Hey guys,
I have been having a wierd problem since my introduction to Linux.None of the KDE based distros seem to work on my computer. I have tried:
Suse
Mandriva
PcLinuxOS

Every time my laptop shuts off randomly and i have no idea whats wrong. I have checked the download's integrity, Install CD Integrity and have also used the ACPI=OFF option but they just dont seem to like my laptop. So far Ubuntu and Fedora seem to be the only to Distibutions I can run and I would really appretiate it if someone can help me here.... I love Ubuntu and KDE runs flawlessly with it... but with so many great distributions out there.. I feel left out!
Please Help.
~byen

My Laptop Specifications:
Compaq Presario 2100
AMD 2800+
Ram 704mb
ATi Radeon 320m 64mb(with 7500 chipset)
HP 54G Wlan Wireless card(Broadcom)

If we take a step back a minute... Have you tried installing something like SuSE or Mandriva, but told the installer to install Gnome rather than KDE? If Ubuntu is installing correctly, and then lets you install KDE, it seems more like the base Linux OS is causing the problems, possibly with hardware detection / graphics configuration.

When you say your laptop randomly shuts off, could you give a little more info - i.e. does SuSE (and others) start, load KDE, let you run some apps and then just reboot, or does it crash when loading the system or loading the graphical environment?

Now that you put it that way.. I think my initial post was a little off.
Let me answer your questions in the manner asked.
1.Yes I have tried installing Suse( not Mandriva) with Gnome as the desktop to be installed but it just keeps randomly shutting down. No error, no message..nothing!
2.When I mean randomly..i literally mean randomly. Somtimes during install, if installed..during normal boot, somtimes after boot., and sometimes after everything has loaded and when I start using the desktop.

I think it might be a hardware detection problem. I say this because when the system shuts down and when I try to reboot into Ubuntu, I see a message in the Ubuntu boot sequence with says " Critical temperature reached before shut down" (or something to that meaning..sorry) Also.. when suse 10 came out, I thought there was a problem with the OS detecting my pc temperature so..I put a cool blower near my laptop and made sure the temp never got over 40 and guess what...it installed and booted! But the moment the temp rised..boom..it closed down again. So...here I am.... trying to install linux while the blower blows my behind to the ice-age (lol)

I tried my best to explain my situation. Is there anything you guys can suggest?
thanks guys. Appretiate the help!

That makes a tad more sense then - almost certain to be an ACPI problem (I should have noted it was a laptop in your original post). If ACPI is not configured correctly, then chances are the fans won't work correctly in your laptop which causes it to heat up very quickly.

I'm not familiar with any of the Presario's, but do a search on the net for your model or check http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/ for instructions on configuring ACPI. Usually it involves applying a patch to the kernel, though you may find the drivers for the Compaq laptops already available in the kernel.

Some distros included different support for ACPI which is why Ubuntu may work fine but SuSE refuses to play nicely, and is not really anything to do with KDE.

fouldsy. thank you for the link! I think I might be able to dig something out of there.I will check those methods out and report back!
thank you. Now atleast I know where to begin :-)