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I'm running Ubuntu 20.04 on my Acer swift 3 laptop for a few months. In overall, system is performing well, but sometimes my laptop becomes totally unresponsive. In such cases, my only solution is shutdown (pressing and holding power button for a few seconds) and restart the computer. I simply can't understand and debug this problem. Screenshot of important system logs (logged before one of crashes) from GNOME logs app is attached here:

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I want to mention that system freeze happens when watching media files in browsers, such as video on facebook, youtube. It always happened both on firefox and chromium browsers. I can provide you with additional related system info/logs. Please help me to identify the issue.

EDIT

free -h:

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grep -i swap /etc/fstab:

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sysctl vm.swappiness:

vm.swappiness = 60

EDIT 2

ls -al /var/crash

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lshw -c video

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lsmod | grep amd

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EDIT 3

dpkg -l *amd* | grep ii

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dpkg -l *ati* | grep ii

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Elgin Cahangirov
  • 323

4 Answers4

2

Let's increase your /swapfile from 2G to 4G and see if that helps.

Note: Incorrect use of the dd command can cause data loss. Suggest copy/paste.

In the terminal...

sudo swapoff -a           # turn off swap
sudo rm -i /swapfile      # remove old /swapfile

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=4096


sudo chmod 600 /swapfile  # set proper file protections
sudo mkswap /swapfile     # init /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile     # turn on swap
free -h                   # confirm 8G RAM and 4G swap

Edit /dev/fstab, using sudo -H gedit /etc/fstab or sudo pico /etc/fstab.

Confirm this /swapfile line in /etc/fstab... and confirm no other “swap” lines... use SPACES in this line... confirm NO TABS...

/swapfile  none  swap  sw  0  0

reboot                    # reboot and verify operation

Update #1:

Remove nomodeset from your /etc/default/grub and then sudo update-grub.

You have an older version of the AMD video driver. Download and install version 20.20 at https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-amdgpu-unified-linux-20-20 or https://drivers.amd.com/drivers/linux/amdgpu-pro-20.20-1098277-ubuntu-20.04.tar.xz.

Installation instructions are at https://amdgpu-install.readthedocs.io/en/latest/.

Reboot your computer.

heynnema
  • 73,649
1

sorry for posting as an answer (I just recently joined and cannot comment yet)

@ Elgin Cahangirov: I also experience these random freezes, and most of the time there is an update waiting for me when I restart my computer... Have you run Software Updater after your crash?

Here is the full story:

I have the same problem (I just restarted my machine after this annoying freeze-of-death) and also tried resolving it via swap-settings:

My swap settings before the crash were:

  • manually changed swappiness to 95 or 100 (default is 60, haven't yet figured out how to change swappiness permanently)

  • 8 GB RAM

  • 2 GB swap (during installation, on "hard drive 1", dual boot with windows)

  • a second swap partition of almost 20 GB (on "hard drive 2" (created and activated with disk and gparted ))

  • set these priorities to my swaps: * -1 for the 2 GB swap (system default) * 3 for the 20 GB swap (chanced manually, permanent setting)

What was running?

  • some firefox windows (no videos, just plain texts (how-tos for R) and google sheets)

  • R (luckily I had saved everything)

  • system monitor (cause these crashes happen all the time & I'm trying to figure out why... (however, it was in the background, so I couldn't see what caused the crash))

What did I do?

Actually nothing... I was AFK, R was just open (no calculation running or anything), firefox was just open (no page loading)

=> no apparent reason for crashing... (and this happens all the time, totally random... e.g. :

  • when the machine is idle (just left switched on when I went to bed),
  • when I'm running R
  • when I'm running salmon
  • when I'm watching a youtube tutorial (with the extra annoying special effect that the last seconds of whatever was playing are stuck on repeat -.- )
  • when I had some programs open but was doing nothing at the moment (I notice the freeze when I come back to resume my work after a short break)
  • ...)

However, after I restarted my computer, I checked whether Software Updater had any updates or something like that and there was yet another update (ubuntu base) I have disabled livepatch (because I thought it might be the reason for those freezes). My settings in Software Updater say: "subscribe to all updates" (for other packages), "check for updates weekly", security updates immediately, other updates weekly, notify about other LTS ubuntu versions.

Is there anything I can do to fix that?

It reminds me of my Windows 10: Whenever there is an update the PC will be really slow, proudly announce that there's an update and ask for a restart, restarting will take forever, and most of the time it needs a second restart until everything is back to normal... However, in Win 10 I can pause updates for a week if I want to make sure that my machine will not be slow or crash (e.g. during an important project) Can I pause my Software Updater updates, too? (checking weekly didn't work, it caught 2 updates (& two freezes) yesterday and caught another update just now... or is ubuntu base one of the security updates?)

Sorry for rambling, I'm new to Ubuntu and wanted to give all the information that might be important :)

Dobby
  • 31
0

FYI, I had a freezing issue on Zorin OS - a Ubuntu flavor. While there are many software fixes recommended, I focused on Hardware.

Disassembled the machine to the CPU-fan, cleaned up dust that blocks air-flow. Now the problem is gone.

The machine was on Windows and I blamed the OS for freezing up. I installed Zorin OS and I was surprised to see Ubuntu freezes up more frequently than Windows did.

Jae An
  • 1
0

I also experienced the same problem with the ubuntu 20.04 on my dual boot computer. Previously it worked fine, and never freezed. Since yesterday, it occasionally freezes while I am using the computer or when I try to login the system after a long suspension. I recall that I installed a few remote desk apps a few days ago. So I remove/purge them all. Also I install the system updates. I will come back and update this post if the problem harrows me again.

jhuai
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