(closed, fix not found) Linux keeps going into fallback mode.

[TurquoiseDress]

Hi.
What the title says.

I'm a new user and had this happening since when I first started using Linux, which would be about 2 months ago. At the time I was running into way more problems mostly because of faulty hardware. Everything else is fixed, but I still get sent into the abyss of fallback mode on a regular. From all I've found online it might be a RAM issue but I HIGHLY doubt it.
Got 16GB and am pretty conservative with my ram consumption, bascially OCD at this point I turn off everything that I don't use.

So yes. IDK what to do anymore. Please send help and good vibes.

[Pierre]

Hi TurquoiseDress,
welcome to our forum.


is that fallback mode:
- when the GPU fails to load an video screen
- when Grub Boot has failed to start the Linux system

[TurquoiseDress]

is that fallback mode:
- when the GPU fails to load an video screen
- when Grub Boot has failed to start the Linux system

I assume the first one, as it's not happening on system boot.
My screens freeze for a while, usually a second or two but sometimes its longer than that and one time I even got graphic artifacts. After that I get this popup.

[Pierre]

can you also tell us an bit more about your machine:
viewtopic.php?t=318644
copy the results of that, back here, on your reply.

[TurquoiseDress]

Here you go

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System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-73-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.6.8
    tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21.1 Vera base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: H110M-DGS R3.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: P7.50 date: 02/26/2018
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-6700 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Skylake-S rev: 3 cache:
    L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3806 high: 3893 min/max: 800/4000 cores: 1: 3893 2: 3765 3: 3787 4: 3819
    5: 3829 6: 3802 7: 3786 8: 3768 bogomips: 54398
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GM206 [GeForce GTX 960] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia v: 530.41.03 pcie:
    speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none off: DVI-I-1,HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2,DP-3
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1401
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 95
  Monitor-1: DVI-I-1 pos: primary,left res: 1920x1080 dpi: 96 diag: 584mm (23")
  Monitor-2: HDMI-0 pos: right res: 1920x1080 dpi: 92 diag: 609mm (24")
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 530.41.03
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio vendor: ASRock driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a170
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM206 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0fba
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-73-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8192EE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter driver: rtl8192ee v: kernel pcie:
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:818b
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASRock driver: r8169
    v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: c000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-2: wg-mullvad state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 255.27 GiB (26.8%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Silicon Power model: SPCC Solid State Disk size: 953.87 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 937.33 GiB used: 255.26 GiB (27.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 512 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda2
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 10 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
  Device-1: 1-7:2 info: Sunplus Innovation Optical Mouse type: Mouse driver: hid-generic,usbhid
    rev: 2.0 speed: 1.5 Mb/s chip-ID: 1bcf:0005
  Device-2: 1-8:3 info: Wings Tech Gaming Keyboard type: Keyboard,HID driver: hid-generic,usbhid
    rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 2ea8:2105
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 34.0 C pch: 51.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 44 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 42%
Repos:
  Packages: 2744 apt: 2716 flatpak: 18 snap: 10
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com vera main upstream import backport
    2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/surfshark.list
    1: deb https: //ocean.surfshark.com/debian stretch main
Info:
  Processes: 327 Uptime: 1h 31m Memory: 15.58 GiB used: 3.6 GiB (23.1%) Init: systemd v: 249
  runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 alt: 11/12 Client: Unknown python3.10 client inxi: 3.3.13

[TurquoiseDress]

can you also tell us an bit more about your machine:
viewtopic.php?t=318644
copy the results of that, back here, on your reply.

Hey It's been almost a week and noone has come to me with anything, could anyone help? Pierre perhaps?

[SMG]

Hey It's been almost a week and noone has come to me with anything, could anyone help? Pierre perhaps?

The forum was down for maintenance for the past 3 days so no one could respond.

Everything else is fixed, but I still get sent into the abyss of fallback mode on a regular. From all I've found online it might be a RAM issue but I HIGHLY doubt it.
Got 16GB and am pretty conservative with my ram consumption, bascially OCD at this point I turn off everything that I don't use.

Problematic RAM can cause issues regardless of how much you have.

When is the system going into fallback mode? What are you doing (if anything) on the computer when it happens?

What you describe sounds like it could be an issue related to the graphics drivers although it could also relate to software you have installed. For instance, Debian stretch went end of life a year ago.

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  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/surfshark.list
    1: deb https: //ocean.surfshark.com/debian stretch main

Usually, there will be a message in the .xsession-errors file when Cinnamon crashes. That file is a hidden file in your home directory.

[TurquoiseDress]

When is the system going into fallback mode? What are you doing (if anything) on the computer when it happens?

There is no consistency, it does that whenever. There is no one thing that I'm aware of that could be the reason for it. It happens a lot when I'm playing minecraft, but that's also because I play minecraft a lot, that's like most of what I do on my PC. It gets into fallback mode without minecraft as well, sometimes it even gets there as I've got no apps running.

What you describe sounds like it could be an issue related to the graphics drivers although it could also relate to software you have installed.

