Computer freezing and needs hard reset

[kioan]

Hello,

I'm relatively new to the LMDE (I used to have Debian for the last years) but I have it installed in 3 computers so far (work computer, home computer and laptop) and really enjoy it.
The problem is that my home computer keeps freezing randomly and sometimes multiple times in the same day. When this happens it is completely unresponsive and even Ctrl+Alt+F1, Ctrl+Alt+Del or NumLock don't do anything when pressed

I have noticed that some times this happens when watching videos, but that is not always true.
Looking in /var/log/syslog I can't find any problem right before each crash and I start running out of ideas... Any help would be appreciated!

Code: Select all

$ inxi -SGx
System:    Host fractal Kernel 3.2.0-3-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit) Distro Linux Mint Debian Edition
Graphics:  Card Intel Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller X.Org 1.12.1.902 Res: 1920x1080@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer Mesa DRI Intel Ivybridge Desktop  GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 8.0.3 Direct Rendering Yes


[xircon]

What programs are running when this happens?

[kioan]

What programs are running when this happens?

Sometimes it happened with only Chrome browser running and a few times while only mplayer was playing.

PS: Your signature rocks!

[xircon]

Thank you!

I have had no end of problems with Chrome (and Chrome based browsers - Iron & Chromium), I posted about it here, viewtopic.php?f=190&t=94968 . I now use opera-next, Chrome has a major memory leak (my opinion only), it seems to use all available memory, then starts swapping to disk.

Nothing I did worked for long, so I gave up. Firefox would not render the page - problem probably with the open source AMD/ATI drivers I use.

I found a script called psmem.py that aggregates memory processes, it showed how bad the problem was. (http://www.pixelbeat.org/scripts/ps_mem.py)

Never had a problem with mplayer, but I do tend to use mplayer2, specifically smplayer2 frontend.

Good luck, but I never solved this, just worked around the problem.

Steve

[kioan]

I will try avoiding Chrome to see if the problem continues...
On the other installations of LMDE Chrome behaves as expected. The memory footprint might be high sometimes, but it never grows too much.

The problem is that the PC freezes instantly, without writing any logs, and I don't know where to look for possible causes...

[kioan]

Unfortunately the problem still exists. Today the computer froze while it was only Firefox running

Any ideas on how to search for the source of his behavior?

Thanks!

[xircon]

Leave gnome-system-monitor running, pinned on top to see if it gives any clues.

[kioan]

More than two months have passed, I upgraded to the new release, but the problem remains.

Random freezes with no clues about the causes, no logs etc

[kioan]

The problem is finally solved!
I installed the liquorix kernel version 3.7.0 and the random hangups disappeared.

[rdonnelly]

I have been having the same problem with my old X41 Thinkpad. Freezes like crazy in Chrome, I used it for a while with FF, so far so good?