Linux is NOT freezing randomly - what could I be doing wrong?
 

I've only been using linux for 2 to 3 months and it hasn't locked up or froze yet. I've been an MS-DOS and then Windows user since the early 1980s. Am I doing something wrong?

I use to need to frequently shut down the computer using the power button (the restart button only works some of the time). I would then wait 10 seconds and turn it back on. I haven't yet received a power state failure, a fatal exception or even a crash dump.

When I run:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

it doesn't give me error code that I then need lookup on the InterWeb and find a solution.

What gives?!?!

It's always nice to hear from another satisfied customer! Enjoy! :)

I am running chkrootkit and rkhunter at the same time and I'm not getting conflicts. I'm probably going to end reformatting and perform a fresh installation but the first time I installed it only took about 7 to 10 minutes. Maybe I just need to break down and buy a new computer :(

I've only donated $20 to Linux Mint so far. I guess I need to donate several thousand more dollars before things start going my way...

i suggest adding about a dozen ppas for mostly closed-source web browsers etc.
then try the update thing again, maybe you'll finally get some errors?
or you can open three of those browsers simultaneously and start playing HD flash content. that should at least bring your system to your knees, maybe even trigger a segfault or a hard lockup?
if nothing of these helps, there's always the forkbomb.

Thanks ondoho! It is much appreciated!!

The forkbomb did the trick! I need to somehow compile it and schedule it to run at random times at least 3 times a day. I'm also installing as many closed-source packages so hopefully I can get a random freeze from that as well.

So far to get the desired results I've allocated all 8 processors and all 32GB of RAM to a windows 7 virtual machine. This allows my computer to break with both linux and windows somewhat running simultaneously. When I boot back up and run the virtualbox I get the recovery screen on the 7 box which is a really familiar and comfortable. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy :)

I'm still having problems not having to spend several thousand dollars on applications and their upgrades :( I'm also very concerned that I have had very quick replies here to this problem whereas Microsoft Technical Support takes forever and chatting with someone about activation is lengthy and sometimes overwhelming. I didn't need to activate mint either :(

Thank you again for your solutions! I will mark this thread as SOLVED!

Just to add something for you to get annoyed with and do some good back to the community...

Install BOINC and join SETI/ROSETTA/WORLD COMMUNITY GRID/ etc and allocate all cpu's, GPU's, memory and internet to BOINC, that will make it fun trying to use the net if you give BOINC priority over your system... on the plus side, if its cold where you are, put your legs next to the pc, it will warm you up...

Also you will test the hardware nicely...

Have fun and welcome to the best computer community in the world, LINUX!

Yeah, I've asked myself the SAME question and still have not been able to do it!!! No matter WHAT I've tried, thank you for your post!!!!!!!!!

It seems their combined average per day is only 19,432,000,000,000,000 Hz (if my conversion is correct). Your solution is perfect to not only fry my CPU but also have the need to replace my power supply and possibly everything else if the power supply doesn't have fail safes! I could theoretically be living back in the age of running Windows 95 on an 80286 3.7 MHz (actually that combination might work too well).

This is absolutely the best solution to have that really wonderful feeling of purchasing a new version of windows and having it not only fail to run on my old hardware but destroying it!

Thanks wraithe! Most appreciated!!!

On another note - and trying not to get off topic but this really would be a stupid new thread...

If I use a VPN on a Linux host and setup a Virtual Machine of say Windows 8 32-Bit (not 8.1) and when microsoft support scammers call me and say "We were notified that you have problems with your computer, bla bla bla, you are a member of our protection plan, etc... open teamviewer or go to this site and enter this code...

Once the scam is over and phone call is over, I would then disconnect from the VPN on the host?

Questions is:
Can the scammers affect the host machine using this method? Is there a safer method?


addition:
I know with vmware supports a nested vm and virtualbox doesn't but I really like virtualbox and it's free.

:) Happy Easter!

PS - I do hope you logged the entire scam session using tcpdump or such, then made an appropriate complaint.

No, I haven't done it yet. I'm trying to figure out the safest course of action to do it. If I had a nested VM I could use an encrypted protocol VPN only on the first VM using a lightweight linux operating system like Lubuntu and then use a nested windows 8 VM inside Lubuntu. After the phone call I could just force power off for the VM inside Linux Mint and that would of course in turn force a power off for the nested windows 8 VM inside Lubuntu.

My aunt really doesn't know much about computers or networking. She's also naive and doesn't seem to realize she's being scammed. They used ransomware and she lost all of her photos. I was able to fix the computer with teamviewer (as she lives an hour away) without reformatting but I couldn't decrypt her photos. They contact people or are contacted over a non-fixed voice over IP so complaining about it (I do this also on message boards) doesn't really end up helping. However, if I do waste their time I do feel good about it because it does slightly reduce the chance of them scamming someone else.

If I ever get this scenario working I want to then (if possible) put malicious software on my nested windows 8 VM as well as get their IP via the Lubuntu VM under the Linux Mint host.

I realize this whole thing is really dumb and stupid. I run a very small software company (just me) and I work from home. I know talking to scammers is stupid and it's a really dumb hobby - but it is fun.

Yesterday a scammer called me and I picked up the "UNKNOWN CALLER" and said Hello, heard the click that switches to operator and I kept saying Hello. The operator started in with his spiel and I repeatedly said, "Can you hear me?" About 45 seconds to a minute within his spiel and me asking him that he said, "Yes" and I replied "Thank You" and hung up. I looked up the caller afterwards to report it and it WAS one of the guys that records "Yes" to "Can you hear me?" and they edit the recording for something like, "Would you like to purchase an alarm system?" - "Yes"

in addition:
If things worked really well for the first scenario I could then have another virtual machine with a nest VM under that one (like Kali). Then as I was talking to them I could another encrypted VPN protocol on another VM inside Linux Mint host and use a nested VM of Kali and DDOS them.

It might shut off the whole computer but I don't think it would damage any hardware.

Not likely to fry the cpu unless your cooling system is u/s as for power supply thats dictated by the need of your board, gpu and other components...

I run BOINC on a laptop, its only got an I7 quad core and I can do 8 process's and the gpu will do one, it gets warm but the bios settings throttle the cpu back when the temp gets up... I am also running it in turbo mode, but i'm not overclocking, thus the bios is more than capable...

BOINC is not designed to destroy, but if you set it to 100% cpu/gpu/ram then it will bottle neck when you use the computer, default settings stop this, so you choose your settings... A good way to give your pc a workout without damaging it...

On a foot note, I have not damaged a pc in over 12 years, using BOINC...

I didn't know what BOINC was until your post. It looks extremely awesome! So fast they measure speed with TERAFLOPS!!!

WOW, tcpport command is great! Thanks!!

Try this for temps and thats running all 8 threads at 100%...

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1: +79.0°C (crit = +103.0°C)

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0: +79.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0: +76.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1: +79.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2: +79.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3: +75.0°C (high = +84.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

asus-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
cpu_fan: 3900 RPM
temp1: +79.0°C




I've been a BOINC user for a long time...If you look up BOINC and look at the projects, there are quite a few, I am only connected with about a dozen and then only work on a few projects, but it can be helpful research...

Or you could just set it operate on a screen saver... Like linux, its up to the user...