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Computer restarts after shutdown (Solved)

kay-dee

Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:14:55 pm

I’m beginning to think Zorin doesn’t like my Lenovo ThinkPad. That’s okay… I don’t like the StinkPad neither. When I get back to a First World County I plan to buy a Clevo.
Problems:
The Jave Runtime Error is still with me. Enough said.
Downloads from Zorin fail, even though connected to wifi.
And the only way to turn off my computer is by pulling the battery. I have searched the forum for an answer to this last problem and tried several solutions: Holding the Power Button down does nothing. Zorin closes initially, but starts right back up. “PowerOff” and “ShutDown” commands in the terminal do nothing. And I have gone into Grub and run Recovery Mode and DPKG. I have run Fix Broken Packages in Synaptic. Also a bunch of other commands and solutions I found... delete Notifications (????).
So this is where I’m at. Maybe my whole Zorin OS download is corrupt. I happens in the Third World where it can take up to four hours to download an OS.
Any ideas, as always, much appreciated…
Katie

Aravisian

Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:28:50 pm

Kay-dee, I am sorry, I cannot remember whether you are running 15 or 12. Can you say whether it is Zorin 15 you are on?
Can you terminal
Code:
uname -srm

and say the kernel version you are currently on?

Swarfendor437

Wed Oct 16, 2019 8:05:38 pm

And what model of Thinkpad? ;) :D

kay-dee

Mon Oct 28, 2019 10:37:27 pm

As you might have guessed, shortly after starting this thread my Thinkpad X230 with Zorin 15 died. Nothing at power up. No Splash Screen (yikes!) I'm on a loaner right now so finally able to communicate. This sound like a hardware problem to anyone else? I'll do some research tomorrow but any ideas how I might get this thing running again would be appreciated.
Thank you, as always...
Katie

Aravisian

Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:03:30 pm

kay-dee wrote:As you might have guessed, shortly after starting this thread my Thinkpad X230 with Zorin 15 died. Nothing at power up. No Splash Screen (yikes!) I'm on a loaner right now so finally able to communicate. This sound like a hardware problem to anyone else? I'll do some research tomorrow but any ideas how I might get this thing running again would be appreciated.
Thank you, as always...
Katie

Without more information, you could get a lot of dead-end suggestions.
When you say nothing at power up- can you clarify whether the machine powers on at all? Is there a blinking cursor upper left of the screen or just nothing at all?

If nothing at all; you could have a Display Issue. Or it could be a power supply issue. Which would sound like a hardware issue.

Swarfendor437

Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:31:08 pm

kay-dee

Tue Oct 29, 2019 6:39:09 pm

Thank you for getting back to me after a long delay.
When I hit the power button it lights up but display remains dark. I have tried starting from the AC and DC adapter, with and without battery, with no success.
This X230 was bought refurbished but, as far as I could tell, had been cleaned only. The screws for the RAM port had been stripped and the computer arrived in pieces. The USB ports proved flaky, there was a sticky key, the battery was toast and the barrel connector for the power lead is worn out. When I complained to the Amazon vendor, he credited me $20. Wow!!!
I fixed the stripped screws myself, replaced the battery, the Cmoss battery, the keyboard and replaced the AC charger. Now this!
I should have bought a new computer. But not a ThinkPad... never again. This is my second disappointment from the folks at Lenovo.
Thank you for the links. I have gone through them, the You Tube most interesting, and will try some of the tests. I'll also pull the HHD and see if I can recover my files.
All for now,
Katie

Aravisian

Tue Oct 29, 2019 7:37:26 pm

kay-dee wrote:When I complained to the Amazon vendor, he credited me $20. Wow!!!

I truly wish the rest of us could not relate to this as well as we can...
kay-dee wrote:Thank you for the links. I have gone through them, the You Tube most interesting, and will try some of the tests.

I read Swarfs links and there is a lot of good helpful information in them and many quite distinctly have a category for the very problem you describe.
If nothing at all works, please reply so we can all try something else. If that fails, it is scientifically proven that ThinkPads are also very aerodynamic.

EDIT: Just now (way late) found that I fumbled the quotes.... Fixed it...

kay-dee

Tue Oct 29, 2019 8:11:28 pm

And ThinkPads make a very satisfying splash when you throw them into fourteen feet of salt water. :-)
Katie

Swarfendor437

Wed Oct 30, 2019 12:51:44 am

Having read your last post I suspect the issue might be a failed 'inverter' that is used in respect of the screen. It's a pity you don't live this side of the pond as I would be able to recommend an excellent hardware repair guy who I've used for repairs to notebooks at work. His care and attention on returning repaired notebooks gave you the impression you were receiving a new notebook.

