Ubuntu Checking Battery State and Freezes

[rikdegraaff]

Hi All,

I've searched the forums and i found some threads about this issue, but nothing seems to help.

I just bought a secondhand Dell Optiplex GX60 Series.
I've installed a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04.

Now comes the problem.
If the pc is on, and I use it for about 15-40 minutes, the it freezes up with the following screen:

"* Checking battery state [OK]"

Then there are flashing bars through the screen, and the message: "Checking Battery State [OK]" comes back.

This keeps flashing through the screen until I shut the PC down with the power button.

The specifications of my PC:

Processor : Pentium 4 -- 2.4 GHz.
RAM : 512 MB
Video Card: Intel Corporation 82845 G/GL [Brookdale G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 01)

This is a Desktop PC, so there's no battery...

Sounds weird, huh?

I hope someone can help me, because on the Dutch Ubuntu Forums, they can help me now.

With Friendly Regards,

Rik de Graaff
Holland.

[slasherfilmmaniac]

I am having the same problem. My computer is a used Dell Dimension 4500s.

[MapleAwesome12]

The same. Unfortunately nobody seems to be replying. I've bumped my thread 4 times, hoping to get a reply. This seems to be common for old Intel chipsets and processors, as well as users with dual Nvidea-64 cards. Of course, users with Nvidea have it easy, since the newer systems are more supported nowadays... ACPI isn't available on these aged Dell machines. Why does Ubuntu assume you're on a laptop? Is the filename of the iso not meaning "desktop" like it should? I'm lost. I can't get support here, or on the IRC... I don't know anymore.

[MrFairladyz]

I also have this problem on my HP Pavillion 752n (also uses a P4 processor).

One thing I've noticed is this happened usually always when I'm using a lot of RAM (of the 512mb I have installed). A few programs will run then it will totally die and display the Checking Batter State screen...

We all have a Pentium 4 processor and an Intel 845 GL chipset.

EDIT: Also, this always happens whenever installing new software.

[sanjaydas7]

i just installed the 10.04 LTS desktop version and i get the same problem 15-20 mins after booting. can anyone help?!?

[MrFairladyz]

I installed Xubuntu 10.04, and that worked much better, but I got the same problem on the second day of use. No new developments so far... :/

[guigarfr]

same here

[shaunk]

I'm having the same problem here. I recently installed Ubuntu on an older Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop with a pretty much dead battery; however it's been working fine for years as long as it's constantly plugged in.

I had 9.10 installed and I didn't notice this problem until I upgraded to 10.4 today. I thought maybe the upgrade didn't work so well so I did a fresh 10.4 install but I'm still seeing this problem.

[MapleAwesome12]

I don't think the admins are caring one bit about us. It'd be good if they at least gave us PROOF that they either are or aren't working on our situation. I've gone for 4 weeks with this crap, and I'm getting sick of the Ubuntu community. It's like they're trolling us without using a single word, telling us "BUY A NEW COMPUTER" or some stupid ****. I'm tired of bottling up the language. If we don't have the money, how the hell do we get a new computer? They aren't ****ing free. I'm raging for ALL of the users who are being tortured just because they are using Ubuntu on an Intel computer. It seems Dell is the most common company this problem occurs with. GIVE US A DAMN SIGN, UBUNTU ADMINS AND DEVELOPERS! WE WANT OUR PROBLEM TO BE HEARD AND FIXED!

[djinnkeeper]

Add one more to the list. My mother is trying Xubuntu 10.04 and is getting the "Checking Battery State" problem. Dell Dimension 2400 .. p4 blah blah.. Personally, I don't really care, in the long run, because this is a temporary solution until I can order some parts for a new system. Just HAD to get XP off of it ASAP and she needs it to check email and crap. (Windows and Firefox were somehow hijacked.. didn't even want to try to figure out what happened.. just wiped it and changed passwords)

All of that said, it is still pretty frustrating to find out that no one appears to be giving this the usual attention such a weird problem tends to garner.

I know this is not a solution, but for people content with P4 performance, I would suggest saving for an Atom-based board/system/laptop.. they perform slightly better than the average P4, are super-duper low power, very quiet and very cheap.

Hopefully the problem will be fixed by the time I kill this old beast.