trubleshooting a laptop

[Colin Law]

On 27 March 2013 21:42, Douglas Pollard <dougpol1 at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> Ric I guess I  am wondering if I install Ubuntu on a second partition
> and it runs well can I assume the at maybe the memory and drive is ok
> since it works ok with ubuntu. Doug

You don't need to install to check that.  The install image has a
memory check option (at least I think it does).  Hit a key when it
shows the keyboard and the little man at the bottom immediately after
it starts to boot, and I think there is a memcheck option there.  Run
it for a few hours.  To check the disk is ok you can view its SMART
status by running the Disk Utility (used to be called Palimpsest,
perhaps it still is).  If the SMART data is ok then you can be pretty
confident that is not the problem.

Another possibility if it has been running slow and sometimes powering
itself off (I am not sure whether you implied that happens or not) is
that it is overheating, possibly due to dust buildup inside.  Maybe it
just needs a good cleanout.

Colin

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