The whole operating system crashing randomly

[MastersRacer]

I have a Lenovo 100s laptop, which i have installed Linux Mint to. It usually works fine for many hours in use, but then it just randomly crashes, even reisub doesn't work. The only method to then reboot the system is to long press the power button and reboot the system that way.
The specs of the system are:

Code: Select all

CPU~Quad core Intel Pentium N3710 (-MCP-) speed/max~479/2560 MHz 
Kernel~4.8.0-53-generic x86_64 Up~14 min 
Mem~1385.5/3800.2MB 
HDD~256.1GB(8.2% used) 
Procs~210 Client~Shell inxi~2.2.35  

My linux version is

Code: Select all

Linux Mint 18.2 64bit

and the linux kernel is

Code: Select all

4.8.0-53-generic

I tried to look at the /var/log/syslog but i didn't find anything obvious.
Here it is for that day: https://pastebin.com/QjmGLMPB

[JoeFootball]

4.8.0-53-generic

Regardless of crashes, I would start with getting a supported kernel. Support for the 4.8.x branch ended a year ago.

Joe

[MastersRacer]

I am now trying to install a newer kernel. But every time i try to install the kernel, it comes up with this error

Code: Select all

/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: 1: /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: argument: not found
/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: 86: /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: GRUB: not nd

So is my grub somehow messed up, and if it is how should i regenerate or fix that file?

[JoeFootball]

... how should i regenerate or fix that file?

You can update GRUB with sudo update-grub in a terminal.

Please note that this may not be due to a kernel update. Those hard shutdowns via holding the power button will corrupt your file system sooner or later. Keep a fresh install of LM 18.3 as an option for your consideration.

And regardless of anything, make sure you have backups of any important files.

Joe

[MastersRacer]

Yeah i know it will corrupt the operating system, but if i reinstall the operating system completely, how will i prevent that problem doesn't start again. Even this is my third install of linux on this laptop because every distro and kernel i try have had the same freezing problem.

[MastersRacer]

And the sudo update-grub has the same error message

Code: Select all

TheMaster@TheMaster-laptop-Lenovo-ideapad-100S-14IBR /tmp $ sudo update-grub
/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: 1: /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: argument: not found
/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: 86: /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig: GRUB: not found
TheMaster@TheMaster-laptop-Lenovo-ideapad-100S-14IBR /tmp $ 

[JoeFootball]

... every distro and kernel i try have had the same freezing problem.

If this same thing is happening with multiple distributions and kernels, then I would start to think this is a hardware issue.

Have you tested your RAM? I had a PC that would periodically freeze without explanation. Turned out one of the RAM modules was bad, and after it heated up and/or was put under serious overhead, it would fail, and the system would crash. I used MemTest from the boot menu on a Linux Mint live session to identify it, replaced the bad module, and it's still running fine today.

Joe

[MastersRacer]

If it is a ram problem it would be impossible to fix because this computer has soldered ram. I can try to run memtest and if it sees any errors i could try to get a warranty replacement, but how would i prove it because windows doesn't have any crashing problems?

[JoeFootball]

If it is a ram problem it would be impossible to fix because this computer has soldered ram.

That's certainly an unfortunate design decision by Lenovo. EDIT: In this YouTube video, the RAM module isn't soldered, but it's is a moot point if you never have this issue with Windows, but only with every Linux distro.

I'm sure you can understand that diagnosing system freezes, where not even REISUB works, which occur across multiple Linux distributions kernel versions can be challenging.

Be sure to post the output of inxi -Fxz here too.

Joe

[MastersRacer]

Now i have ran memtest 86+ for a day and it didn't detect any problems. But now im not home so i can't run any commands, I will report the result of the command, when i come back.

[thx-1138]

...check your /etc/default/grub for any malformed entries (have you used Grub Customizer or similar?)

[JoeFootball]

Now i have ran memtest 86+ for a day and it didn't detect any problems.

As suspected, after you said that it runs fine on Windows, but crashes on multiple Linux distributions and kernel versions.

Joe