Mint 19.1 crashed. Low Entropy. Security concerns.

[MintUser19]

Hi, new user here, my only computing OS experience has been with Microsoft. I'm using a Win8 computer to make this post. I replaced win7 on a laptop with Mint 19.1 Cinnamon 64. I downloaded it from 'University of Kent UK Mirror Service'. I was unable to verify the ISO image with Win7 as I was unable to figure out the procedure instructions I read online.

Shortly after installing Mint, I configured the firewall to deny incoming (default recommended setting).

The wife was using Mint and it crashed (she had been doing online shopping/signed up for new email, etc. prior to). It wouldn't reboot normally, it instructed to run fsck manually; initramfs fsck /dev/sda1 and pressing Y to repair several reported errors (I don't remember what they were, perhaps 8 or so errors) afterwards it did reboot properly. One error I do remember reported before manual fsck was random: 7 urandom warning(s) missed due to ratelimiting which I found out is due to lack of entropy. I wonder since I replaced the spinning HD with an SSD (before installing Linux) that this lowered the amount of random data available to refill the pool of entropy? I found that Havegad can be installed to generate random data to increase entropy. Would a lack of entropy cause the above crash?

Later I changed the root password to one different than the user password.

Would performing an update to 19.3 replace any missing/damaged files (from the crash, I don't remember the errors I pressed Y to fix were)?

I no longer have the download ISO (moved to flashdrive from win7, then deleted of the flashdrive), is it too late to verify the authenticity of the ISO download?

I've noticed a lag with the pointer when using the trackpad, I don't remember this before the crash. This has me concerned about security, I intend on installing clamAV next.

Anything else I should check?

Thank you for your help.

[Moonstone Man]

Anything else I should check?

I would recommend haveged in any case for better entropy collection. I run it though it's not required by my MB. The CPU via the BIOS generally generates the entropy.

Anyway, besides it being difficult to say what the root cause of the crash may have been, it's unlikely that a lack of entropy caused it. Swapping the HDD for a SSD won't have caused this.

Don't install clamAV. It's absolutely not needed.

I think your best course of action is to post the output of the inxi -Fxz terminal command. Don't forget to use code </> tags around it. See the toolbar above the reply area. From there, I can decide if it's feasible to go to Mint 19.3 or point you in a different direction.

As for "performing an update to 19.3 replace any missing/damaged files", you can't do that from a 19.1 installation. If 19.3 is feasible, which, as I said, depends on the output you post, backing up your personal files and clean installing is the way to go in this particular case.

I need that output for several reasons. The main one being that the kernel switches off CPU rand generation for certain buggy BIOS implementations, so you may be in that position, and I need it to determine the capabilities of the machine in preparation for a recommendation of an OS.

[MintUser19]

Thank you Kadaitcha Man for your help.

Correction, using 19.2

Let me add some more info; When I performed a shutdown just recently, it took around 30 seconds or so, the LM logo with green flashing dots. I rebooted and shut down again, this time it took 2 seconds or so. When I asked my wife about the crash, she said it was taking too long to shut down so she did a hard shut down (depressed power down). So I suspect that caused the crash.

Bedsides the pointer lagging, so is the keyboard and while I type extra letters will be added or missing, the arrow keys will lag too. As I type this I need to correct the spelling on every few words as letters will be doubled or missing.

So here is the inxi -Fxz results:

Code: Select all

System:
  Host: acer-Aspire-7552 Kernel: 4.15.0-54-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
  compiler: gcc v: 7.4.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.2.3 
  Distro: Linux Mint 19.2 Tina base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire 7552 v: V1.08 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Acer model: Aspire 7552 v: V1.08 serial: <filter> BIOS: Phoenix 
  v: 1.08 date: 08/09/2010 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 18.1 Wh condition: 18.1/47.5 Wh (38%) 
  model: Panasonic AS10D51 status: Full 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: AMD Phenom II N950 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: K10 
  rev: 3 L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm bogomips: 16758 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/2100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
  3: 800 4: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Madison [Mobility Radeon HD 5650/5750 / 6530M/6550M] 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 02:00.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: ati,radeon 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1280x720~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD REDWOOD (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.15.0-54-generic LLVM 8.0.0) 
  v: 3.3 Mesa 19.0.2 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:14.2 
  Device-2: AMD Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5000 Series] 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 02:00.1 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.15.0-54-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI Aspire 7740G driver: tg3 v: 3.137 port: 9000 
  bus ID: 03:00.0 
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Quanta Microsystems driver: ath9k v: kernel port: 9000 
  bus ID: 06:00.0 
  IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 14.66 GiB (3.1%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 457.45 GiB used: 14.66 GiB (3.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 49.2 C mobo: 43.0 C gpu: radeon temp: 44 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 175 Uptime: 36m Memory: 7.79 GiB used: 1.02 GiB (13.1%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.4.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.19 
  inxi: 3.0.32

Thank you

[Moonstone Man]

Thank you Kadaitcha Man for your help.

