[PLUG] Computer hell

[Dale Snell]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2014 10:54:54 -0700
John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net> wrote:

> Yesterday, just before shutting down my System76 Bonobo Extreme laptop
> (Sager NP9380) to go to the Clinic I applied a number of updates to my
> Xubuntu 13.10 x86_64. When I restarted it at the Clinic I noticed that
> it was taking a very long time to boot Eventually I shut it down and
> restarted it, after which it booted normally. Grub is set to "quiet"
> so I can't say what it was hanging on. 


That's why I always turn off the Red Hat graphical startup and the
quiet mode.  I like to see what's happening.  Fedora's graphical
startup screen isn't all that entertaining anyway.
 

> Several hours later the screen suddenly became distorted. It appeared
> as if there was some RF interference that was causing "static." After
> puzzling about it I rebooted, which went fast as it usually does, and
> the video problem disappeared. The video is a GeForce GTX 750M, and I
> am using only the Intel video in the chip.


Hmm.  Sounds like perhaps the machine was overheating?  I'm not
sure what to say.  Except perhaps, to see if your laptop is still
in warranty.


> When I got home I restarted the computer and it proceeded normally.
> However, my computer life was about to enter hell. I spent an hour
> updating the PLUG flyer, intending to print new ones for OSCON, only
> to discover that my network had lost the conection to the printer. It
> took an hour to solve the problem (I *hate* network issues!), and
> then I discovered that there is something wrong with the cyan in the
> printer. An hour later I gave up trying to fix it. We'll have to make
> do with the old flyers.


Can't help much with the printer, I'm afraid.  Except to ask: have
you've tried to run a self-test page from the printer directly?
The cyan ink port may have plugged in the printhead; running the
printer's cleaning routine may help.


> I continued with other things at he computer, and as I was doing so I
> knocked a liter of soda directly into the keyboard. I dried it up as
> much as I could, and it seemed to be functioning normally, although
> occasionally a key would give me an unexpected result, like a shift-W
> would suddenly switch to another workspace. It continued to work until
> I went to bed.


OUCH!  Soda (or coffee, tea, whatever) and keyboards do NOT mix
well.  How did you "dry it up"?  Your best bet would have been to
shut down the computer, disconnect the power supply and remove the
battery.  The rinse the keyboard gently with warm water;
de-ionized would probably be best.  (Yes, I know, it sounds
terrible -- "water and electronics don't mix!" -- but how do you
think the electronics are cleaned at the factory?)  Soda will
leave a lot of sugar and other residue, which will cause major
keyboard malfunctions if it isn't removed.  The rest of the laptop
would probably benefit as well.  Once it's been cleaned, allow it
to air dry _thoroughly_.  Overnight in a dish rack would be a good
place.

If you don't know how to remove the keyboard, check the user's
manual that should have come with the laptop.  If one didn't,
google for it on the web.  It should show you how to remove the
keyboard.  Find some way to store the screws -- an egg carton
would work well.  Or perhaps a set of pill bottles.  They're very
easy to lose.  Very easy.

 
> This morning the keyboard was mostly dead. Occasionally a key would do
> something, but always some bizarre result. I decided to reboot, and as
> it was shutting down the screen started flashing continually and the
> shutdown process was hung. Eventually I just hit the power button.
> When I rebooted I got the Grub menu instead of booting directly as it
> normally does (probably because of he abnormal shutdown). I could not
> progress because the keyboard was not working (Grub menu doesn't
> recognize the mouse). It occurred to me to borrow the USB keyboard
> from my desktop in order to continue booting, but it did not work.
> Eventually I decided to reboot again, and when I did so the keyboard
> from the desktop worked to get me into the BIOS; in other words, if
> the USB keyboard works as early as the BIOS, the failure to recognize
> the keyboard must be a problem somewhere in Grub or Ubuntu.


Yeah, this looks like the soda dried inside the keyboard.  Once
you've got the keyboard removed, you can soak it in warm water.
Clean water won't hurt the keyboard, so long as it's unplugged.

 
> I called System76 just now and a replacement keyboard will cost
> probably $100.


OUCH!  Again!  I'd definitely try cleaning the keyboard before I
spent that kind of money.


> I'm going for a walk to clear my head. Meantime, any suggestions are
> welcome. 


Sounds like a plan.  Anyway, I hope my little suggestions help.

--Dale

--
Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the
usual way.  This happens to us all the time with computers, and
nobody thinks of complaining.  -- Jeff Raskin
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