Laptop user horror stories

[teeitup]

I'm curiuos to here from other laptop users.

For the second time earlier this week I fell asleep using the laptop while on battery power. The first time about a month ago my system never rebooted. I have a ghost image of a working system and fixed it up lickety split. This time I recompiled the kernel with APM support hoping this would save me from this fiasco in the future.
I fell asleep in the recliner again, while working on a project. The next day I powered up the laptop and it recovered from hibernation state. I was jazzed about this.
After shutting down, I tried to reboot and my file system was toast.
Had to invoke fsck manually. After an hour of carriage returns it said the file system was clean. The laptop never worked right again. whole directories, libraries, and startup scripts were missing.

I reimaged and had the laptop usable in no time although I have some customizing to do.

Any one else have similar stories?

What tips / tools would you use to fix a really fubar'd file system?

Side topic...
Any one ever tried to use a pcmcia scsi card in thier linux laptop?

Peace to all,


------------------
Don't take life to seriously, You'll never get out alive!
-Bugs Bunny-

[crohozen]

I have redhat 7 on my Dell Inspiron 5000
I let the batteries run out all the time and the file system always stays in tact. (Knocking on Wood http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif )

[teeitup]

What file system are you using? I'm using ext2.
Does the system run fsck, on boot, to fix any errors?
Power outages on regular PCs have never given me this much trouble.
I chose the APM options I thought would best meet my needs. Obviuosly I haven't found the right ones yet.



------------------
Don't take life to seriously, You'll never get out alive!
-Bugs Bunny-

[crohozen]

Sometimes fsck runs to fix the drive and I have never had to manually run fsck. (Except on my desktop) I also use the ext2 filesystem..So maybe RedHat configures something that we dont know about.

[vvx]

On a laptop, I might be more inclined to use Reiserfs.. Chances of you screwing it up are pretty low..

[Iceman]

Hi:


What sort of lappie is it?

Are you dual booting, or have you dedicated the entire HDD to *nix. If the latter is the case, it seems possible you may have accidently deleted the save-to-disk partition. On many lappies, this is a hidden non-DOS partition, usually about 256 MB.

The issue here is that even if you have compiled APM into the kernel, it may not work without the S-T-D partition.

Both of my lappies have a Phoenix BIOS, and if the S-T-D partition gets trashed, one needs to run a utility called phdisk to recreate it. If your lappie came with a system recovery CD, that image should include phdisk. On a SONY, one accesses it by booting with the sys recovery CD, then choosing cancel instead of restoring the image. This will take you to an a: prompt, and you then type phdisk. After that it's a snap, just follow the instructions. IIRC, it's this:
create/partition/ram/256

I could be WAY off base here, but IIRC, linux does not create an S-T-D partion--it's a BIOS thing. So having APM enabled still won't help, as *nix doesn't have any place to store the data.

If you could post the specific model number of your lappie, the BIOS and rev, as well the distro you're using I may be able to offer more help.

Happy Holidays!

[ph34r]

Is the APM support conflicting with what the BIOS wants to do? That may cause problems as well.

I've got linux on a few laptops, but I never use any of them frequently, and when I do I never use them to the point of battery-dead suspension.

[Iceman]

Hello Again:

I forgot to mention, as another suggested, that on a lappie you will be FAR better off with reiserfs.

Also, I've not used a PCMCIA SCSI card, so can't offer any advice on that. May buy one, though, as I've loads of external gear and it would be handy for testing the stuff.

I apoligise if I am off-base on the solution to your problem, but it's been a rather hellish week of 18 hr days. Still, what I suggested may be worth consideration. And I do have a good bit of experience with lappies. I leave most of the work to my laptop techs, but still get into the guts of them on the tough stuff. Usually do it about 10 hrs per week to keep the skills fresh. Besides that, I'm just fond of lappies.

Good Luck and Happy Holidays!

[teeitup]

Thanks for the response.
I have a Compaq Armada 1750.
Compaq BIOS 11/30/99 (latest from web site)
Running Debian woody.
I 4GB HD, 2 equal partitions, Win98se and Linux.
My previous employer let my keep my laptop.
They had the disk wiped first. It was completely clean and unpartitioned when I got it back.

Windows was installed first then Linux.
Lilo is the boot loader.

I've heard of reiserfs but haven't looked into it. I will now.

Thanks,


------------------
Don't take life to seriously, You'll never get out alive!
-Bugs Bunny-

[Shad]

The two Distros that come with Reiserfs by default are SuSE and Mandrake. At least with Mandrake you have to do an Expert install to be able to select Reiserfs for a partion type. One other thing you could do would be to check into wrting a script that would shutdown the notebook whent he battery gets too low. i know kde will let you set this up, and I think GNOME does as well.

------------------
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life

[Iceman]

Hello Teeitup:


T wrote:

I have a Compaq Armada 1750.
Compaq BIOS 11/30/99 (latest from web site)

No problems there, IMHO.

Running Debian woody. I 4GB HD, 2 equal partitions, Win98se and Linux.

Also OK, except for the Win98SE part *lol* My previous employer let my keep my laptop.

Very nice of your employer!

They had the disk wiped first. It was completely clean and unpartitioned when I got it back.

>>>This IS the likely source of your problem.
Do you have the Compaq sys recovery CD? Have a look at your partitions. Consider how much memory you have. If you do not see a non-DOS partition equal to ar greater than installed memory you'll need to create it. I'm not a gambling man, but would almost bet when they wiped the drive they also nuked the S-T-D partition.

Funny thing, but the S-T-D partition needs to be modified even when memory is upgraded or errors will abound--at least on some lappies.
Fujitsu, as one example, ties the size of the S-T-D to installed memory, thus one must recreate the partition on upgrades.

I hate the Compaq website and haven't time to go hunt down what you require if you do not have the Sys Recov CD. If you don't, call them up and order one.

Also have a look at this:
http://www.phoenix.com/pcuser/BIOS/notebook_FAQ.htm

Realise it's only general as Phoenix writes a specific BIOS for each lappie manufacturer; that said, I do not know of a "generic" phdisk.exe.

Hope all of this is of some help. Please let us know how it works out.

Cheerio,

The Iceman

Windows was installed first then Linux. Lilo is the boot loader.

I've heard of reiserfs but haven't looked into it. I will now.

Thanks,