Computer constantly freezes

[Inoki]

Hi lads, got this odd problem,

all of a sudden my computer constantly hangs while idle. When I do something it can run the whole day normally but when it's idle it freezes. This all started to happen I believe after installing extra plugins for Compiz. Then I de-installed them, but still, turned off desktop effects to normal, still. First I thought it's my music player because I constantly run music on my computer, but then it happened also even without running any app. Please help, I'm running Linux Mint 9 x64 bit.

My specs:

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System:    Host innerdistance-laptop Kernel 2.6.32-25-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Distro Linux Mint 9 Isadora
CPU:       Triple core Intel Core i3 M 330 (HT) cache 3072 KB flags (sse3 nx lm vmx) bmips 12765.8 
           Clock Speeds: (1) 933.00 MHz (2) 933.00 MHz (3) 933.00 MHz (4) 933.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller X.Org 1.7.6 Res: 1366x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer Mesa DRI Intel IGDNG_M GEM 20091221 2009Q4  GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 7.7.1 Direct Rendering Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio driver HDA Intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.21
Network:   Card-1 Realtek Device 8172 driver rtl819xSE v: 0015.0127.2010 at port 2000 
           Card-2 Atheros AR8152 v1.1 Fast Ethernet driver atl1c v: 1.0.1.0-NAPI at port 3000 
Disks:     HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (18.3% used) 1: /dev/sda Hitachi HTS54505 500.1GB 
Partition: ID:/ size: 43G used: 4.8G (12%) fs: ext4 ID:/home size: 413G used: 81G (21%) fs: ext4 
           ID:swap-1 size: 4.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes 233 Uptime 1:15 Memory 785.4/3763.9MB Client Shell inxi 1.3.2 
 

dunno does this help also:

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00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 05)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 05)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 05)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 05)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8152 v1.1 Fast Ethernet (rev c1)
02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10)
3f:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
3f:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
3f:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
3f:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
3f:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
3f:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)

[Inoki]

Anybody? Geeeeeez I'm really having problems sometimes getting an answer. You call this support and the best community in the world? >.>

[hunkirdowne]

It's Monday morning here and most people are at work. I get more traffic/responses on nights and weekends myself, but YMMV.

I'm seeing quite a few threads about freezes, like...
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=48439

If that one doesn't get you started on a solution, try some of the others. As a hint, Google's search engine is typically better at searching forums than the tool that the forum uses. Try this in the Google box: "freeze site:forums.linuxmint.com" and see if that doesn't pull up a few results for you.

Some of the questions being asked are swap space vs. RAM (needs 1-2x RAM for proper swap to hibernate/sleep, not that this is any guarantee that it will work, but it won't work without swap >= 1x RAM), output of "lspci", output of "inxi -G" or "inxi -F". This was just in ~15 minutes of searching and now my break time is up. I'll try to check back this evening, though.

Cheers!
-HD/dab.

[Inoki]

output of lspci:

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00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 05)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 05)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 05)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 05)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8152 v1.1 Fast Ethernet (rev c1)
02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10)
3f:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
3f:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
3f:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
3f:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
3f:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
3f:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)

output of inxi -f:

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CPU:       Triple core Intel Core i3 M 330 (HT) cache 3072 KB 
           Clock Speeds: (1) 933.00 MHz (2) 933.00 MHz (3) 933.00 MHz (4) 933.00 MHz
           CPU Flags fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts 
           acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good 
           xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm 
           arat tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid 

[Inoki]

I know this started to happen after the installation of screenlets and compiz extra plugins but why doesn't it work after their de-installation? I even re-set Compiz to default settings, re-installed it, enabled only the main plugins which worked and still this happens all the time.

I really don't know what to do, what could be the cause, maybe something else. I believe my only option is to re-install mint.

[Elisa]

restart gdm or reboot...

[Inoki]

did that a hundred times over >.> the only option when it freezes is do a raw shut down. it's not a freeze where you can move your mouse, it's a complete freeze, not even the mouse works.

also, i deleted the .compiz folder in my home folder and compiz config file, which then re-created itself with new settings i believe. i really am unsure if it's still because of compiz or something else.

is there any tool to perform a thorough diagnostics of possible conflicts?

