I installed Ubuntu, openSuse, Fedora and Mint. They all show the same problem. The computer randomly freezes: the mouse pointer will not move nor will the keyboard operate. The individual that sold the computer to me tells me that the linux kernel is causing the problem. I don't know how to confirm that. May I ask for help resolving this issue? Please offer a Graphical Interface solution if there is one.

There are no known bugs in the Linux kernel or any of the major distributions that would cause this to happen. This "individual" is making stuff up.

There's probably something wrong with your hardware. I'd recommend running memtest86+ for a few hours.

If you are dramatically short of memory - and I don't know if you are - then something like this could happen. Also, there are some file indexing things that, when running, would cause something like this to happen (if you choose to run them, of course) for a short time. there are also 'advanced' video drivers that can cause some problems if the particular driver isn't quite compatible with the hardware.

Please say something about the hardware that you have, particularly the amount of memory, which versions of the various distributions you have tried to install, and any particular, non-default, options you decided to take at install time.

The openSuse distribution had memtest86 v4.20. It showed no problem with the memory.
Memory slot 0 = 2048 MB, slot1 = 2048 MB.
Intel i5 CPU 650 @ 3.2 GHz
I installed the latest versions to my knowledge: Fedora 20, Mint 16, Ubuntu 12.10
I used the default setup when installing each distribution.
I don't know how to access the information about the particular components of this computer. Please tell me how to access that information.

You can list a lot of your hardware with the "lspci" command (sorry, I don't know a GUI-equivalent).

Have you ever run Windows on this machine? If so, did it demonstrate any problems?

Freezing up could be a problem with several things:

1. Faulty CPU Cooler.

2. Improper airflow in the case.

3. Poor quality motherboard chipset mishandling IRQs.

4. Underrated power supply.

5. Bad sector of hard drive.

I could check these out as well.

If possible, can you post your complete and detailed system specs?

Have you tried this with other Linux, BSD, or UNIX distributions?

The best GUI equivalent I've found to lspci is hardinfo. It's more thorough, in fact. It's like a GUI lshw (which is not included by default in all distros for some fool reason, as my father would have said).

It should be in most distros' repos; I know it's in Debian's.

I'm with ReaperX7, I reckon you may have a hardware error. Is it a laptop you're using? cooling systems on laptops can get clogged with fluff, dust and hair causing overheating and random hangs. The common item to your problem is the hardware, not the software.

Have you noticed how some people use laptops on their bed where the duvet blocks the cooling intakes?

Just a thought...

Play Bonny!

I'm using a desktop.
I installed CentOS 6.5 yesterday and it has not had a problem. Previously, the use of Fedora, openSuse, Ubuntu and Mint all resulted in the freezing behavior but CentOS has not. I'll download Hardinfo to look at the computer's components. What components should I look for?