Hard freeze, probably from VLC

millus · 2022-02-04 01:11:18

My Archlinux freezes up completely (no VT switching/keyboard input possible, no mouse move, no sound) and I need to power off by holding the power button for 5 seconds.
The hardware is like a year old, so I doubt it is faulty.
However, I noticed that these freezes only seem happen some time after I paused fullscreen VLC and let it sit in the background.
Is this a known thing?
And is there a way to confirm it was caused by VLC somehow?

Last edited by millus (2022-02-04 01:39:20)

Al.Piotrowicz · 2022-02-04 06:12:54

You need to provide system logs, otherwise nobody is able to help.

#journalctl -b

of the affected boot

millus · 2022-02-04 06:49:10

Thanks, I didn't know about this journalctl -b.
But how do you mean "of the affected boot"?
I mean when it hard freezes, I have to reboot, so I cannot run that command before I do a fresh boot.

V1del · 2022-02-04 07:53:53

After the hard reboot, you can pass e.g. a -1 for the boot prior to your current one, so

sudo journalctl -b-1

will give you the information for the boot prior to the one you're currently on.

seth · 2022-02-04 07:55:36

Avoid a hard reboot, as it will typically prevent the journal w/ the error from being synced to disk.
Instead enable and try to make use of https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Keyboa … el_(SysRq) then post the journal of the previous boot (sudo journalctl -b -1)

Also look out for https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 9#p2018879

millus · 2022-02-04 08:39:41

Ok, I enabled that. Also found out on that opportunity that my past journals occupied > 4GB so I deleted some older ones.
And that my journal was spammed by one failing service (displaylink) which I disabled now, nice.
Looking forward to the next freeze.

Edit: I bet nothing will happen now, that I'm waiting for it =p

Last edited by millus (2022-02-04 13:50:28)

millus · 2022-04-08 22:15:11

Alright, hard freeze. But it's TOO hard. I verified in advance that sysreq keys were enabled and working, but when this pc froze there was nothing that could be done. It was just completely frozen, sysreq-magic had no effect, 5 seconds off-switch holding required.

Fortunately the ext4 file system didn't go into infinite loop this time on fixing at subsequent restart, as it did once before.

Last edited by millus (2022-04-08 22:17:17)

seth · 2022-04-09 06:02:38

You'd then have to go for https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kdump

Maybe post some journal still - it might reveal possible problems w/ the setup that might trigger this (forgetting to update the CPU µcode, MCE errors from the previously crashed boot, known to troublesome graphics drivers/configs …)
reg. the latter: if you're using some xf86-video-* package, try without.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-02-04 01:11:18

Hard freeze, probably from VLC

#2 2022-02-04 06:12:54

Re: Hard freeze, probably from VLC

#3 2022-02-04 06:49:10

Re: Hard freeze, probably from VLC

#4 2022-02-04 07:53:53

Re: Hard freeze, probably from VLC

#5 2022-02-04 07:55:36

Re: Hard freeze, probably from VLC

#6 2022-02-04 08:39:41

Re: Hard freeze, probably from VLC

#7 2022-04-08 22:15:11

Re: Hard freeze, probably from VLC

#8 2022-04-09 06:02:38

Re: Hard freeze, probably from VLC

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