useless
pre-7th gen i5’s
I’ve got systems with second and third gen i5s that are handling Windows 10 just fine, seems like what the school really needs is some SSDs.
Linux would definitely run better, so that’s worth it too.
If this school is heavily embedded im the Google ecosystem, ChromeOS Flex is an option. FydeOS is similar but without the Google Account requirement.
Awesome breakdown and troubleshooting so far!
I wonder if the previous owner removed the battery because of this issue in the first place.
The fact that the flickering is full-width bands that don’t appear in screenshots indicates to me that this is a signal issue to or through the display.
An important variable to pay attention to and experiment with is the display’s refresh rate. It’s possible that is what is changing with and without the battery, though you most likely would have noticed if that were the case.
Since the problem varies based on battery presence, it would be appropriate to source a replacement battery - especially if you purchased a cheap aftermarket battery. The real deal for your system is available for $80USD from Parts People compared to $20-$40USD for low quality Amazon junk.
After the battery, my main suspicion is a fault on the mainboard leaking voltage from the battery circuit and affecting the display signals. Even without the infrequency of the problem that would be tricky to isolate and remedy.
Overall, this screams hardware issue and I don’t believe you will find a software trace of it. The problem is not visible in screenshots, so the software environment does not know that it exists.
A software approach to a hardware problem is an exercise in futility.
Test your memory with Memtest86
Test your disks too. badblocks is a Linux utility. I like the Victoria and HDDScan Windows programs because they’re less pass/fail in their reporting - you can see that a disk is degraded even if all of the sectors technically respond.
I own a repair shop and use USB to SATA adapters all the time. Sector scans, imaging/cloning, and booting live environments.
It has less to do with the medium and more to do with the quality of your chosen adapter.
I have one of the adapter you pictured, ordered it to test it out because it was comparatively low cost. Did not order more.
I have about a dozen of the Sabrent adapters and they see daily use.