Toshiba Satellite spams "^@" in Text-Only enviroments (cross-os)

dj_jaz_1225 · 2020-08-24 04:39:56

I had this laptop for quite a while and ever since I had it, the LCD had been shot by an arrow (fun in the garage, too much fun )
years later into the future, I got it to run KDE on Ubuntu just fine, except it was very slow and lagging. it was okay for basic tasks such as converting large files, just start it and stow it away for a while, but after getting Arch on my personal laptop, I wanted more from the Toshiba.

all of that to say this: I really want to install Arch, just do away with *buntu altogether, but can't until i get the laptop to stop spamming "^@" across the screen 24/7.
any help on what I should do to resolve this, or at least some info on what ^@ is, would be greatly appreciated. i looked for info on that character but got no relevant results.

icar · 2020-08-24 20:25:31

I see these spammed when I power off. For a split second I see a screen like a tty with a row of this set of characters.

Trilby · 2020-08-24 20:32:31

dj_jaz_1225 wrote:

until i get the laptop to stop spamming "^@" across the screen 24/7.
any help on what I should do to resolve this, or at least some info on what ^@ is, would be greatly appreciated. i looked for info on that character but got no relevant results.

That's a null byte. There are several threads on these forums about related problems - but they are hard to search for as search engines tend to ignore those characters.

While there have been other explanations, the first suspicion is always a hardware problem, particularly in the keyboard ribbon cable or it's connections to the keyboard or mother board. This suspicion would be bolstered by the apparent use of the laptop in target practice.

Here are some previous threads:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=230330
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=207880
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=207359
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 0#p1739030

Last edited by Trilby (2020-08-24 20:36:42)

dj_jaz_1225 · 2020-08-25 17:17:24

Trilby wrote:

dj_jaz_1225 wrote:
until i get the laptop to stop spamming "^@" across the screen 24/7.
any help on what I should do to resolve this, or at least some info on what ^@ is, would be greatly appreciated. i looked for info on that character but got no relevant results.
That's a null byte. There are several threads on these forums about related problems - but they are hard to search for as search engines tend to ignore those characters.
While there have been other explanations, the first suspicion is always a hardware problem, particularly in the keyboard ribbon cable or it's connections to the keyboard or mother board. This suspicion would be bolstered by the apparent use of the laptop in target practice.
Here are some previous threads:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=230330
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=207880
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=207359
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 0#p1739030

I see that a hardware failure such as a damaged keyboard would be a cause. I will report my results as soon as I get the chance.

icar · 2020-08-25 19:19:18

Do you think this could be because of some driver bug? I have a 2-weeks-old laptop that's showing some of these as commented in my previous post. Being, the laptop, that new I'd doubt there's a hardware failure.

Last edited by icar (2020-08-25 19:19:45)

Trilby · 2020-08-25 19:54:29

Yes, icar, your case sounds different. See the linked threads above - often nividia drivers were involved.

icar · 2020-08-25 22:48:17

Trilby wrote:

Yes, icar, your case sounds different. See the linked threads above - often nividia drivers were involved.

Thanks for the reply. I've already started looking into them. My laptop has a 3700U without any discrete GPU, tho.

dj_jaz_1225 · 2020-08-26 00:59:02

@icar, I am open to believe that Murphy's law can be applied to my issue, yet it is more unlikely a driver issue due to the cross-OS issue, where similar drivers across two different OSes would have the same exact issue. not impossible, yet more unlikely than the thought that dust got into the laptop's board over the years and shorted out a button to make it print null bytes.
thank you for your suggestion though. it may be true for yours specifically since it's merely two weeks old (a fairly new laptop and highly probable to have kernel incompatibilities with linux).

Arch Linux

#1 2020-08-24 04:39:56

Toshiba Satellite spams "^@" in Text-Only enviroments (cross-os)

#2 2020-08-24 20:25:31

Re: Toshiba Satellite spams "^@" in Text-Only enviroments (cross-os)

#3 2020-08-24 20:32:31

Re: Toshiba Satellite spams "^@" in Text-Only enviroments (cross-os)

#4 2020-08-25 17:17:24

Re: Toshiba Satellite spams "^@" in Text-Only enviroments (cross-os)

#5 2020-08-25 19:19:18

Re: Toshiba Satellite spams "^@" in Text-Only enviroments (cross-os)

#6 2020-08-25 19:54:29

Re: Toshiba Satellite spams "^@" in Text-Only enviroments (cross-os)

#7 2020-08-25 22:48:17

Re: Toshiba Satellite spams "^@" in Text-Only enviroments (cross-os)

#8 2020-08-26 00:59:02

Re: Toshiba Satellite spams "^@" in Text-Only enviroments (cross-os)

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