[tlinux-users:07701] Fwd: sudden power off on SUSE 10.0

hm.  gmai seems to have prematurely sent it.  More details at the bottom.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Isaac Charles <[email protected]>
Date: Feb 26, 2006 4:46 PM
Subject: sudden power off on SUSE 10.0
To: [email protected]

Greetings everyone.  I looked for a similar situation in the archives, but I
couldn't find any.

I installed SUSE 10.0 a couple months ago and have been plagued with a weird
sudden poweroff ever since.

First, the details:

I'm using a Toshiba Satellite 1135-S1554 (1130 series) with an Intel P4-M
2.2 GHz.  512 MB of ram.

I believe the linux kernel has been 2.6.13 from the start, but I could be
wrong.  It's currently 2.6.13-15.8.  I allow SUSE to make whatever updates
it wants, but this is not a problem that has suddenly appeared after some or
other patch.

Everything else is whatever SUSE installed as part of a normal
installation.  I use KDE, and the battery meter reads correctly at all
times.  Even hibernate works fine!

SO!  Here's the problem.  While I'm working, the machine will, at an
arbitrary time, suddenly poweroff.  No shutdown process.  No warnings.  One
moment it's fine, the next it's turned off.  This is almost always when the
machine is running on battery, although I've actually observed it ONCE while
the machine was plugged in.

At first, of course, I thought the battery meter was showing the wrong
information, but boots back and forth between linux and windows showed that
the KDE battery meter is reading correctly and that there was no shortage of
power.

My second theory was that the machine was overheating for some reason.  It
didn't *feel* hot, but one never knows if the processor is overheating for
lack of enough thermal compound or something.  The first couple times I saw
the shutdown were under heavy load, so that seemed a reasonable theory.
With further experience, though, heat does not seem to be an issue.  There
are many times that it does NOT poweroff even though I'm chewing the
processor, and likewise there are times when it DOES poweroff even though it
has only been on for a few minutes that day with email checking being the
most challenging task.

I flashed the BIOS up to the newest version for my model (I want to say
2.70A, but that could be wrong) and that doesn't help.

I changed all the power management choices to 'performance' so that ACPI
would make no attempts to scale back the processor or spin down the hard
drive or anything else.  this still doesn't seem to help.

One thing I *have* noticed that is very odd is that it only powers down like
this when I'm there to witness it.  Although I do not frequently leave my
laptop on and unattended, sometimes I do, and I have never once come back to
find that it has powered itself down.

I'm hesitant to turn off the ACPI entirely (won't that lose me my battery
meter?), but I'm sure out of other ideas.  I'm likewise hesitant to install
a custom kernel, since that means the automatic SUSE updates will not be
available.  I suppose either could be an option if it were viable fix.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of problem and know a fix?

Thanks!

- Isaac