Ibook G4 random shutdown

[Yannick Patois]

Hi,

I'm using a white Ibook G4 under debian testing (Linux ibook2
2.6.12-1-powerpc), everything works pretty well.

But, from time to time (up to once an hour) the machine just stops, like
a suden power cut (no matter if I'm on battery or plugged). Hard disk
stops, screen become black, the machine is shutted off.

When I reboot the date is set to 01/01/1904.

Does this symptom rings a bell to anybody? Could it be linux fault, or
should I investigate for an hardware problem?

Thanks for any help.

Yannick

[Jack Malmostoso]

Post by Yannick Patois
Does this symptom rings a bell to anybody? Could it be linux fault, or
should I investigate for an hardware problem?

If the logs don't record anything I'd go for an hardware problem.
I know it's a PITA, but try using OSX (if you have it installed) for a
similar amount of time and see if it happens also there...

Maybe run also a memtest, but if it's hardware I suspect it's something
more serious...

[Yannick Patois]

Post by Jack Malmostoso

Post by Yannick Patois
Does this symptom rings a bell to anybody? Could it be linux fault, or
should I investigate for an hardware problem?

If the logs don't record anything I'd go for an hardware problem.

Nothing in the logs, as when one suddenly unplug a machine.

Post by Jack Malmostoso
I know it's a PITA, but try using OSX (if you have it installed) for a
similar amount of time and see if it happens also there...

I know I have to go through this. But it's pretty random, and it can
wait a week before crashing 3 times in a single day...

Post by Jack Malmostoso
Maybe run also a memtest, but if it's hardware I suspect it's something
more serious...

The fact that the date comes back to 1904 tend to suggest that it's
pretty serious, if hardware...

I'll run OSX for a week and see. But I only have a very small osx
partition and almost no software. I have also little trust for
proprietary softwares and don't like to have it running when connected
to the Internet. Last warning was only a few days ago, I used it to
transfer a few pictures -it happened I was under OSX - and the "iphoto"
software claimed it had new updates to install, proving it connected to
some server without my knowledge even if I disabled automatic update
checking in the Control Center.

Yannick

[Jack Malmostoso]

Post by Yannick Patois
The fact that the date comes back to 1904 tend to suggest that it's
pretty serious, if hardware...

Yes, I'd think of a faulty logic board :(

Post by Yannick Patois
I'll run OSX for a week and see. But I only have a very small osx
partition and almost no software.

I know what you mean. You could also try to run an Ubuntu livecd, but I
don't know if it's a sensible idea (I mean, working from CD for a long
time).

[Calum Benson]

Post by Yannick Patois
The fact that the date comes back to 1904 tend to suggest that it's
pretty serious, if hardware...

Maybe, maybe not. I ran Mandr[ake|iva] Linux on my Powerbook G4 for a
while, and while it didn't crash as often as you're seeing, it also
caused the date to reset when it did. Since I switched to Ubuntu, I
just don't get the crashes any more, so I'm assuming there's nothing
fundamentally wrong with my Powerbook, just the version of Linux I was
running :)

[I R A Darth Aggie]

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 16:33:56 +0100,

+ When I reboot the date is set to 01/01/1904.

That suggests that the battery keeping the clock running has failed.
Where that battery might be, and if it is a "user servicible" part are
not known to me.

James

[David Harrison]

Post by Yannick Patois
When I reboot the date is set to 01/01/1904.
Does this symptom rings a bell to anybody? Could it be linux fault, or
should I investigate for an hardware problem?

Yup. I get the same on my old WallStreet. Other models may say 1956,
which at least puts you in the early computing era!

I've read that it's down to a little battery on the motherboard having
long since expired -- the system clock needs it to tick over. You might
find a few bootloader settings going South too -- they won't persist
between shutdown and the next boot.

Apparently you can order said batteries from online retailers. If you
find out where, please let me know!

In the meantime, how about setting up an ntp client and pointing it at a
timeserver? It doesn't work until you've booted but at least you don't
have to reset the clock manually once your network connection is up.

cheers,

David H

[b***@gmail.com]

I have only recent PowerPC Linux experience, but I have a lot of x86
Linux experience, and I have had that problem with x86 Linux too. If
you are running KDE (or similar desktop), you might need to tinker with
the power saving features, which may not be completely compatible with
your system. That always worked for me.

I hope this helps.

[ryannevell]

I have a 1.2GHz, 12" ibook. I am running Gentoo Linux wit
gentoo-sources 2.6.12r10. Recently it froze on me, with no warning
and nothing written to the logs. Shortly after that, it simpl
powered down. Both times were seemingly unrelated to my usage of th
computer, and I can not reliably reproduce them
When powering up, both times, I got a number of errors telling me tha
the hard drive had not been checked in some 45000 days (it seems to b
a random number each time), and most of my config files warned me tha
they had a modification time in the future. However, I do use ntp, s
after that, my date and time were fine

I have never had a problem under os x, but I rarely use it

Just the other day, I upgraded my kernel to 2.6.14-r5, and it wa
freezing on me several times per hour. Again, however it seeme
unrelated to anything I was doing. But because of this, I think i
has to be closely related to a software problem, or at leas
something that could be fixed through software

Does anybody know how to make logs up until the point of a freeze
With this problem, it just seems like there's no place to star
looking