I found this Satellite in my garage junk. It had Windows XP on it but I upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04 to us it in my shop to view youtube do it yourself vidios. The computer only runs for about 5 to 10 minutes and then totally locks up. No mouse, no keyboard, did I do something wrong or is the laptop just too old?
Any help is appreciated!

Aryle

Probably overheats, needs cleaning.

Hi Aryle...

Welcome to the forum

First, please read here. The more details we have the better we can help you.

What is the brand and model (and model number) of your laptop? Although 12.04 might be too new for it, I kind of doubt that's the reason why it's locking up. Did it run ok when you had Windows XP installed?

In terms of some things to look for, please see my post (#2) here. As Emerson pointed out, overheating is a prime suspect. Everything in my list will not apply to you or might be too difficult. Please report back with what you can.

Also, just as a suggestion, you might want to change your username using the instructions at the top of the page here, lest your email inbox ends up with a boatload of SPAM in the very near future.

Regards...

Welcome to the forum. It is unlikely that your computer would be overheating in 5-10 minutes, but that is easily checked by placing your hand on the back, warm is normal, hot is not.
I agree with ardvark71, you shouldn't use your email address as a username.

It will overheat and hang in 5-10 minutes if airflow is completely blocked or the fan is not functional.

Easily checked, as I pointed out.