Linux Mint Freezes on high memory usage

[lssilva]

I have been trying to solve this problem for a couple of days now.

I have 32gb of Ram but whenever I allocate more then 24gb, the system freezes.
It can be any type of allocation (Normal usage, VMWare, memtester)
The system will just freezes and require a hard reboot.

I have tried the following without success:

• Run on lower kernel versions

• Add the flag in grub GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_idle.max_cstate=1"

• Update the kernel

• I decreased the speed of the ram in the BIOS

• I tested the ram with the memtest86 without errors

• I moved the ram memory into different slots

• I have also run with one ram chip which has 16gb but it will freeze also for both of them

What else could I try?

Could it be that both ran chips are bad? but the memtest86 didn't find any error? Or some incompatibility?

Code: Select all

System:    Host: mint Kernel: 4.15.7-041507-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 7.2.0) Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 (Gtk 2.24.28)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   Mobo: ASRock model: X299 Killer SLI/ac Bios: American Megatrends v: P1.40 date: 12/04/2017
CPU:       Multi core Intel Core i9-7940X (-HT-MCP-) cache: 19712 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 86800
           clock speeds: max: 3101 MHz 1: 1273 MHz 2: 1200 MHz 3: 1199 MHz 4: 1200 MHz 5: 1200 MHz 6: 1200 MHz
           7: 1200 MHz 8: 1200 MHz 9: 1200 MHz 10: 1199 MHz 11: 1200 MHz 12: 1500 MHz 13: 1720 MHz 14: 1246 MHz
           15: 1245 MHz 16: 1199 MHz 17: 1199 MHz 18: 1200 MHz 19: 1200 MHz 20: 1200 MHz 21: 1199 MHz
           22: 1200 MHz 23: 1199 MHz 24: 1199 MHz 25: 1200 MHz 26: 1499 MHz 27: 1702 MHz 28: 1207 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Bonaire [FirePro W5100] bus-ID: 65:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.19.5 driver: N/A Resolution: 2560x1440@59.95hz, 2560x1440@59.95hz
           GLX Renderer: AMD BONAIRE (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.15.7-041507-generic, LLVM 5.0.0)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel Device a2f0 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 Sound: ALSA v: k4.15.7-041507-generic
           Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Tobago HDMI Audio [Radeon R7 360 / R9 360 OEM]
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 65:00.1
Network:   Card-1: Intel Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k bus-ID: 00:1f.6
           IF: enp0s31f6 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Device 24fb driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 16.0GB (Used Error!) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 model: N/A size: 512.1GB
           ID-2: USB /dev/sda model: USB_Flash_Disk size: 16.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 438G used: 172G (42%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1
           ID-2: /boot size: 473M used: 341M (76%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 34.05GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 39.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 44.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 508 Uptime: 2 min Memory: 6680.1/31859.9MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

[JoeFootball]

What else could I try?

MemTest86 runs outside of LinuxMint, and it does a good job of pushing the RAM to its limits, and it doesn't find any errors. With that, I feel the evidence is leaning towards something within the Linux Mint session, and not the RAM itself.

Does this behavior occur if you boot the 4.4.x LTS kernel?

Would it be feasible to test this with other desktop versions of Linux Mint? Or Linux Mint 17.3 Xfce?

Joe

[lssilva]

I tried the 4.4 Kernel and it also crashed.

I am using Mint with encryption enabled, could it be an issue?

I am trying to avoid having to install a new distro because I have so much time invested in the env it would take me a week
to do the whole setup but I think that is the only alternative left.

[JoeFootball]

I am using Mint with encryption enabled, could it be an issue?

Sounds doubtful, but I don't have a lot of experience with encrypted deployments.

I am trying to avoid having to install a new distro because I have so much time invested in the env it would take me a week
to do the whole setup but I think that is the only alternative left.

I understand. Can you create another user account and conduct the same testing? This could narrow down if the issue was user session based or not.

Can you conduct the same testing booted to a "live" session of another version of Linux Mint? i.e., running off a DVD/USB drive.

Joe

[silfox2000]

You don't have any free space left on the swap partition which means that you have ran out of memory (despite the fact that linux indicates that only 24GB of RAM is used) and swap space. This leads the system to freeze. Still your problem can be due to other reason taking consideration of the explanation but you can try to increase the size of the swap partition or to limit the usage of the applications. You can also try a live distro to see if it will act the same.

[lssilva]

The problem is that the Swap partition is never used, when it runs out of memory instead of start
using the Swap it freezes, I have 64gb of Swap. That is why I think that maybe the encryption is making
it an issue to use the partition.


I tried the live distro of Ubuntu 16.04, memtester doesn't work on live mode but I wrote a small python program to
allocate memory and as soon as it hits 80% it freezes.

Is there a easier way to check the usage of swap space?

[silfox2000]

Well... format the swap partition without encryption and try again. Your system info returns that the swap partition is full, so it can't use it.

[catweazel]

You don't have any free space left on the swap partition which means that you have ran out of memory (despite the fact that linux indicates that only 24GB of RAM is used) and swap space.

ID-3: swap-1 size: 34.05GB used: 0.00GB (0%)

Hello?

[silfox2000]

You don't have any free space left on the swap partition which means that you have ran out of memory (despite the fact that linux indicates that only 24GB of RAM is used) and swap space.

ID-3: swap-1 size: 34.05GB used: 0.00GB (0%)

Hello?

ID-3: swap-1 size: 34.05GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-3

I thought that this means 34GB used and 0% free space. My mistake. I'm sorry.

[lssilva]

No, my swap was empty during freeze.

I will try a fresh installation.