Mint 18.3 MATE 64-bit Freeze

[Francis32]

I'm completely new to Linux so I picked Mint to start off with.
All is great except for random freezes happening randomly and spontaneously. The cursor starts to lag and completely freezes up after a while, and nothing short of a SysRQ reboot can be used. Not even my keyboard's caps or num lock buttons light up when I press them.
After rebooting I sometimes have to run a manual fsck or in rare cases (only once thus far) do a boot repair.
After multiple fruitless searches and still being unable to discern the cause for the freezes, I'd like to ask for help here. Hopefully I've just missed something simple.
inxi -Fxz provided.

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System:    Host: gajic-HP-255-G6-Notebook-PC Kernel: 4.10.0-38-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: MATE 1.18.0 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: HP product: HP 255 G6 Notebook PC v: Type1ProductConfigId
           Mobo: HP model: 8330 v: 27.26 Bios: Insyde v: F.11 date: 07/05/2017
CPU:       Dual core AMD E2-9000e RADEON R2 4 COMPUTE CORES 2C+2G (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 5988
           clock speeds: max: 1500 MHz 1: 1300 MHz 2: 1100 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Device 98e4 bus-ID: 00:01.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,amdgpu (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,radeon)
           Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD STONEY (DRM 3.9.0 / 4.10.0-38-generic, LLVM 4.0.0)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device 157a
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:09.2
           Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Device 15b3
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:01.1
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-38-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Device 24fb driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-3: Atheros AR9271 802.11n driver: ath9k_htc usb-ID: 002-003
           IF: wlxe8de270d20c0 state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (2.1% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST500LT012 size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 455G used: 6.2G (2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.17GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0C mobo: 20.0C gpu: 0.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 195 Uptime: 11 min Memory: 771.0/3900.1MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

[ClixTrix]

Checking the hardware log is probably a good place to start. DMESG is the command, and you can couple that to a search word with GREP. Let's look for the word ERROR. If that works, copy and paste back the results. Here's the command to run from Terminal.

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dmesg | grep error

Edit: Did some googling and found this.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... 175617006/

Edit2: I'm guessing you're using the USB wifi because the onboard isn't working. Here's a prior Forum discussion that's relevant. Make sure you read all the way to the last post to get solution (correct firmware).

viewtopic.php?t=235957

[Francis32]

Checking the hardware log is probably a good place to start. DMESG is the command, and you can couple that to a search word with GREP. Let's look for the word ERROR. If that works, copy and paste back the results. Here's the command to run from Terminal.

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dmesg | grep error

Edit: Did some googling and found this.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... 175617006/

Edit2: I'm guessing you're using the USB wifi because the onboard isn't working. Here's a prior Forum discussion that's relevant. Make sure you read all the way to the last post to get solution (correct firmware).

viewtopic.php?t=235957

Thanks for the reply, ClixTrix.

Once I got back I spent most of the evening trying to figure it out, though the problem had gotten much worse and eventually hit me with "Minimal BASH like line editing is supported". This time Boot repair wouldn't work, it just kept crashing.
I decided to just wipe it all and reinstall Mint, and thus far haven't encountered the problem again.
What I did manage to do in time was DMESG, and it still displays the same message it did before the reinstall.

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g32@g32-HP-255-G6-Notebook-PC ~ $ dmesg | grep error
[   19.323585] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro
[   20.412250] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-3168-26.ucode failed with error -2
[   20.412283] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-3168-25.ucode failed with error -2
[   20.412304] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-3168-24.ucode failed with error -2
[   20.412324] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-3168-23.ucode failed with error -2

As for the USB wifi, I'm just using the USB with an extension cable to help catch wifi better. The onboard works fine, the laptop is new.

edit: Ok, it crashed again after 10 or so minutes. I rebooted and went to edit this post, then it hit again. Coincidentally, it happened mere seconds after I launched Redshift, so I've got some checking to do tomorrow.

[ClixTrix]

The error message from dmesg is pointing at the missing firmware for the onboard Intel wifi adapter.

"Minimal BASH like line editing is supported" <-- corruption to GRUB boot loader???

I think running some hardware checks/tests is advisable. I would start with Memtest86. You can build a bootable flash from download here.

https://www.memtest86.com/

I looked to see if your HP Notebook was on the certified list at Ubuntu. It's not. Mint is based upon Ubuntu.

https://certification.ubuntu.com/certification/make/HP/

If you boot from Mint Live-flash and run for awhile, does the problem occur?

Edit: Do you have "Secure Boot" and "Fast Boot" disabled in BIOS? If not, disable.

[Francis32]

From what I googled the firmware part should be fine, as it just cycles to the last one, in my case iwlwifi-3168-29.
This is giving me a massive headache though, as I can’t find any patterns. Sometimes it can run for 5-10 minutes and then crash with a chance of giving me a nasty surprise by either making me run fsck, or by giving me the BASH like line editing error. One time it just crashes seconds after I boot and run Mozilla. And this time it crashed as I tried to download memtest on a live USB session. So I’m running low on options.

I’ll have to try memtest later as I only have 1 USB holding Mint right now.

[ClixTrix]

I was going to suggest you try installing the 4.13 kernel for a test, but that kind of instability may make that impossible. You install kernels using the Update Manager. Look for Linux kernels under View.

OK.....you could also try Ubuntu 17.10, which does come with the 4.13 kernel. That's not to push you off Mint, just to verify if kernel or distro is tied to the problem.

https://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/1710

[austin.texas]

I’ll have to try memtest later as I only have 1 USB holding Mint right now.

You can use that Mint USB to run the memory test. You will see it listed on the Grub menu. As mentioned, let it run for a long time for best results. This does sound like it might be a problem with faulty memory...

[ClixTrix]

I agree with Austin. It really does read as a memory problem. However, you might need to set legacy boot in BIOS. I'm fairly certain that is a UEFI machine and won't show/boot Memtest86+ from Grub.

Memtest86 (no +) can boot either mode.....and why I pointed to that.

[Francis32]

I doubt that the problem is kernel-related, I had it on 4.4.0-21, and now I’m having it on 4.10.0-38. I feel like it would probably bother me even if I had Ubuntu instead.
I guess the only thing left is to try a memory test.

edit: I'll be refraining from downloading anything, because I experienced no crashes for 45 minutes until I decided to try downloading memtest.

[Francis32]

Many thanks for the help, but it seems that the problem had something to do with Mint, rather than faulty memory. I've switched to Ubuntu and haven't experienced the problem ever since.
So, case closed/solved?

[ClixTrix]

I'm glad Ubuntu 17.10 worked. That might suggest you did need a newer kernel, per prior discussion.

[Francis32]

I don't know whether a kernel update might have saved it.
Maybe, but I feel like it wouldn't, and at worst I'd get a regression to go along with my existing problem.
I found that my HP laptop already has a memory test function, but by then I figured I'd go for Ubuntu itself.
Nevertheless, thank you for the help.