was just sitting there, 'Like what?' ~lol~ All Snow has is wlan, an ssd + memory. There's no bluetooth, no wwan & no camera, so I can't see how with my configuration, the part would cost that much. If it costs that much, it costs that much, but to tell me, it costs that much BECAUSE of my configuration is just whack. Maybe the mobo that accommodates bluetooth, wwan & the camera costs more. I really don't know.

I'm not complaining or any thing, but I thought it was funny. I was also told erroneously that the 2 motherboards Dell is selling are exactly same when that's not true. I don't know what that was about at all. Thank goodness for the forum.