This is a common problem this year with the laptops used by the Juniors and Seniors.
Symptoms: You are typing a research paper (or any document) and the keyboard and mouse completely lock up and stop working. This could happen even when you aren’t doing anything or anytime the computer is running. At this point the only way to unlock your computer is to press the power button until it turns off. When you turn the computer back on and log in you will want to open any application you were using to edit a file. This does not apply to Google Docs or any web application. LibreOffice seems to be the application which gives us the most trouble here. When you open LibreOffice after your reboot, the application will attempt to recover any files which were open when the computer locked up. If you are lucky the file recovers to the last point where it was when auto-save executed. If you are not lucky, the recovery fails and you are left with an empty file even if you had 5 or 6 pages already saved.
Advice: Currently there is no solution for this scenario. However, there are a couple things you can do to minimize your vulnerability. First, make a backup of your files often. This can be done by following my earlier post How can I backup my files to the Whitfield Network? Secondly, within LibreOffice select Tools/Options from the top menu. Under Load/Save choose General and check Always create backup copy. While you are in there, also make sure Save AutoRecovery information is checked and set for 3 or 5 minutes.
Now for the good news: We have known about the problem with this model freezing up since early in the school year and we, along with our partners at Lenovo and Revolution Linux have been trying to find a solution since then. This past Wednesday (November 2) we started testing a possible solution. If all goes well, we will be making that solution available to everyone on Monday, November 7th. We know that this has been a very stressful situation for our students and we are anxious to get a resolution in place. Thank you for your patience and cooperation, especially those kind teachers who voluntarily extended deadlines to students who were affected by this unfortunate problem.
Please continue to watch Kupp's Korner often for more helpful hints in the future.
Aside from students working on their papers and projects, those working in and for the academe can also be affected by this problem. And one of the most severe problems is when a computer crashes right when the student is cramming for a paper. That is why it’s always advisable to backup your files on another storage device. It is also best to scan your computer often for viruses to ensure that you’re protected.
ReplyDeleteClinton Dummer
Very good point Clinton. We are hoping that iFolder will be making a return so backups could become more passive again. When it comes to written word, spreadsheet and other valuable documents, you can't have too many backups.
ReplyDelete- Kupp