Back again with a new (old) laptop running Linux Mint with some problems. First off, I am using it to write this via local wifi so it is usable.

The hardware:

Acer Travelmate 517TE. This laptop is 10 years old. I bought it maxed out at 256 Ram, it was supplied with only 64 Ram new. It has a hard drive with an amazingly ample 4.9gs. The processor is a pentium II running at an amazing clip of 366gh. Wow, right? I got the thing with Windows 98 on it with the intention of running two programs which don't have linux clones:
Naturally Speaking and another one. I soon tired of Windows and put ubuntu 6.06 on it. It ran and went out to the net, but nothing in the media area was running at all. I quickly moved into Linux Mint. I have tried to install 7, 5, 4. Only Linux Mint 4 will run on this thing at all well.

The problems:

on shut down, it just powers down the hard drive and not the screen or the wireless card requiring manual shut down.

The synaptic package manager can have some repositories added but there are a whole bunch of archives it can not get to. The URLs must be out of date since this version is no longer supported. This is the error window:

http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]

I can download some packages, not the ones with a lot of dependences.

The final problem is that the USB port can not be loaded. I put a flash drive in the USB. It lights up, but the drive is not accessible.

'lsusb' nothing, I 'dmesg' before and after insertion, no change. mnt only has:

meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:~$ cd /
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/$ ls
bin cdrom etc initrd lib media proc sbin sys usr vmlinuz
boot dev home initrd.img lost+found mnt root srv tmp var
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/$ cd mnt
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/mnt$ ls
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/mnt$ cd /
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/$ cd media
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/media$ ls
cdrom cdrom0 floppy floppy0

This looks like another long term project. Looking I think that Linux Mint 4 is doing a great job with this old laptop, miles ahead of Ubuntu.
I am not complaining, IT IS A SUPER SYSTEM AND ALLOWS ME TO DO THINGS ON THIS OLD PIECE OF JUNK THAT NO OTHER OPERATING SYSTEM COULD DO. I AM VERY PLEASED, BUT I WANT A LITTLE MORE PERFECTION. LINUXNOVO

When I attempt to browse to those packages I am unable to pull anything either so ubuntu probably moved the sources or something. if you are able to choose another source you might wanna try that. The shutdown issue might be due to that laptop using APM and not ACPI. You may need to recompile a new kernel with APM enabled or the other way around. I have a old 1.3ghz duron system that does the same thing with gentoo and i just haven't had the time to resolve.

"Gutsy" was 7.10 and is no longer supported: No updates, repositories unavailable.

I'd recommend moving to 8.04 which is "LTS".
8.04 is likely to work much better than 7.10 did.

Backup your system, then do a clean install, then restore your home files.

BTW, the current Mint is now up to 7

Have fun

Thanks for the advice. I am not a new version update person all. I tried Linux Mint 5 and 7 with nothing. Thanks for the advice on the recompile. Thanks for the advice and interest.

Neither am I - so that's why I like to stick with the 'buntu's LTS installations. Install, tweak, and I'm set for three years.

I like things to be tried, trusted, secured, configured the way I like and just working. Linux does that for me. I do keep my machines up to date with security fixes etc. but from time to time, I do bite the bullet and do a new install (to a new partition). When I am happy with it I migrate my email and personal files. If I stay happy with it, I delete the old partition.

Laptops frequently have strange hardware (often to save on power), and it could be that modern linux kernels have dropped support for some of your hardware (because, basically, not many people are running 10y old laptops - 10 YEARS and you've not spilt beer / coffee on it !???)) but I suspect that the support your laptop needs is still there in the kernel source but it may not be enabled by default. So exvor's suggestion that you recompile (a more modern kernel) is the way to go.

You could get a good hint about what you need by reinstalling 6.06. (which mostly worked, I think, except for multimedia). Then take a look at what kernel modules were built-in or subsequently loaded as modules. Then install a newer version of linux and recompile the kernel with the additional options. APM and ACPI are indeed where you need to narrow down your research.

I don't envy you here, because you are likely to find very little help on the WWW - not many people will still be using your laptop, and if they are, it is unlikely they'll be running linux.

Good luck.

Gee, thanks for the comments. Will have to reload with 6.06 which is LTS and compare the addresses. Thanks again