Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

elaiolado · 2026-03-03 09:40:53

This is a system76 gazelle, I've dropped their pop os and installed arch.

Initially I had gpu issues but disabling the laptop monitor (using external monitor) and setting the power profile to battery has "solved" it.

Now I can't sort out the other crash I'm having. It happens quite randomly and not too often. I can use the laptop for a few days without having this crash, even though once or twice it has happened not too long after booting.

Running journalctl -b -1 on rebooting after the crash, this seems to be it: https://pastebin.com/Egaa6Kwj

Any help?

V1del · 2026-03-03 19:39:06

Do you have any concurrent network services?

find /etc/systemd -type l -exec test -f {} \; -print | awk -F'/' '{ printf ("%-40s | %s\n", $(NF-0), $(NF-1)) }' | sort -f

, also in doubt limiting to just kernel logs or just the dump might loose relevant context and it'd be better if we had a full journal's worth of output to be able to identify potential correlations.

elaiolado · 2026-03-04 08:46:03

V1del wrote:

Do you have any concurrent network services?
find /etc/systemd -type l -exec test -f {} \; -print | awk -F'/' '{ printf ("%-40s | %s\n", $(NF-0), $(NF-1)) }' | sort -f
, also in doubt limiting to just kernel logs or just the dump might loose relevant context and it'd be better if we had a full journal's worth of output to be able to identify potential correlations.

Thanks for the reply. I don't think I have any concurrent network services, here's the output: https://pastebin.com/raw/gPff17Di

I don't have the entire journal now, I'll see if I get it next time, but I remember looking for something that could've been logged before the crash and there was nothing.

elaiolado · 2026-03-04 09:16:37

I actually just had a quick freeze that lasted 2 seconds and didn't require me to reboot, and journalctl/dmesg show these network related errors.

journalctl --since today: https://pastebin.com/Pbc7N2Vc
dmesg -T: https://pastebin.com/xBUP3e7R

Seems to be the same error, but didn't require a reboot this time.

Last edited by elaiolado (2026-03-04 12:35:30)

elaiolado · 2026-03-04 10:56:17

It's kinda freezing more than before, and it's not always requiring system reboot. And it's not always that random, sometimes it seems triggered by something I run that requires the internet, for example running a git command.

I've looked around (web and llms) and some say it could be related to power saving mode. I'm on system76-power battery profile, so that could be related. But if I leave battery profile I'm probably going to get gpu-related crashes --- hard to test.

seth · 2026-03-04 18:53:19

I'm on system76-power battery profile, so that could be related.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Power_ … interfaces - but obviously you want to *disable* power saving here.

elaiolado · 2026-03-06 10:27:15

I tried this:

/etc/iwd/main.conf
[DriverQuirks]
PowerSaveDisable=*

Crashed again, however now I can see a different error: https://pastebin.com/3yT8kaRL

The stack begins with:

Mar 06 06:32:58 rsys kernel: wlan0: Limiting TX power to 30 (30 - 0) dBm as advertised by 98:7e:ca:2b:d6:2e

That looks like my router telling my laptop to do something and it caused the crash.

Last edited by elaiolado (2026-03-06 10:27:49)

elaiolado · 2026-03-06 11:05:31

A few settings I currently have:

$ cat /sys/module/iwlwifi/parameters/power_save
N
$ cat /sys/module/iwlwifi/parameters/power_level
0

$ iwctl station wlan0 show
                                 Station: wlan0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Settable  Property              Value
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Scanning              no
            State                 connected
            Connected network     <redacted>
            IPv4 address          192.168.15.4
            ConnectedBss          98:7e:ca:2b:d6:2e
            Frequency             5640
            Channel               128
            Security              WPA2-Personal
            RSSI                  -37 dBm
            AverageRSSI           -39 dBm
            RxMode                802.11ac
            RxMCS                 9
            TxMode                802.11ac
            TxMCS                 9
            TxBitrate             866700 Kbit/s
            RxBitrate             866700 Kbit/s
            InactiveTime          618 ms
            ConnectedTime         3350 s

$ cat /sys/module/cfg80211/parameters/ieee80211_regdom
00

Seems like my router is pushing regulatory information and `00` in `ieee80211_redgom` means "world" mode which should disable handling this already?

seth · 2026-03-06 17:10:03

The router isn't really telling you anything but the chip seeks to constrain the tx power accordingly (that's normal) and at this point a firmware stall gets exposed.
There's no way to tell whether it was also caused by that command.

cat /sys/module/iwlwifi

Mind the iwlmvm setting and the userspace

Another thing you can try is wpa_supplicant instead of iwd and it would also be interesting to see the entire journal of the boot (and whether maybe roaming causes this - resp. what causes the reconnection ahead of the FW crash itfp, S3/s2idle etc et pp.)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-03-03 09:40:53

Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

#2 2026-03-03 19:39:06

Re: Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

#3 2026-03-04 08:46:03

Re: Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

#4 2026-03-04 09:16:37

Re: Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

#5 2026-03-04 10:56:17

Re: Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

#6 2026-03-04 18:53:19

Re: Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

#7 2026-03-06 10:27:15

Re: Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

#8 2026-03-06 11:05:31

Re: Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

#9 2026-03-06 17:10:03

Re: Laptop randomly freezes, looks related to the network stack

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