Perhaps you guys might be able to fix something that HP can't... I have a reasonable laptop with 2Gb RAM (Presario V4004AP) which I had to install F8 using the text installer last time- graphical stalled. After the install (which was after I had received the machine back from a warranty repair for overheating and part failure due to the overheating issues) the machine lasted a week, then failed post tests. During the period it was working I had some USB issues, and Gnome made one complaint of keyboard layout. I got it back after a mainboard replacement (again), and it lasted another week (worked like a charm this time) and failed post again. Couldn't get it to boot at all. Sent it away again, and this time the tech sent it back NFF- maybe it wanted a holiday? But when I got it back it did the same thing. I gave it another kick in the guts, and after 10 secs it did finally pass post and the bios screen showed up. So I loaded another distro for test purposes seeing as I had backed up my data before sending it in for repair. After my testing I put F8 back on but the installer stalled completely at /sbin/loader- a point that it would pause at for around 3-5mins when I first started loading fedora on the is laptop. I tried both graphical and text installers but nogo. So in my resourcefulness I decided to use the live disk. It booted fine, and I clicked on the installer- installed ok. Reboot, and the system seems ok, but some things start to bother me- pirut doesn't work and won't install, no office packages, etc... Pirut's complaint was it couldn't create a directory for pixmaps: io error. Hmmm. So I'm now stuck either trying fix the botched install by the live disk, or getting the installer to work. What concerns me is if this post test failure problem is at the root of this, and how do I fix that or diag it? MB's been replaced twice, post takes 10 secs+ to pass, and odd fixes come about by pressure on certain parts of the laptop. Kind of like reflexology... After each repair the tech has thoroughly tested the hardware, and has run the laptop ragged testing. I pulled the laptop apart before the last repair to try and find the problem myself, but found nothing- no loose connections, whatever. Hdd passes every test, during post the hdd light stays on for some time though. This is all the info I have now. Any ideas guys? Anymore tests I can put this thing through?