Aravisian

Wed Oct 30, 2019 2:05:02 am

Also, a side note to all readers- the above comments of aerodynamic and drownable computers was entirely in jest and we all know to NOT litter our environment with Radioactive Computer Components.
:D

Swarfendor437

Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:07:24 am

Aravisian wrote:Also, a side note to all readers- the above comments of aerodynamic and drownable computers was entirely in jest and we all know to NOT litter our environment with Radioactive Computer Components.
:D


Perhaps you could forward this on to EPA who dump their equipment illegally to China! :lol:

kay-dee

Wed Oct 30, 2019 6:03:26 pm

Not much to report. Living on a boat makes things harder and I have other projects on the go including rebuilding a 15hp outboard motor. Yeah, I know. But girls are allowed to do that now :-)
I booted up the X230 in the brightest light I have... the midday tropical sun. I see nothing in the way of a Splash Screen so I am guessing it is not the screen inverter.
When I get back to the boat, I'll give the RAM cards a shot of contact cleaner, blow them out and shuffle them around in the slots. Be nice if something as simple as that could fix the problem but I don't feel that lucky.
Much love,
Katie

kay-dee

Thu Oct 31, 2019 7:01:53 pm

Well surprise, surprise. I’ve never felt so lucky!
I pulled the RAM cards and checked the contacts. Both cards looked clean, no corrosion, but one card looked older and tarnished. A squirt of contact cleaner, cards and slots, then a blow with compressed air.
Reassembled, the X230 started right up and we’re good to go… until the next glitch :-)
Thanks Aravisian and Swarf. You’re my team…
Katie

Aravisian

Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:52:17 pm

kay-dee wrote:Thanks Aravisian and Swarf. You’re my team…

I think the team taking credit on this one is more Team KayDee than anyone else.
Well done on smiting the evil putergremlins.

Swarfendor437

Thu Oct 31, 2019 10:04:24 pm

Great work kay-dee - if only I'd known you earlier you could have re-bored my Suzuki 380 for me and saved me wasting time on 3 sets of different carburettor jets when trying to solve my fuel consumption problem! ;) :D

kay-dee

Sun Nov 03, 2019 6:15:41 pm

Well it looks like I’m better at outboard engines than computers. The X230 has stopped shutting down again and it is running in slow-mo. Takes a minute or two to open my browser or even a document. And I open a utility and it immediately closes again. Just waiting for the computer to take another swan dive. Anything I should do before that fateful event? While I can still access the Terminal? I did run updates and will do that again after I finish here.
Thank you,
Katie

Aravisian

Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:29:48 am

kay-dee wrote:Well it looks like I’m better at outboard engines than computers. The X230 has stopped shutting down again and it is running in slow-mo. Takes a minute or two to open my browser or even a document. And I open a utility and it immediately closes again. Just waiting for the computer to take another swan dive. Anything I should do before that fateful event? While I can still access the Terminal? I did run updates and will do that again after I finish here.
Thank you,
Katie

Have you combed through .Xsession-errors log in home folder?
Extreme slowness implies a RAM problem and I hate to say it... But that does seem to be a common element between the Java errors, the recent shutdown and fix and now.
The RAM may be bad or the slot on the motherboard for the RAM may be.

kay-dee

Mon Nov 04, 2019 6:17:02 pm

In Home, Hidden Files, I don't see .Xsession-errors log. Am I in the right place? Good call, connecting the dots and coming up with the RAM cards. I got a bunch lying around somewhere. When I go back, I'll put a new card in one of the slots and see what happens. Also read that a "Turn computer on after Power Failure" function may be selected somewhere and needs to be turned off. Can't find that either! Any comments on that one?
Computer still running, acting a little flaky and won't power off. It's over 100 USD for a new mother board and I don't think this machine is worth the expense nor the effort.
I know a possible hardware problem may beyond the scope of the Zorin Forum but thanks for all the help, Aravisian,
Katie

Swarfendor437

Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:03:55 pm

The power element is usually in the BIOS? There is usually a setting in there to turn machine on after power failure. By default this is usually set to 'off' and should remain so. As regards the log issue, this is usually in the file system but I'm having difficulties locating the log files (traditionally | file system (/) | var | logs). Can you remind us please which version and flavour of Zorin you are running on your Thinkpad? ;) :D

kay-dee

Tue Nov 05, 2019 6:49:32 pm

The Lenovo ThinkPad X230 is running Zorin 15 Core only, not dual boot. (I need to make a template with all the particulars.)
I could only scrounge up a 1gb and a 2gb RAM card. The computer would not start up with those two cards installed. Swapped things around a bit with the original 4gb cards but the problem persists.
In BIOS I found Power under Config. Went through it line by line but didn’t see anything about powering the computer back on after a power failure.
Other than that, the computer seems to be running pretty well, today. Hope I didn’t just jinx myself.
Thank you both,
Katie

kay-dee

Sat Nov 09, 2019 6:00:12 pm

Computer restarts after shutdown
This seems a computer problem, not a Zorin problem, so thanks for everyone’s patience.
For the benefit of other forum members here’s The Fix:
Bios>Config>Network>Wake On LAN should be disabled.
Until next time,
Katie