arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

ekancoderx · 2024-12-02 20:46:36

Hello, I have recently noticed increase in frequency of my arch linux freezing while working.
Here's a detail of my current system im using

> systemd-analyze critical-chain
Failed to execute 'pager', will try 'less' next: Not a directory
Failed to execute 'less', will try 'more' next: Not a directory
The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.

graphical.target @9.257s
└─ly.service @9.257s
  └─systemd-user-sessions.service @9.214s +40ms
    └─network.target @9.213s
      └─wpa_supplicant.service @9.032s +180ms
        └─basic.target @8.313s
          └─dbus-broker.service @8.140s +171ms
            └─dbus.socket @8.134s
              └─sysinit.target @8.132s
                └─systemd-resolved.service @7.896s +236ms
                  └─run-credentials-systemd\x2dresolved.service.mount @7.943s

and my hardware is

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT with Radeon Graphics (12) @ 4.668GH
GPU: AMD ATI Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series
Memory: 2481MiB / 7302MiB
OS: Arch Linux x86_64
Host: A520M K V2 -CF
Kernel: 6.12.1-arch1-1

Just a note that for hardware im using a Sandisk Cruzer Blade 128GiB for storage. But i had never experienced any freezes ever before. Until recently from a few days after i did a full system update using

sudo pacman -Syu

Thanks for understanding my inferior knowledge and help me guide through.
For information i also referred this article but it didn't help me much. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=276882

pvtvega · 2024-12-02 20:54:43

What do you mean by freezing? The system becomes completely unresponsive? For how long? What are you doing just before the system 'freezes'?

ekancoderx · 2024-12-02 21:28:52

By freeze i mean literally like everything will pause for a few seconds. This happens especially when i just log in and while using firefox sometimes. For information im only using an extension called mtab on Firefox for customization.

Last edited by ekancoderx (2024-12-02 21:30:43)

pvtvega · 2024-12-03 04:29:22

ekancoderx wrote:

Just a note that for hardware im using a Sandisk Cruzer Blade 128GiB for storage.

Wait - are you using a USB flash drive as your primary storage?

Last edited by pvtvega (2024-12-03 04:29:42)

ekancoderx · 2024-12-03 20:25:33

pvtvega wrote:

ekancoderx wrote:
Just a note that for hardware im using a Sandisk Cruzer Blade 128GiB for storage.
Wait - are you using a USB flash drive as your primary storage?

Yes i am using it because I as a newbie user never expected arch to be stable and thought i would break my whole system. So yeah you have you answer now.

pvtvega · 2024-12-03 20:28:41

It's most likely that when you log in and start launching a bunch of processes that you're maxing out the bandwidth of the USB 2.0 interface. It's probably more suitable for running a headless system.

seth · 2024-12-03 22:59:41

Even on USB3, usb keys aren't cheap SSDs - and using them as such will degrade and kill them in no time.
There's no load balancer, you'll very likely end up overusing some sectors and wear them down.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … ble_medium
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … isk_access

John-Something-Something · 2024-12-04 12:48:26

That's fine, there is not to many problems running arch linux in a flash drive. I play games in my flash install.
I think the real problem is with the ram(Normaly when the problem is in the disk speed it only freezes for some time), arch linux does not stop applications from eating all your ram and if you open something heavy it will probably eat it all. But there is something strange there, you are with 8GB ram, i have 5,7 and it's running relatively okay. I would recommend you to use something ligther like linux-zen kernel and a more ram efficient enviromment such as lxde. Because it uses a lot less ram than kde and gnome.
(If you are already using lxde or other like that, then the problem is deeper and you shoud try
systemctl status
to see if there is something wrong or even
Jounalctl -err
)

Last edited by John-Something-Something (2024-12-04 12:51:39)

pvtvega · 2024-12-04 13:30:41

John-Something-Something wrote:

arch linux does not stop applications from eating all your ram

That's not the job of an operating system. It will provide whatever resources it can to applications within the limits of your hardware.

John-Something-Something wrote:

I would recommend you to use something ligther like linux-zen kernel and a more ram efficient enviromment such as lxd

Using light(er)weight desktop environments will be more RAM efficient yes, but the real bottleneck is going to be transferring anything to and from RAM over USB speeds. Read and write speeds and overall bandwidth are going to be awful over USB compared to an SSD. The RAM will be literally orders of magnitude faster. And like Seth mentioned, the amount of reads and writes that the flash drive is performing will degrade it quickly. USB Linux installs aren't meant as daily drivers. By all means feel free to experiment, but don't expect to have a traditional "desktop" experience.

Last edited by pvtvega (2024-12-04 13:31:25)

Arch Linux

#1 2024-12-02 20:46:36

arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

#2 2024-12-02 20:54:43

Re: arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

#3 2024-12-02 21:28:52

Re: arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

#4 2024-12-03 04:29:22

Re: arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

#5 2024-12-03 20:25:33

Re: arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

#6 2024-12-03 20:28:41

Re: arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

#7 2024-12-03 22:59:41

Re: arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

#8 2024-12-04 12:48:26

Re: arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

#9 2024-12-04 13:30:41

Re: arch linux randomly freezes a lot of time while working

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