Unprompted logout button

Faulty CPU or something · 2025-03-01 22:35:51

TL;DR: What kind of hardware failures can show the window that says Log out/Suspend/Power off

I probably could find out reading the source code but I'm not good at programming so I ask here

Ok, so I had an old computer that was working properly last time I recall using it. I brought it back to test a sus PSU, and indeed it worked fine for a couple of hours and then randomly showed that logout window. I clicked cancel, and it worked fine for a couple more minutes. Then that window showed up again, and before I could click anything it shut down the hard way. And then wouldn't power again, obviously the power supply is at fault, right?

Wrong, I tried again with its original PSU and even an older one I had around. They all have the same behaviour.
The behaviour itself is kind of tricky, immediately after shutting down on its own it won't work again, but if you let it rest for a couple days it works as if nothing was wrong... for a couple of hours. If you let it sit there another hour or so it works for 10 minutes. If I power it off the normal way, it can start again for the remainder of its metaphorical healthbar. Regardless of the PSU I plug. So maybe something temperature related.

Today I tried memtest, found no errors. Worked fine for an hour and a quarter, never went above 48° C.

dmesg or journalctl say nothing weird but maybe it's because the logs don't get saved to disk before the forceful shutdown.

So I'm just curious here, what could be bringing up that dialog box?

eriefisher · 2025-03-01 23:47:09

This sounds like an overheat issue. To trigger the logout dialog though is strange unless there is some sort of ask in power manager or similar.

Faulty CPU or something · 2025-03-02 00:34:35

The in-die temperature sensor is always around 50°. Maybe something in the motherboard is overheating? Next time I'll put the CPU under stress, see if I can get it hotter

mint4all · 2025-03-02 21:00:34

Welcome to this forum!

In my various attempts to refubish older systems/laptops, after checking out the systems' BIOS settings, I try to boot with a live USB stick and let it run for a while (2-3 hours). If there are any problems, I'll check out the hardware including HDD (SMART) diagnostics -- laptops are notorious in that regard -- and then try cleaning/reseating/reconnecting the internals. If I find anything amiss, I'll attempt a workaround and then repeat the live USB test. If it still fails it probably isn't worth fixing.

If the live USB test is ok, then the installed system is very likely messed up; but finding that... Got plenty time to spend on P/D? Then try a fix or workaround (sometimes a missing update does the trick). Otherwise, salvage the data, scrub and re-install/re-build. Messy? Of course, but ime that works 90% of the time... The remaining 10% of systems aren't worth keeing because they will remain unstable no matter what. Hope this helps.

Cheers, m4a

Faulty CPU or something · 2025-03-03 04:26:44

Well, the installed system is a pretty fresh xubuntu, so I don't think it can be a hardware issue. Today it did run fine for a couple of hours with the very same xubuntu usb I installed it from. Might be just luck.
I guess it must be some problem on the motherboard, thank you for the advice anyway

mint4all · 2025-03-03 13:27:15

Faulty CPU or something wrote:

Well, the installed system is a pretty fresh xubuntu, so I don't think it can be a hardware issue. Today it did run fine for a couple of hours with the very same xubuntu usb I installed it from. Might be just luck.
I guess it must be some problem on the motherboard, thank you for the advice anyway

You are welcome!

Allow me a minor correction: not advice, just some lessons learned over time ... In any event, your test is good news: just think of the many components that DID work ok. That narrows your P/D chore by a large margin. I would now retrace the wiring/harnesses, and in the process re-seat/snug-up the connectors; especially the SATA ribbons and HDD headers. After that. I would look at the HDD-diags.

Note: I few years ago I refurbed an old (mid-2000s vintage) 32-bit Sony laptop that behaved just like your system (on Mint 18.3, threw the logout window, but than hung and didn't logout/shutdown) where the HDD had a failed internal write-back cache/chip. I replaced the failing HDD, and this ancient laptop still runs to this day on 32-bit MX-Linux.

Cheers, m4a

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#1 2025-03-01 22:35:51

Unprompted logout button

#2 2025-03-01 23:47:09

Re: Unprompted logout button

#3 2025-03-02 00:34:35

Re: Unprompted logout button

#4 2025-03-02 21:00:34

Re: Unprompted logout button

#5 2025-03-03 04:26:44

Re: Unprompted logout button

#6 2025-03-03 13:27:15

Re: Unprompted logout button

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