Hi,
Out of fun some time ago I installed Ubuntu on my old Dell, but there was a problem evidently with the system (the problem will be described below) so I decided to install Slackware instead, blaming it on some wrong updates or anything at all that could explain it. I installed Slackware yesterday and have the same problem as in Ubuntu before:

In the script, just after starting the laptop, everything works perfectly. Keyboard works, touchpad works, everything goes relatively smooth and with no problems. However, after I run "startx" command and log in with my password everything freezes. I have no control over keyboard or touchpad, cannot pull out terminal or even close the system.

Every time I need to literally take the battery out to make my laptop go off, and then I can start from the script where everything works again...

I don't think it's the problem with hardware, as it works in the script, but have no clue what and why doesn't work.
Thanks for any help.

Hi and welcome to LQ

Lets start with some more facts please.

dell what model?

dell dual or multi booted or single boot?

2) have you tried other live cds on it and if so...which distros work

3) boot up the live cd and go to the internal hard drive and upload somewhere the /var/log/messages
also /home/<yourname>/.xsession-errors

note the dot. xsession errors can be numerous if your video card driver is not quite right....but we will find out your video card with your model info
---but I am not stopping you from linking to your laptop spec page either

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without seeing your logs I am leaning towards bad video drivers but I could be wrong

1 members found this post helpful.

The Dell is Latitude E6520 Series with 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5

It was single booted, I didn't want to experiment with dual booting just yet.

2) I have just finished installing Debian on it. Just wanted to confirm that something is wrong... but right now Debian is working properly and it's seems like neither touchpad, keyboard, nor screen has a problem. It's kind of slow responding to commands right now, but that's a subject for another thread.

3) Besides bad video drivers can using wrong version be an issue? I mean - I had CD with amd64 on it and was thinking if maybe version with i386 would be better suited, since it's technically more for intel processors?

Thanks for trying. My problem has not been resolved, but it seems I'm going to stick with Debian for a while now.

Just to clarify, what do you mean by the "script"? And also, even if your system is locked up, all x86 computers allow a hard shutdown by holding down the power button. It's easier than pulling the battery out.

well a quick specs check shows i3/5/7 and is no help as it lists 2 video devices
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global...-specsheet.pdf

first how much ram have you got? If not sure post the output to
next confirm your video device with
its either intel or nvidia

I think your device has Optimus technology. These links may help.
http://www.linlap.com/dell_latitude_e6520
http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:har...nvidia_optimus

By script I mean the terminal view, not the graphical interface. And the power off button doesn't work, same way as nothing else worked after logging in


aus9:
after I see that VGA compatible controller is "NVIDIA Corporation GF119M [NVS 4200M]

After I see MemTotal: 4013848 kB. And MemAvailable right now is at 3610424 kB.

The key phrase in my response was holding down the power button. I believe it is about three seconds. This bypasses all software, so unless you have a serious hardware problem (in this case, I would recommend not using the laptop anymore as it's untrustworthy) this should never fail.

I'm afraid that's what happened... it's seems I'm going to buy a need laptop soon then. Who knows, maybe all those problems above are partially because something is actually wrong with the laptop itself?
Thanks

So exactly how long did you press the power button? I think the chance of a hardware problem is very slim, so I would be interested to know how long you held it down. Also, I was slightly exaggerating: a problem with hard-shutdown does not necessarily mean you can't use the laptop anymore, although your main problem here could be related if you held the power button down for 5sec. and nothing happened.

It's safe to say it was longer than 3 seconds but I wasn't really counting it so I don't know exactly how long I held it

The laptop could well be suffering hardware problems, then. Now's your chance to get that shiny new one you've been wanting!

Hi

I think its premature to label computer a suffer issue

bios settings determine if long press of power button leads to shutdown....and for my setting its 4 seconds.

the only way to tell is go into your bios and check and also it might be useful to download your motherboard manual.

4 sec appears to be the default setting
http://www.manualslib.com/manual/437...er+&selected=3

but its up to you to look at going into your bios by pressing F2 at startup and getting the power management settings to your liking

I see, aus9. But if it's not the problem with the hardware then I don't know what is the actual problem. I tried installing Debian three more times, one from a CD and two times from a bootable USB, but it was the same thing as with Slackware - I log in, and I cannot do/open/use anything...

Ok well computers problems can fall into 3 main camps

1) firmware and bios firmware
2) hardware
3) software

You appear to be claiming its hardware but have not supplied any logs which you were asked to supply...via a live cd etc

Secondly I am confused because your last statement is that you re-installed Debian but earlier you appear to have said
so what did you do differently and why did you re-install?

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you may like to download a live cd capable of hard drive and RAM dianostics etc

UBCD

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

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but you still have not said if you have gone into your bios and checked your settings.

In others me and others are offering suggestions/questions but we now need to be mind readers
----and I don't know about my other members .....but I failed mind reading classes