You're welcome. Supporting others in linux is my idea of fun

Code: Select all

  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.2.3 
  v: 1.08 date: 08/09/2010
  Topology: Quad Core model: AMD Phenom II N950 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: K10
  rev: 3 L2 cache: 2048 KiB

Anyway, those details above might not help. Your machine is at least 9 years old and you're trying to run a leading edge OS on it. I think you might be better off with LM MATE or Xfce. Many people can get those systems running on older gear but some can't. If the problems persist then you might need to look at some lighter-weight distributions that are meant for older hardware.

[MintUser19]

Thanks for your reply . From my computer specs, is there anything lacking in performance or needed resources to run LinuxMint?
Thanks.

[Moonstone Man]

Thanks for your reply . From my computer specs, is there anything lacking in performance or needed resources to run LinuxMint?

Yes, and as I said, you can't expect the equipment to perform well with brand new desktop environments. The video card is rated at less than 500 points (PassMark) but modern low-end cards are rated at 5,000 or more. The CPU is rated at 2480 points (PassMark) but modern lowest end Atom processors start higher than that. The machine will struggle to run Cinnamon. That said, it's not necessarily LM but the DE that is the problem. It really needs far power oomph than your current CPU and video can give. Again, as I said, LM MATE or xfce might be more suitable.

That unsuitability of Cinnamon probably overheated the machine, which may have caused the crash.

[LanceM]

I'd say your laptop's hardware should run Mint with Cinnamon, Xfce or Mate. It's a 4 core system with adequate graphics and 8GB Memory. I've run Cinnamon on lesser systems. Maybe you should try version 19.3 with a clean install.

[Moonstone Man]

I'd say your laptop's hardware should run Mint with Cinnamon, Xfce or Mate. It's a 4 core system with adequate graphics and 8GB Memory. I've run Cinnamon on lesser systems. Maybe you should try version 19.3 with a clean install.

I have no doubt that is true, but it is true only for you. It is not necessarily true for others, and on such old equipment the only real fix is downgrading one's expectations.

[MintUser19]

Hi, thank you for your replies, I really appreciate the effort.

My wife just clarified that while she was shutting down the lap top (back when it crashed), the screen just went blank (instead of the LM symbol with flashing green dots). She waited a bit before she pressed the laptop's power button for a hard shut down. I have experinced a delayed shut down a couple of times (30+ seconds each time), other shut downs have been as quick as half a second, but never with a blank screen.

Security concerns:
Before the above happened, my wife was using it on the net, creating new email, shopping, etc., then a reason occurred that I had to put in the admin password (I don't remember the reason for this). Later I read to never type in an admin password if you didn't perform an action to require it (the admin password was the same as the root password at the time, now they are different). Now, along with the occasional long shut down, typed letters are occasionally missing or duplicated, other keys on the key board may occasionally be missing (as if they were not pressed).

Because this is a new install with no personal files/data etc. I think I will perform a clean install of Mint 19.3 as suggested by blueocean. If later I have similar issues I can try Mate or Xfce as suggested by Kadaitcha Man. I'm typing from my desktop (Win8).

Thank you

[gittiest personITW]

Before the above happened, my wife was using it on the net, creating new email, shopping, etc., then a reason occurred that I had to put in the admin password

At a try - was automatic updates enabled?
In this case it may have been asking for a password for the update - so on this matter nothing to worry about. However if the update was going on when it was switched off, that might be a problem.

[MintUser19]

Before the above happened, my wife was using it on the net, creating new email, shopping, etc., then a reason occurred that I had to put in the admin password

At a try - was automatic updates enabled?
In this case it may have been asking for a password for the update - so on this matter nothing to worry about. However if the update was going on when it was switched off, that might be a problem.

Hi and thanks for your reply I don't remember if it was auto updates, it could have been the reason asking for the password. She was using it and said a password was needed and I just went over to it and typed it in without thinking about why it was needed.

[MintUser19]

An update:
I did a clean install of 19.3 (downloaded to another computer then a USB drive install). I used the 'System Monitor' 'Resources' tab to observe the CPU 4 cores percentage usage. At idle, they sit between 3%-12%, while performing various task, I have noticed a couple going to 100% use. I will test 19.3 for a while while monitoring the system's performance. If the system experiences another crash, I will try Mate next. I really like Linux, and Mint Cinnamon is very intuitive and easy to use.
Thanks

[LanceM]

That's good. Let us know how Cinnamon works for you. Does it seem decently responsive? Usually launching a browser on a system like yours makes one core max out for a short while. That's not a problem.

[MintUser19]

An update for 19.3: The wife is the primary user and so far it has been fairly good. One, and rarely two, of the four CPUs do jump up to 100% on occasion, but the system seems be doing well so far.
Thank you all for your help