The graphics driver theory makes a lot of sense to me, as it usually happens when playing mc or other games. It also happening on its own with no clear reason also implies its a driver or another daemon thingy. The problem is I have my drivers up to date so... idk.

Usually, there will be a message in the .xsession-errors file when Cinnamon crashes. That file is a hidden file in your home directory.

I tried looking thru that file, and it's honestly black magic for me. A lot of minecraft and java mentions in there, but that's all I could decypher.

[SMG]

The graphics driver theory makes a lot of sense to me, as it usually happens when playing mc or other games. It also happening on its own with no clear reason also implies its a driver or another daemon thingy. The problem is I have my drivers up to date so... idk.

You could try using an older driver such as the 525. Perhaps it will be a better match for your hardware.

Usually, there will be a message in the .xsession-errors file when Cinnamon crashes. That file is a hidden file in your home directory.

I tried looking thru that file, and it's honestly black magic for me. A lot of minecraft and java mentions in there, but that's all I could decypher.

I don't think I've ever seen minecraft (or java) mentioned in that file, but maybe the files I've seen have been from those who do not use it.

What steps did you take to install Minecraft?

[TurquoiseDress]

You could try using an older driver such as the 525. Perhaps it will be a better match for your hardware.

Didn't think of that before, that's a good idea. The oldest post asking for proper drivers for GTX 960 was 2 years ago where everyone reccomends driver 460, which was also the newest at the time. I think I'll try drivers 470 for a while.

What steps did you take to install Minecraft?

I installed Prism Launcher (open source mc launcher with a lot of cool stuff in it) thru flatpak.

[SMG]

The oldest post asking for proper drivers for GTX 960 was 2 years ago where everyone reccomends driver 460, which was also the newest at the time. I think I'll try drivers 470 for a while.

It would depend on why you need the driver as to how old you want to go. I don't recall the specifics, but I recall recommending someone try the 470, but there was new functionality in one of the 500 series drivers they needed for something they were running so they wanted to stay with a 500 version.

What steps did you take to install Minecraft?

I installed Prism Launcher (open source mc launcher with a lot of cool stuff in it) thru flatpak.

It's my understanding flatpaks install their own graphics driver run-time components, and usually flatpaks do not impact the desktop environment. I'm now even more surprised it would show in the .xsession-errors file.

[TurquoiseDress]

It's my understanding flatpaks install their own graphics driver run-time components, and usually flatpaks do not impact the desktop environment. I'm now even more surprised it would show in the .xsession-errors file.

This is very useful information actually, as while it's definetly not the solution to my fallback problems, as I said I get those regardless, the two main apps i got from flatpak are discord and prismlauncher/minecraft, which also crash on their own sometimes without necesairly putting my PC in fallback mode.
So yeah. Thanks for that

[JosephM]

The dialog pops up because Cinnamon crashed. Often when that happens you might have stumbled across a bug in Cinnamon or in some panel applet that you are using. The reason for it will nearly always be in the .xsession-errors file as someone else pointed out. After a crash like this occurs you should post the content of the file that someone who can decipher it might give you a clue about what's going on. At least it might give you a chance of knowing where to start. Anything but a log giving some reason is just guessing at the problem/possible fix.

[SMG]

Usually, there will be a message in the .xsession-errors file when Cinnamon crashes. That file is a hidden file in your home directory.

I tried looking thru that file, and it's honestly black magic for me. A lot of minecraft and java mentions in there, but that's all I could decypher.

If you run the following in a terminal:

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cat ~/.xsession-errors | tee >(gzip --stdout > xsessionlog_$USER.gz)

It will write a copy to the file xsessionlog_(yourname).gz and to your screen. The file will be located in your /home/login_name directory.

You can attach a copy of it to a post by using the Attachments tab below the text reply box.

[motoryzen]

Man others here have covered many avenues to check out

I'm curious, and pardon the possibly dumb question...but just giving something else to check off here..., are you overclocking anything? Ram? Cpu?

This same problem happened on both my 4790k builds and my 5900x build a few years back with LM 20 cinnamon and 20.3 cinnamon *shrugs*

[TurquoiseDress]

You can attach a copy of it to a post by using the Attachments tab below the text reply box.

I can't read and understand the file as I could the previous one you guys asked for, and so I'm a bit scared to share it, I think I'll leave it as a last resort if nothing else works. I downgraded my drivers from nvidia 530 to nvidia 525. I tried going with even older drivers but then my OBS wouldn't work because it expects better drivers so yeah, I'm on that for few days now, and I've noticed an improvement.
I'm not going into fallback mode when doing nothing of significance, the only times I did is when using aforementioned OBS for a longer recording. I think I'll stay on the 525 driver for like a week, if i notice no fallbacks while casually using my PC I'd call that a success and close the thread I think.

I'm curious, and pardon the possibly dumb question...but just giving something else to check off here..., are you overclocking anything? Ram? Cpu?

