Linux Mint Shutting Down and Rebooting?

[DAlan 74-+]

Since an upgrade to Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.3 Sylvia the system will freeze up, shut down and boot back up again any time I challenge the computer by opening a large file or printing or downloading an attachment and sometimes even if I try shutting down the computer. This is an older Dell computer.

[jimallyn]

It might be helpful for us to see what your system is. Open a terminal and enter inxi -Fxz. Copy/paste the output into your next post here. Might also be worthwhile to install an application like psensor that will allow you to read the temperature of your processor, it could be overheating. I had problems with my computer shutting down and restarting, and it turned out to be a bad power supply.

[DAlan 74-+]

ale@dale-OptiPlex-GX280 ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System: Host: dale-OptiPlex-GX280 Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine: System: Dell product: OptiPlex GX280
Mobo: Dell model: 0H7276 Bios: Dell v: A04 date: 02/09/2005
CPU: Single core Intel Pentium 4 (-UP-) cache: 1024 KB
flags: (nx pae sse sse2 sse3) bmips: 6782 speed: 3391 MHz (max)
Graphics: Card: Intel 82915G/GV/910GL Integrated Graphics Controller
bus-ID: 00:02.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1440x900@59.89hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 915G x86/MMX/SSE2
GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 17.2.8 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller
driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: ec00 e8c0 bus-ID: 00:1e.2
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-37-generic
Network: Card: Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
driver: tg3 v: 3.137 bus-ID: 02:00.0
IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 80.0GB (22.0% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST3808110AS size: 80.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 72G used: 15G (22%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.14GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info: Processes: 142 Uptime: 9 min Memory: 503.6/2002.7MB
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35
dale@dale-OptiPlex-GX280 ~ $

[DAlan 74-+]

How do you install the psensor application?

[trytip]

no need for psensor open synaptic and install lm-sensors after install open terminal and you need to enable sensors-detect so type sudo sensors-detect answer y to everything and at the end it will ask you for ENTER to finish ... after doing so you can now run sensors in terminal to find temperatures and some may be invalid depending on what kind of sensors your motherboard has

i was about to mention you may need to clean and dust the computer maybe temperatures are high which causes system reboot

[DAlan 74-+]

Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1034'... No
Probing for `SPD EEPROM'... Yes
(confidence 8, not a hardware monitoring chip)
Client found at address 0x52
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1033'... No
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1034'... No
Probing for `SPD EEPROM'... Yes
(confidence 8, not a hardware monitoring chip)
Client found at address 0x53
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1033'... No
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1034'... No
Probing for `SPD EEPROM'... Yes
(confidence 8, not a hardware monitoring chip)

Sorry, no sensors were detected.
Either your system has no sensors, or they are not supported, or
they are connected to an I2C or SMBus adapter that is not
supported. If you find out what chips are on your board, check
http://www.lm-sensors.org/wiki/Devices for driver status.
dale@dale-OptiPlex-GX280 ~ $ sensors
No sensors found!
Make sure you loaded all the kernel drivers you need.
Try sensors-detect to find out which these are.
dale@dale-OptiPlex-GX280 ~ $

This is what I received when I tried to enable the sensors for temp monitoring.

[DAlan 74-+]

I installed by "sudo apt-get install lm-sensors" and ran the sensor commands, that is what I got back

[trytip]

you didn't follow my instructions. run sudo sensors-detect . did you? if you did and you get no sensors then you don't have any sensors in your motherboard

[DAlan 74-+]

dale@dale-OptiPlex-GX280 ~ $ sudo sensors-detect
[sudo] password for dale:
# sensors-detect revision 6284 (2015-05-31 14:00:33 +0200)
# System: Dell Inc. OptiPlex GX280
# Board: Dell Inc. 0H7276
# Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic i686
# Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz (15/4/1)

This program will help you determine which kernel modules you need
to load to use lm_sensors most effectively. It is generally safe
and recommended to accept the default answers to all questions,
unless you know what you're doing.

Some south bridges, CPUs or memory controllers contain embedded sensors.
Do you want to scan for them? This is totally safe. (YES/no):


I answered yes to all of the questions and what I finally got is what I posted yesterday
For the record I did sudo sensors-detect twice last night

[trytip]

https://www.google.com/search?q=OptiPle ... re+sensors

[ZakGordon]

How do you install the psensor application?

Menu>Administration>Software Manager

Then when the Software Manager has opened it's main menu, do a search for psensor and you will get options to download and install it.

Having said that, IF this an overheating issue, and IF you really do not have any temp sensors on that PC, as trytip's post would seem to indicate, psensor (or any other monitoring tool) is not going to help much!

So first test is to simply feel how hot your PC seems to touch. So touch around the case after it has been on for a while (or after one of the re-boot events) and if it feels hot to touch it is probably running too hot and is likely the reason for your reboots. This is not an exact science, but using common sense you will probably know if something feels 'too hot' etc.

Next step i would consider is increasing air flow into the inside of your PC. I have external fans blowing extra air into the case over summertime (in particular), in one case i had to cut a hole in the case with a dremmel to allow the usb fan to work properly, and in another the usb fan came with a 1m long cord to be able to position it (i open the DVD slot and blow air into that).

So if overheating is the issue, these are things to think about, but it really would be nice to have actual sensor readings for your temps so you know how safe the PC is going to be longterm. If that model does not have temp monitoring, and you are indeed overheating, you might be better off using another PC. I'm thinking about the danger of potential fires etc.