I have been using Manjaro on this laptop for the last few years. Recently, after the latest update, it froze either before or at the lightdm login screen. I cannot switch to a console. It is hard crashed. I edited grub, removing quiet and splash and using run level 3 and got the same result, except I got to witness multiple pci errors and I/O buffer errors with the occasional ath10k wireless pci error. Then the hard crash. Well, I figured the hardware is borked. I tried reinstalling: booting from USB works fine. The installer makes no complaints. Then, same result. So I reinstalled Windows 10. It works without problem. Device Manager identifies no PCI problems, disk problems, nothing. I shrank the disk/partition. I installed Manjaro alongside dual boot. Same hard crashes, but rebooting into Windows, no problem. This same install USB worked fine previously on another laptop.

Suggestions?

Hi,

Maybe try a LiveDVD/CD/USB to try an boot the system.

Hope this helps.

May be faulty RAM, If I remember correctly Windows uses different memory regions for OS. Your Linux may hit some bad memory.

Thanks for responding, but see above:
I also tried the Dell UEFI/BIOS diagnostics; they all report normal. SMART replies normal. Memory checks out in BIOS at least. I do have some spare memory I know is good, I could try swapping it out as a last resort, but I'm not sure the XPS 9650 has removable RAM.

I am going to try a different distro, on the off chance there's something weird happening with Manjaro. Unfortunately I rather like Manjaro, and I absolutely detest Windows. But what to try? Ubuntu? don't like the snaps. OpenSUSE? always been too effing slow. Fedora or whatever they're calling themselves now? That says it all, besides, Redhat.. and everytime I've tried it on any hardware I've had problems. Slackware? Well, at least I'm familiar with it and I'll get help here, but I've been spoiled by the riches of the AUR. Arch? Only if I'm feeling like getting abuse from anyone who I ask for help.

How about Mint or Mageia?

Without knowing anything about that Dell's hardware, or the DE or WM you use, specific suggestions are impossible. Input/output from inxi -GSaz would be helpful.

Mageia 9 was just released, similar in multiple regards to openSUSE and Fedora, all 3 using rpm as the package management base, but different default packaging interfaces, and longer release cycles than Fedora's 6 months. Gnome, KDE/Plasma, XFCE, Cinnamon, Mate and other DEs and WMs are available. Distrowatch makes gathering this basic info easy.

Mint sits on *buntu on Debian using dpkg/apt package management. IME it's the biggest space waster available among distros I keep up-to-date. DE default selections are XFCE, Cinnamon and Mate.

My primary DE/OS remains KDE3 on openSUSE for around two decades or so. What works doesn't need changing.

Thanks for chiming in.

inxi -GSaz

Rendered from working Mint install. DE/WM are irrelevant IMHO, as the system never got that far. For what it's worth, I tried XFCE and Cinnamon as DE, and as you say, it's easy to see from distrowatch what else is standard on Manjaro, or Mint or Mageia. I was actually looking for opinions on what to try first.

It's nice you like openSUSE. I never had any luck with it, though it's been a few years, so perhaps it isn't as slow as I used to find it. I went with Mint because it's easy and it's popular enough to ensure it'll probably be around for a bit and that there should be packages for everything I want. It does seem as though the RPM universe has greater visibility and support than the DEB universe. But it isn't my intention to have a thread about relative merits of different distros.

It's tempting to blame Manjaro/Arch's rolling release for the failure. It isn't the kernel (which was 6.1 working for months), though I see I've gotten a more conservative 5.15 with Mint, but I'd be hard pressed to know what changed to give what looked like hardware failures and a hard freeze. Maybe it's a Wayland thing, though I can't be sure if the default is still xorg. Perhaps I should retitle this thread to specifically implicate Manjaro on this particular laptop.

It should go without saying that internet searches and Manjaro and Arch fora searches did not show anyone else affected recently, though there were some old (couple of years ago) reports with helpful comments like "that's what you get for running a rolling release". Funny, I have not had a problem for the last two years on this laptop, and my main desktop system has been running for years on Manjaro without hiccup.

Well, I can only hope someone else has this once popular model of laptop and wants to see if they can duplicate this phenomenon. Good exercise in checking your system backup!

I just did two upgrades from Vera to Victoria, on an AMD A10-7850K Radeon R7 desktop PC, and an i5-11400 desktop PC, ending up with 6.2.0-32 kernel and XFCE on both. Removing linux-image-generic and installing linux-image-generic-hwe-22.04 before the switch was responsible for the newer kernel.

Glmark2 scores on these two run in Victoria:Same generation as yours (Kaby Lake) with 35W TDP i5-7500T/HD 630 graphics (desktop, no NVidia) running straight Jammy/6.2.0-31:
All three are motherboard iGPUs, no discrete graphics, neither like your Optimus dual graphics, which commonly manifests in the form of forum help requests.

I wonder if you upgraded to 6.2 kernel, or 21.3 when it appears, if the same problem as you had with Manjaro might manifest if you don't first track down what went haywire with Manjaro?

I wondered about the kernel, but it always remained on the Manjaro "LTS" 6.1 series. I also wonder whether when Mint eventually goes to the next 6 month upgrade in October (or maybe on a later upgrade, as Mint/Ubuntu/Debian lag significantly behind Arch and Manjaro in terms of newer software) that eventually the same problem will catch up with me. However, after a long weekend of reinstalling, and finally (a) having a working system (b) having convinced Microsoft that the Windows I keep in a VM is actually still entitled to be activated (hate it but need it for work), I think I'll wait a while before trying again. Maybe other people will have the problem, or maybe if I try Manjaro on this laptop in the future it'll be compatible again, or maybe there is an incipient hardware failure which will reveal itself.

I'd try another distro. When I first got into Linux years ago, out of all the main distros I tried only Slackware booted. Most of the rescue CDs I've tried won't boot this machine. The only removable media that will is the Slackware DVD and an old Ubuntu one that someone gave me. Sometimes there's something weird going on and you need a custom kernel/setup. Once you get it going you might be able to figure out what it is, but getting there can be harder than just trying some other distro.

mostlyharmless,

Have a look at this from ArchWiki for the Dell XPS (9560):
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dell_XPS_15_(9560)

Alternatively, you could try using the Arch-based EndeavourOS:
https://endeavouros.com/

You will not be abused on their forum. They are a friendly bunch.

beachboy2,

Thanks, I'd looked at the page when I first setup the laptop with Manjaro 2 years ago, but perhaps things changed. I checked for updated firmware but I'm up to date. It is certainly worth another look. EndeavorOS is a good idea. Next time I have time and don't need the laptop immediately, perhaps over the weekend or next, I can try installing it. Nothing wrong with Mint, and it seems to be running fine, but I'd like to have access to the AUR. It makes it easier switching from one machine to the next or finding software/system maintenance easier when everything is running more or less the same species of distro.

if all else fails, pls try fossapup64-9.5.iso abt 500MB an OS with fruit from ubuntu. very flexible, will install rpm/tar.gz/deb and a few others. dual boots well. has own forum on forum.puppylinux.com not all linux commands supported, as it's intent is to keep it usable, and small. best internet banking OS available according to NSW govt. is a live sytem, boot from usb/CD/sda as u please. savefile[s] optional. i'm using it on a dell optilux 3060 w 8GB RAM and 256GB ssd.

Here's an update: apparently it's a kernel regression. I've been using a different machine for the last few weeks, as the aforementioned Dell is a doorstop with recent kernels. See https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=217802 Unfortunately while there is a patch, it hasn't been applied to the latest Manjaro kernel yet. See also https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/79439#comment221866