[ubuntu-uk] It's not always updates that cause problems

[Bill B.]

Hi all,
A cautionary tale:

Turned on netbook [Acer Aspire 150] for the first time since a kernel
update.
Got to password screen and performed an immediate catastrophic power off
- as in software risking instant type.

First instinct was battery death. Wrong.
Next instinct was the dreaded "damn kernel update caused this".
Pleased to report - those who assume an update causes a fail are often
right - but often wrong.

Real cause? Carrying a netbook in boot of vehicle travelling approx.
1000 miles/week causes vibration.

3rd instinct took over after trying a live cd from usb cd drive failed
in same way - with battery removed, SD backup card removed & netbook
running off power pack.

3rd instinct?... Turn the darn thing upside down - give it a few
[stragetically placed] "gentle" taps to "reverse" the vehicle vibration
damage and hope its memory had worked loose.
TV repair job, I admit - though I would prefer the phrase "get-you-home-
engineering".  Netbook is running smooth as a smooth thing in a smooth
world with a smooth population eating smooth food, smoothly.
12.04 survived all the power offs intact, as did Xubuntu 12.04 on other
partition.

When time permits I will get into guts of it and re-seat all
re-seatables - as a good little engineer should ;)

Remember - updates can be a coincidence as well as a cause.
 
-- 
Cheers,
Bill B. [SuperEngineer]

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