Arch Linux

kristianlm

Member

Registered: 2013-04-24

Posts: 5

Random system freezes - a year long hunt

Hi,

My main desktop computer has been freezing randomly for the past few years. It happens on average let's say, every 10 days. It's very hard to diagnose and very frustrating. I feel like I've tried everything. I still don't know what's causing the problem, and I'm hoping someone here will be able to give some pointers. Sympsoms of frozen state:

- The computer doesn't respond to keyboard input
- Mouse-pointer doesn't move
- The ssh server is unreachable
- Nothing in journalctl to indicate an upcoming crash, and no suspcious patterns (like power saving logs etc)
- It can crash while I'm using the machine, or while it's idling
- Some crashes happen after 30 minutes, some after 3-4 weeks.
- I don't think it's linked to something I'm doing, it'll crash if I just reboot and leave the machine alone.

Obviously, this isn't really Arch Linux specific, and I've had the machine crash while experimenting with GNU Guix too.

Over the past few months, perhaps even years, I've tried to take make a small change that might solve the problem. Here's a list of some of the things I've done:

1. Switch from Nvidia to a Radeon GPU
2. Tweak Radeon power management
3. Remove the Radeon GPU, now just using integrated Intel graphics
4. Run `ssh trouble.local journalctl -f` on another computer and watch if there's anything useful there
5. Monitoring for temperature (everything seems to stay below 60℃ on full load)
6. Update BIOS firmware (from P2.00 from 2017 to v. P2.40 from 2018)
7. Try 1 RAM chip at a time
8. Try another set of RAM chips

Now I've had my machine crash with nothing but SATA disks and network connected. I've run Memtest86+ from the Arch Linux install USB drive and I'm not able to find any RAM problems. Here's what I haven't tried yet:

1. Trying a different power supply
2. Reapplying thermal paste on the CPU
3. Clean RAM slots

Hardware:

- Motherboard: ASRock B250 Pro4
- CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7400 CPU @ 3.00GHz
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2666 C16 BK DC - 32GB (16GBx2)
- Disks: 1 rotational, 2 SSDs (everything SATA)

Before I buy a new motherboard, I though I'd run it through this forum in the hope I don't have to throw away an otherwise decent motherboard.
Thanks,
K.

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,299

Re: Random system freezes - a year long hunt

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Intel_ … Intel_CPUs ?

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kristianlm

Member

Registered: 2013-04-24

Posts: 5

Re: Random system freezes - a year long hunt

Gosh, how could I have missed this. Thank you for the great tip.

I've added the 3 kernel parameters and I'll come back here between zero to 30 days, depending on the next hangup. I also swapped out my power supply, in case that was the issue. I'll keeping you posted!

cat /proc/cmdline
root=/dev/vg0/s0 intel_idle.max_cstate=1 i915.enable_dc=0 ahci.mobile_lpm_policy=1 modprobe.blacklist=usbmouse,usbkbd

bitterhalt

Member

Registered: 2022-06-19

Posts: 21

Re: Random system freezes - a year long hunt

I would swap the power supply if possible. Faulty units often cause freezes like this.

kristianlm

Member

Registered: 2013-04-24

Posts: 5

Re: Random system freezes - a year long hunt

Hi guys,

@seth, thanks so much for pointing this out to me. It's been 14 days now and everything has been solid.

@bitterhalt, I actually did change the power supply as well as add the kernel arguments. I will remove them and see if the freezing comes back to find out what was the underlying cause.

Thanks both for helping me out to not have to buy a new motherboard.