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#1 2016-11-18 23:41:26

xu564856686
Member
Registered: 2016-07-15
Posts: 42

System randomly hangs

Sometimes, the whole system to hang when I click something in Firefox. The screen and mouse freeze up, and trying to switch to a different TTY doesn't work. All I can do is force a shutdown. This happened twice to me today. The second time happened when I clicked to open a new tab.

This was Firefox 49 (I think), in XFCE.

Edit: This happened a third time with no input besides moving the mouse. This was after upgrading to firefox-50.0-1.

Last edited by xu564856686 (2017-01-09 01:48:12)

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#2 2016-11-19 05:20:03

mikkqu
Member
Registered: 2016-08-08
Posts: 3

Re: System randomly hangs

I would suggest to keep "top" utility opened when next time this is going to happen.
I had similar issues until one day I found out there was some process (apparently somehow related to usb connected devices) with extremely high cpu load.
The only visible sympthom was hanging firefox (but actually the whole system) once in a while.

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#3 2016-11-19 17:26:56

xu564856686
Member
Registered: 2016-07-15
Posts: 42

Re: System randomly hangs

This happened again today, but top showed that my CPU cores were each running at about 10-20 percent.

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#4 2017-01-07 17:55:09

xu564856686
Member
Registered: 2016-07-15
Posts: 42

Re: System randomly hangs

I have switched from using Firefox to using iridium (Chromium). However, just today I had another crash when loading a page. I should have tried doing the Magic SysRq trick, but I forgot. I will report later if I have another crash and pull it off successfully.

EDIT: I had another crash today which happened while I was away from my PC. I tried the Magic SysRq trick, but it did not work. I could not turn on the Caps Lock light. I do not understand what could be causing this crash. I do not see anything to suggest that it should happen, like CPU overload. Could this be a problem with an insufficient power supply?

Last edited by xu564856686 (2017-01-09 01:18:36)

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#5 2017-03-18 00:39:02

xu564856686
Member
Registered: 2016-07-15
Posts: 42

Re: System randomly hangs

A while back, I searched for this problem and found a suggestion that it might be a problem with the RAM. So, ran memtest two different times, but I got no errors.

I have had a virtual machine, several documents and a web browser with multiple tabs all open without causing a crash. And I have had a crash with a minimal amount of programs running. The only significant thing I think is consistent with these crashes is that they seem to happen in connection with some event in a web browser (new tab, loaded advertisement), or at least they happen when I have a web browser open. I have had crashes with Firefox, Iridium, and SeaMonkey.

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#6 2017-03-18 13:18:47

salafrance
Member
From: Aelfang's Barrow
Registered: 2013-04-17
Posts: 43

Re: System randomly hangs

Just a thought...

A while back, my father's laptop would crash on a frequent basis. He was running Windows XP, and he had a habit of downloading everything on the net that waved at him, so my family put it down to malware. When I ran it from a Linux USB key, I couldn't replicate the crashes. After another while, it occurred to me to try it out via wifi (previously, I'd used a cable connection, whereas my father habitually used Wireless).

It crashed, and under Linux.

I replaced the mini pci wireless adapter and after that, it worked perfectly.

You mention that the crashes occur when you browse the web, so perhaps you might consider swapping the relevant network card out for a known good one?

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#7 2017-03-18 20:16:20

xu564856686
Member
Registered: 2016-07-15
Posts: 42

Re: System randomly hangs

OK, so I removed the wireless adapter and moved the PC to an Ethernet connection. I will see if it crashes.

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#8 2017-03-21 00:18:51

xu564856686
Member
Registered: 2016-07-15
Posts: 42

Re: System randomly hangs

I had been testing my PC with an Ethernet connection with a larger than average load. I did not have a crash. This made me more sure of the wireless adapter causing the problem. Then, I put the wireless adapter back in and ran a similar load (for a shorter time, but probably at least an hour), but still leaving the PC in the same room as the router. (normally the PC is in a room upstairs from the router.) There was still no crash. I thought that the crashes might have something to do with the wireless connection going through the floor. I moved the PC to the original place I had it, and I am writing this post on it.

I have not recreated the crash.

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