Acer aspire 1800 shutdown at linux boot

Hello

I have an old aspire 1800 with XP and I've decided to move it to linux.
since two years , the machine was sometimes shuting down by itself without warning nor any other alarm. it was looking like some oveheating case mentonned in some topics on the web.

but this was not that critical.

Now XP is dead and I was intenting to move to linux mint 16 XFCE as I've done to most of my pc there with a real success.

BUT : the aspire cannot end the boot sequence. whatever distro I use, it ends to a brutal stop (like power unplugged). even if trying some ATI compatible ways of booting. it seems to me (as far as I've been able to read the text) that it crashes when the graphical interface starts.
XP seems to work fine out of one shutdown at boot time once a month, and sometimes during use (but no workload or temp related issue)

two questions for experts :
- any idea on a specific issue with this machine and linux? a distro or a solution to try to boot correctly and allow to install on the HD
- any idea of the root cause and advices. changing the board for a refurbished one is aroudn 100$.

advices are welcome and I thank you for helping me on this topic.

JM

 

To cure the heating prob. Remove the battery and power cord. Place a towel on your work surface and turn the laptop on its lid. At the top of the underside is a "T" ( TEE shaped ) panel. Remove the four screws then remove the panel. Remove four chromium spring loaded screws in reverse order, i.e. 4,3,2,1. Prise ( will be stuck with dried Thermal paste) up the thermal assembly. Clean off the old Thermal paste from the CPU ( in the Motherboard ) and the underside of the prised piece. Apply new Thermal paste to both surfaces. ( enough paste to just cover the surface, this is to fill in any pits in the metal ). Then clean out the cooling fins. Reassemble reverse of the above. Chrome screws replaced in order, 1,2,3,4.

You don't indicate how much ram is in the comp. When this model was originally sold it came with 512k of ram which was far to small. I always ran two gb of ram.
I have run numerous versions of Linux and also Hackintosh on the 1800. An easy Linux version is Puppy Linux. It is on a Live Cd and runs in ram all the time. I recommend Puppy because all the things you would expect to see are on the Desktop i.e. Icons.
Having said that Linux Mint is also one of the easiest to set up i.e. Wireless .

This is the service manual for the 1800. http://tim.id.au/laptops/acer/aspire 1800.pdf

If you need any further help leave a message.

 

Hi

Thanks for this quick reply.
That's what I ve done, several times.
I ve noticed that the thermal grease in the centre of the cpu dries very fast.
But I ve also changed the thermal pad on the chipset and the gpu, the one on the gpu was dead.

Clean the all machine, verified fan(as far as I can see they are working), but still the same issue.

On some forum, they mention that a faulty battery or power supply can make the same.

When I leave the system for a month off, the frequency of shutdown is higher when I restarted it.

So I have several options
- gpu dead
- gpu needs reflow
- battery or power supply defective
- any related circuit on the motherboard

But before changing anything, do you have any idea on how to (as much as possible) locate the real root cause.

Some parts are expensive if changed for nothing.

Thanks again n

Jm

 

Jm, My 1800 was top of the range and came from the factory with 2 gigs of ram. Not once in the first seven years did it overheat, actually it was the coolest laptop I have ever used. The reason I got rid of it was because the fans were for me, loud.( I lived in a small flat and I found the noise very disturbing, mind you no one else did ).
I know from experience that the CPU screw down can be touchy, I once changed the CPU and found that I had to wiggle the CPU as I tightened the screws.
The fact that the centre of the CPU thermal paste is drying indicates the two faces are not contacting, maybe try altering the sequence screwdown? i.e 3,4,1,2 whilst wiggling the CPU?.
PSU, if there was a prob with the PSU you would notice that when Windows was updating that the machine wouldn't reboot. i.e insufficient wattage.
Battery: I never used the battery in my 1800 so maybe try running without it.
Question: how much ram do you have in it? When the 1800 was introduced it had 512k and there was lots of complaints about overheating. 2 gigs is the max.
I have re read your original question and believe that the CPU is the cause from lack of contact. When I renew the thermal paste I place a pea sized lump on both faces and rub then in with my finger ( wearing a rubber glove ) after tightening the chrome screws I leave it for a couple of minutes and then unscrew and look at the two faces and then if required add more paste to the to the spots lacking paste.
If the GPU was dead you wouldn't have anything on the screen so I am puzzled as to the GPU question? having said that the fact that the GPU thermal pad ( jeeze I detest them, I prefer the Toshiba's they don't use them ) was dried out gives cause again to lack of contact.

Eddie.

 

HI eddie

Some news from the monster and some answers.

I have two gigs of Ram, yes the 512 were really low...

I've tested the hypothesis of power supply issue (or something dealing with taht in the machine)

unplugged it, booted on live DVD (a bodhi linux, but this is not the problem) in ATI compatibility mode. I was about to jump as it passes more than before, but stopped as usual.

So did the same, but plugged and no battery. even worse.

and now, it does not even go to the bios display, whatever I do.

I'll test the power supply t see if it's ok and have a look at it inside.

but it looks more and more that some power regulation circuit is dead and shut down the system.
It has no time to overheat to the danger zone.

I have some more to test and I'll let you know.

thanks anyway for your advices, but I have to bring it back to life first.

best regards

JM

 

JM, Take off the ram cover and remove the ram. Look for an orangy/brown spot on the board. Place a screw driver on it. This will clear the BIOS.

 

HI eddie

thanks for the advice.

I'll have a look at it.


JM

 

HI eddie

some news, sorry for the delay, some other top topics to adress.

clearing the bios did not changed anything.
switch on, 10 seconds, stop.

I've got hands on another one that was initialy only having half screen dead.
when I've tested it, i've noticed that there was no backlight.
swapped two screens between machines, but it looks like there is another fail in the enw one.no power to light the backlight.

I know, it's an old machine, but if you have an idea.

many thanks (and yes, definetly this machine as very loud fans..)

thanks

JM