No I don't think it's a stupid question at all, as I didn't mention it before. I'm not overclocking anything i think*.
My RAM has higher settings in BIOS than the default ones set by it, but those are the settings that RAM manufacturer provided on packaging and label. Because my BIOS default set it all to minimum. IDK if that counts as overclocking.
But yeah I did that with my RAM, but I didn't touch processor or graphics card at all.
1) I don't really need it better than it is currently I rarely do anything that requires more bandwidth especially since there is no good and free video editing software for linux
2) I'm too scared to even try it lol

[SMG]

I'm not going into fallback mode when doing nothing of significance, the only times I did is when using aforementioned OBS for a longer recording.

Have you checked the OBS logs for clues as to what is happening? If the problem only happens when running OBS, that would be what I would check.

[motoryzen]

My RAM has higher settings in BIOS than the default ones set by it, but those are the settings that RAM manufacturer provided on packaging and label. Because my BIOS default set it all to minimum. IDK if that counts as overclocking

It can matter if your don't have enough voltage or the voltage to ram is set too high. Whether or not that could be the case can vary among motherboard manufacturers and their bioses, and a few other variables. My asrock x570 taichi is picky about ram timings and voltage big time. *shrugs*

Either way, i'll politely digress until someone shows me reason to believe I should dive deeper into that otherwise

[TurquoiseDress]

I'm so tired putting my drivers down to 525 worked for a few days almost like a charm and now my problems are back and worse than before.
One thing I did between then that MIGHT be the cause is I updated my system with apt update/apt upgrade, and as i didnt do it in like a week, it was like 27 applications. So yeah that's ALL I got as to potential cause.
I'm tired so here you guys have my xsession errors file, I wanted to hold onto it because I cant read it therefore I cant verify if theres something I don't want to share, but tbh I don't have much on this PC and I'm desperate
https://mega.nz/file/JqVgVAxA#JtWczjgm9 ... cp92VPmjtM
Also while uploading it I found out zippyshare closed and I have to get a MEGA account... its not a good day for me
Anyway, all help is appreciated, wish you all a good day <3

[SMG]

I'm so tired putting my drivers down to 525 worked for a few days almost like a charm and now my problems are back and worse than before.
One thing I did between then that MIGHT be the cause is I updated my system with apt update/apt upgrade, and as i didnt do it in like a week, it was like 27 applications. So yeah that's ALL I got as to potential cause.

If you use Update Manager to run updates, you can see ahead of time what is in the list and check the changelogs (if available for the app) before installing. You have 10 snaps and 18 flatpaks installed so a lot of different apps you use could have been updated. Flatpaks use their own Nvidia driver runtimes so driver issues may not even relate to the ones you specifically installed.

If you take regular Timeshift snapshots, you can revert to a previous state if an update causes a problem.

I did not see what I recognize as a Cinnamon crash in the log you provided, but I did go through it and have some comments/suggestions.

It appears to me you installed products then may have tried to remove them and they did not remove completely. One I see which I know is troublesome to clear is KDEConnect. Installing KDE apps (of which KDEConnect is one) tends to install underlying processes on which those apps run. Then when you remove the app, the underlying process is still there. I've helped a number of people who had problems disappear when they completely removed KDEConnect and it's underlying processes. The specific line I see in the log is:

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cinnamon-session[1743]: WARNING: t+2,79774s: Failed to start app: Unable to start application: Failed to execute child process “/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexec/kdeconnectd” (No such file or directory)

There is a similar error with Surfshark. I am not familiar with that app, but I see it in your Repo list and it is listed for Debian Stretch which went end of life quite a while ago. It's really best to have apps that are from current repositories.

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  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/surfshark.list
    1: deb https: //ocean.surfshark.com/debian stretch main

Not all apps which trigger messages have the app name in the log which means I don't know what all of these are. You might have a better ideas because you know what you are running and some of the messages do have timestamps in them.

This link is an explanation from a developer related a similar message someone else had for the below:

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Gtk-Message: 22:27:46.684: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"

However, the subsequent two lines give me the impression something did not set up properly.

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[5:0620/222746.921386:ERROR:bus.cc(399)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[5:0620/222746.921549:ERROR:bus.cc(399)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory

The line right after those (below) is a known one related to a Chromium setting. Are you running Chromium?

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libva error: vaGetDriverNameByIndex() failed with unknown libva error, driver_name = (null)

The below message is most of the log and happened repeatedly. However, I don't see a Cinnamon crash/restart in this log so I'm not sure how the log relates to what you had happen on your computer.

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[49:0620/223018.296021:ERROR:shared_image_factory.cc(575)] Could not find SharedImageBackingFactory with params: usage: Gles2|Raster|DisplayRead|Scanout, format: RED_8, share_between_threads: 0, gmb_type: shared_memory

I did notice several applets, show-desktop and calendar, which show loading twice which seemed a bit odd, but I don't know if that has any special significance.

If you have any specific questions about what is in the log, let us know. A number of the messages are common ones and would not be the type to cause Cinnamon instability. I commented on ones I thought might be problematic or seemed unusual based on what I've seen in other logs.