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Old 07-31-2021, 02:26 PM   #1
Sudonix
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Post Random and frequent system freezes with no warning - Looking for telltale signs


(I'm posting this in hardware as I've had this problem for the four years I've used my PC, both with Windows 10 and Linux, but I've noticed my system freezing up far more frequently with Linux.)

Hello, all. As you can see from above, I've dealt with this mysterious problem where my computer freezes randomly with little-to-no warning or signs of correlation. I've put up with it for four years, but now I'm sick of dealing with it and want to get to the bottom of whatever the problem is. Back when I used Windows, I would frequently come back to my computer after long periods of idling to a frozen desktop, or simply have the computer freeze on me with so much as moving the cursor across the screen.
When I made the permanent switch to Linux, I had some of the same issues. Sometimes my computer would freeze after a while, sometimes immediately after rebooting and logging in. But, I noticed that my computer froze more often when using OpenOffice. Upon removing OOffice and switching to LibreOffice, things were definitely more stable, but system freezing was still persistent.
More recently, my system has started freezing while playing games. The way my computer freezes on games is unique in that the display will freeze, but the last two-or-so seconds of audio played through the speakers will loop indefinitely, rather than the last instance of noise continuously buzz out.
Doing some research and examining the Dmesg, I found this output line:
Code:
 Optional FADT field Pm2ControlBlock has valid Length but zero Address: 0x0000000000000000/0x1 (20210331/tbfadt-615)
Online others described this as a BIOS issue, and this user described a very similar issue. It could very well be some BIOS or other hardware issue.

I would like to figure out exactly what's causing this freezing and fix/replace whatever. I suppose my main question here is, what are some tools I could use to examine my system's hardware and software in real time or after a freeze, to view activities in real time or after a crash? If I could have a few terminal windows open at once with activity output, I might be able to view the status of multiple pieces of hardware and see where they stand the next time my computer freezes.
 
Old 07-31-2021, 03:05 PM   #2
teckk
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If you using arch then look at the journal for any info
Code:
man journalctl
Freezes can be processor too hot, bad or poorly seated RAM, bad power supply, graphics module, some of the kernels have caused freezes on some hardware. Using software that multi-threads the gpu, and your old video hardware won't multi-thread.

Look at:
Code:
pacman -Si memtest86
What hardware-kernel-graphics modules are you using?
Code:
lspci -k
uname -a
After freeze, boot up and see
Code:
journalctl -r
Also if you are using arch, are you partially updated?
 
Old 07-31-2021, 05:11 PM   #3
Sudonix
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Quote:
What hardware-kernel-graphics modules are you using?
Code:
lspci -k
uname -a
Here is the lspci output for my graphics card, a GTX 1070:
Code:
07:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] (rev a1)
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 8596
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia
        Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia
Quote:
Also if you are using arch, are you partially updated?
I am up to date as of Friday, but games started freezing on me after I updated. This leads me to suspect I'm having some kernel or module issue.
 
Old 07-31-2021, 11:59 PM   #4
Sudonix
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My system hasn't frozen all day except when I launched a game, which made my computer freeze only a few moments after launching. I'm thinking there's definitely a graphical issue somewhere in here, if not the source of this entire problem.

At the moment, I'm waiting for another Nvidia or kernel/module update to appear.

Edit: Ran nvtop to monitor my graphics card while playing a game, and upon freezing again, performance stats looked perfectly normal. 66 degrees C, plenty of memory headroom, 50% processor usage.

Last edited by Sudonix; 08-01-2021 at 03:11 AM.
 
Old 08-01-2021, 04:35 AM   #5
obobskivich
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Are you running software beyond the nvidia packages that is meant to 'monitor' or 'control' the graphics card (e.g. overclocking, fan control, 'afterburner but for linux', etc)? In my experience those applications (as a class) tend to result in myriad instability and wonkiness. Try without such an application, if one is present, and see what happens.
 
  


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