kernel-2.4.18-14 introduced mysterious poweroff crash

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=74315

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Description of problem:
Ever since I upgraded to kernel-2.4.18-14.athlon.rpm I have had this one
strange problem where I would leave my laptop unattended for several
hours, and come back to find that it had mysteriously powered itself
off.  When I boot up again it goes through the ext3 journal replay,
indicating that it had indeed crashed.

I had been observing this since early September when I installed
2.4.18-14.  Since then I had rebooted back into 2.4.18-12.5 several
times in order to confirm that this problem is in fact caused by the
newer kernel.  I am now at 2 days uptime in 2.4.18-12.5, while 2.4.18-14
would usually not survive more than 6 hours.

Strangely I had never observed this laptop mysteriously poweroff while I
was actively using it in 2.4.18-14.  It only did only mysteriously
poweroff during idle (while Gnome's screensaver was active).

Something between 2.4.18-12.5 and 2.4.18-14 introduced this problem.


The following are limbo-list posts pertaining to this problem:
https://listman.redhat.com/pipermail/limbo-list/2002-September/005875.html
https://listman.redhat.com/pipermail/limbo-list/2002-September/005929.html
https://listman.redhat.com/pipermail/limbo-list/2002-September/005933.html
https://listman.redhat.com/pipermail/limbo-list/2002-September/006236.html

Hardware:
Sony Vaio FXA36 Athlon laptop
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=62295
Same machine as mentioned in this earlier report, dmesg and lspci output
are in the first few attachments here.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Red Hat (null)

How reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Leave laptop idle for several hours in Gnome desktop.

Actual Results:  
Come back and find it powered off.  Turn on and it runs the ext3 journal
replay, indicating that it had crashed.

Expected Results:  
Shouldn't mysteriously power off.  When I boot back into
kernel-2.4.18-12.5.athlon.rpm I am 100% stable again.