Re: mysterious power off problem 2.4.10-2.4.14 on laptop

[Thomas Winischhofer <tw@webit.com>]

Linda,

it could be a bad BIOS.

I don't know if this helps, but anyway:

I had a similar problem, but in ma case the machine just went to suspend
mode - annoying, but somewhat easier to track. Just like in your case,
nothing worked; switching off APM in BIOS, disabling APM in kernel, etc.
no matter what I did (typing, using the mouse), the machine suspended.

Well:

Question 1: Are you running Windows on that machine, too? If no, you
have a different problem; as said, most probably caused by a bad BIOS.
That it worked under a previous 2.4.x kernel doesn't mean a lot; apm
could have interpreted bad (malformed) apm messages in a different way
(just a guess).

Question 2: If yes: Did you ever happen to try to boot (ie cold boot =
switch ON) the machine with AC power chord connected after a Windows
session?

In my case, it was a bug in the BIOS. This piece of sh** - right after a
Windows session - reported a battery charging status of _more_ than
100%, leading into miscomprehending APM messages from the BIOS - leading
into APM confusion. Strange enough, this _only_ happened when _switching
on_ the machine on battery. It never happens when booting with AC
connected.

Even more strange, in my case it is sufficient to cold boot the machine
_once_ after running Windows on AC to avoid the effect in the future
(however, until running windows again).

Good luck,

Thomas

-- 
Thomas Winischhofer
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