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Thanks Keith. I doubt I'll have time today but I'll check further on those as soon as I can.

Thanks. I remember seeing MD5 mentioned in what I was reading. So prob not much use then.

Anyone know if I could run fsck from the live USB to check my HD ? &/or how I'd go about that ?

I'm pretty convinced now it's software problem.
Upgrade from DVD would also remove all my folders etc & I'd have to replace them from backup media ?
My autistic brain struggles with upgrading from (making a) disc/stick which is why I bought one ready done to get 18.04. so...
upgrading 'normally' (eg through terminal) would still be worth a try ? I've just been watching a couple of youtube tutorials & it looks straightforward.

edit: just been looking at something called  'debsums'. Says this would list corrupted files. Anyone know any more ?

I ran memory check on boot up (as I can't find a spare USB stick to make a memtest86 one). This said 'passed' so anything else to do on that front?

So far it's only crashed once since my last post so not often enough for running a live USB to show anything but I'm now having weird page display issues on search results on ebay. Not doing that when I navigate via category but consistently for search results. Rebooting hasn't cured it. This does Not happen if I use the live USB stick, everything works as it used to. So I presume it's software ?

Would having to make hard shut downs (using the physical power on/off button) corrupt stuff ?

Would upgrading to vs 20.04 possibly cure these problems ? (though 18.04 was pretty crashy from the get go on this laptop.)

Graeme - I'll give that a go tomorrow. I was just about to say it's been well behaved today - then , crash. Haha.  Doesn't seem to make much dif what I'm doing. Most usually happens when scrolling down a page but I think that's because I'm on the interweb a lot. It has happened when just reading a PDF not  touching a thing. I've used dif mouses but that makes no dif.

Brian000 - I'll try & do one now.

Thanks Emegra.
I have the USB flashdrive I used to install which I think I can run as an OS. Is that what you mean.
This laptop is a refurb from ebay so you could be right. Don't think it's overheating. Is there any checks I could run to find faulty hardware?
So far so good today after the last crash yesterday evening. It rebooted much faster & settled down more quickly that time, felt different.

Just had my 5th crash in 2 hrs. Mouse cursor freezes nothing works  - cont/alt/del does nothing neither does esc. I switch off with the power button & reboot.

18.04 has been a bit crashy since I installed it but it has been getting better, usually goes once after an update then is fine. Was behaving a little oddly the last couple of days, eg. FB spell check doing odd things so I updated yesterday. Didn't cure anything but this evening it's been crashing roughly every 20-30min no matter what it is I'm doing (on internet).

Anyone any suggestions as to how I proceed ? things I can check ? I'll be off to bed shortly so not in a rush. Perhaps it'll improve next time I use it.

Ubuntu wasn't booted so that means it wasn't mounted ?

@SeZo Direct hit there. Easiest fix I've ever had. Had a bunch Inode orphans fixed & dev/sda2 reported clean. Wasn't too keen to reboot but it did. Shutting down & restarting OK.
Thank you !

Here I am again folks. I'm running Ubuntu 18.04. Laptop is:

HP 15 notebook pc mod no 2213
kernel;    4.40-185generic x86_64   (64bit   gcc; 5.4.0)     console;  tty 1    distro ;  [nothing here]
bios; Insyde   v;F.39
Quad core intel pentium n3540   cache;1024 kb      flags; (-)     bmips; 4326
network;  card-1; realtek rtl8188ee wireless network adapter    driver; rtl8188ee     IF; wlp2so       state; up       speed;  n/a      duplex;  n/a
                mac;   9c;ad;97;36;21;a7       
                card-2; realtek rtl810ex pci express fast ethernet controller    IF;  p3p1    state; down     mac; 38;63;bb;84;74;7a
drives;   HDD; 500 gb (18.2% used)  ID-1; /dev/sda
partition;  id-1; / size; 451G   used; 78gb  (19% used)    fs; ext4      dev;  /dev/sda1
                id-2;  swap-1     size  8.47gb     used 0.00gb       fs; swap       dev;   /dev/sda5
raid;  no raid devices;  /proc/mdstat,  md_mod kernel module present
sensors;  none detected - lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info;   processes; -1    uptime; 5 min   memory; 144.2/7875.5MB   Init;  systemd    Gcc sys; 5.4.0    Client;  shell (bash)  inxi; 2.2.35





Updated it yesterday evening. worked OK on booting this morning but gave the usual crash after about an hr. Has done this most times after an update but has been Ok for a couple of months now. Worked fine after hard shutdown & reboot. Came to use it again about an hr ago & found it wasn't wanting to rename any files so I went for a restart & it hung up on a plain purple screen. CTRL/ALT/DEL gives the following :

/dev/sda2 contains files system with errors, check forced
Inodes that were part of a corrupted orphan linked list were found.

/dev/sda2: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.

fsck exited with status  code 4
the root file system on /dev/sda2 requires a manual fsck


Am I screwed again?

Just doesn't enter my head 

Stop/off button has been added as it's useful. Others to follow.
Thanks yet again for your help.

At last got round to doing this.
For U18 users re-boot goes like this:
User log in/select screen - select as usual.
Password screen - the icon to look for is a small cogwheel type thing, immediately to the left of the sign in "button".

Initial thoughts are favourable. It IS much less cluttered. This still has a familiar feel to it but is not so windowsy as Linuxlite (which was designed - allegedly - to be friendly to people moving away from windows).

I've not yet figured how to put short cuts onto the desktop (or the top bar) but I can search for that. I have a feeling this will be my default desktop. (surprise.)

Keith - what's the "Stop" button & what does it stop?

Just installed Ubuntu (18) having run LinuxLite prev. Not doing badly with the default desktop, but would like to have a look at "classic view". So how do I swap ? TIA.

Not doing badly with the default desktop, but would still like to have a look at "classic view". So how do I swap ? TIA.