Must be a bad wLAN card... Toshiba Laptop

[PCRepairWV]

So I have a client's laptop here and I started it up in front of them, connected to my encrypted network (WPA2) that part worked fine. I open internet exploder and all the sudden the system is COMPLETELY locked up. Mouse pointer won't move, c+a+d doesn't work, ctrl shift esc doesn't work to bring up taskman I thought, okay, drivers must be bad.

Popped in my Ubuntu 9.04(I think it's .04) booted up fine went to connect to my network, it connected just fine. I opened firefox up, it loaded the default Ubuntu-branded google page. I went to start typing in another address and found the mouse was stuck right where it had been when firefox was opened. Is it possible that the network card could be doing this? From what the client says, the wired connection works fine, I'm getting ready to try that and see how it holds up.

 

[PCRepairWV]

Okay, so now it worked for at least 20 minutes. I watched some YouTube clips (there was one from failblog where a guy was doing a burnout and fell out of his car haha) anyway... that's not relevant... the thing is... I went to tilt the screen toward me and the audio started skipping in a loop that sounded like a machine gun, and I had to hold the power button down until it went off... any ideas?

 

[Smooth Gecko]

Could be a virus in the YouTube clip that started it all?
Saw an infected song do that same thing three days ago and scans showed it was infected.
Could save some time if you scan for virus/rootkit and find something.
Shouldn't happen in Ubuntu though.
Let us know if the ethernet cable works as the client said.

 

[PCRepairWV]

Could be a virus in the YouTube clip that started it all?
Saw an infected song do that same thing three days ago and scans showed it was infected.
Could save some time if you scan for virus/rootkit and find something.
Shouldn't happen in Ubuntu though.
Let us know if the ethernet cable works as the client said.

Ethernet cable worked perfectly for a long while. I unplugged and connected to my wireless network and then touch the screen to adjust the angle and it froze.

Also, it was the third round playing the youtube clip so I don't think it was that.

 

[NYJimbo]

If moving the screen twice killed the machine you should be investigating that.

 

[PCRepairWV]

If moving the screen twice killed the machine you should be investigating that.

It only did that once, the other times (5 or 6 times) it's been every time I open a browser. Whether it be Windows or Linux from a boot disc, it freezes the computer up. Although it never froze up in Windows with an ethernet cable connected even when going to 10 or 15 pages.

 

[DarDar]

If its freezing whether in windows or in linux, its 99.99% going to be hardware. Seeing as it froze up when you moved the screen and this is most lilkely where the antennas are, it probably is a bad card. Try a different one if you can or at least reseat the aerials as there may be a short along there path.

 

[Peroxyde]

I have seen this kind of issue before, run hard drive diagnostics. Failing hard drives will frequently cause virus-like behaviour and be even more sensitive to vibration than normal, which is what likely caused the freezing when you moved the screen.

Regards,
Dylan

 

[thecompu-doctor]

I have seen this kind of issue before, run hard drive diagnostics. Failing hard drives will frequently cause virus-like behaviour and be even more sensitive to vibration than normal, which is what likely caused the freezing when you moved the screen.

Regards,
Dylan

ditto on the possible HDD failure. Run crystal disk info and HDTune. HDtune does a decent sector by sector scan for failure.
You can also run ubuntu without the HDD in the system and see what happens.

If it still freezes with no drive, then take a look at the wifi card and the antenna's. It could be a frayed antenna wire and the fray could be where it runs through the hinge.

You can also pull the internal wifi card and run a USB wifi card on ubuntu and see if it looks up there.