[Inoki]

small update:

i took my laptop to work where i've been connected to a free wifi spot the whole day until now and no freeze, so i suspect the cause could be even my wifi, i'll try at home and update here. i got words from our ITs that wifis sometimes cause system freeze due to maybe corrupted drivers or they just screw up randomly. yesterday e.g. i got connected, then disconnected with a password prompt? and after that several times the connection simply dropped though my wifi router is in the next room.

[Inoki]

update:

it is the wifi, not compiz. when i connected at home again the computer froze but when i plugged in the network cable the computer was usable again. so i just re-installed my drivers and will see what happens.

[Inoki]

ok worked but at some point in the night the computer again froze while locked and i was unable to restore it even after plugging in the cable. any suggestions on how to maybe set the wifi to avoid this happening?

[Elisa]

First, I'd suggest to get any output info, if possible to know exactly why the sh....t has freezed
To know this u can go on...

[Inoki]

what command should i use?

[Inoki]

ok i thought it fixed it, didn't. still freezes and now not even the cable helped. any ideas? do you think should i revert to the previous kernel? coz maybe it's because of the recent kernel update, it didn't do it before.

[eiver]

Random freezes are the worst nightmare, because so many things can cause them (both hardware like damaged memory or overheating CPU or GPU as well as software like buggy drivers, problems with the kernel, etc.)

You must methodically eliminate each cause one-by-one. Be prepared, that it will take some time.

First: Is the freeze a complete system freeze? Does CTRL+ALT+F2 work during the freeze?

[Inoki]

hello, nothing works while it's frozen. i tried a rollback to a previous version of the kernel, but even after installing the drivers they weren't even working correctly, so i assume this kernel version improved a lot of stuff but also something went terribly wrong. i'm not sure, i don't know is it compiz, but i really suspect the wireless coz i had those extra plugins from compiz uninstalled and also reset whole compiz to default values and still. but one day at work i was running the damn thing the whole day and no freeze and was also connected to some random wifi spot. i really dunno............

i would very much appreciate any help i can get >.>

[Inoki]

also, updated this post with my hw config, see first post.

[Inoki]

ok so i left the thing running without being connected to the wifi router and guess what, no freeze, so it definitely is my router i guess or something in connection with the wifi. for now i guess i'll just have to use wired. my wifi router is a Tenda W306Rv2.0 Wireless-N Router. could support for this router be added? I didn't have any problems with other wifis.

[eiver]

If you have wired connection too, then do not connect to your wifi for a few days to make sure that this was the problem. Its definitely not the router problem. No router should ever have the possibility to crash your system. Your wifi drivers may have a well hidden bug, which manifests itself only when you connect to this particular router, but to confirm this you will need to stop using it for a few days and see if the freezes go away. When investigating the problem try not to make multiple changes at the same time, otherwise you won't be able to figure out the real cause. Good luck!

[Inoki]

thank you for your reply.

what i did yesterday was i disconnected for the night from the internet, no wired no wireless and the computer didn't freeze also, i was connected to different hotspots and no freeze at all.

i had problems at the beginning with my drivers, because the native mint install didn't support my wireless nor wired. i had to download and install compat-wireless drivers from the internet and install them, then it worked but there were a few problems at the beginning.

when i reverted to the previous kernel i got very bad signal, with the latest one i got good signal. my specs are posted in the post, my laptop is a Toshiba Satellite L650 C13.

i'll do as you said, but if the problem persists and there will be no solution i'll just have to try a different distro.

[Inoki]

ok i've been monitoring this for 4 days and it is because of my wifi. when i'm connected via wire, no freeze, no internet, no freeze, when on other wifis, no freeze so it's only a conflict of my drivers and this particular wifi router Tenda W306Rv2.0 Wireless-N.

My network setup:
Card-1 Realtek Device 8172 driver rtl819xSE v: 0015.0127.2010 at port 2000
Card-2 Atheros AR8152 v1.1 Fast Ethernet driver atl1c v: 1.0.1.0-NAPI at port 3000

This topic can be moved to networking issues. I'd appreciate if an appropriate driver would be included in the next kernel update thanks

Also a suggestion, in the meantime i tested a few distros on my vm and noticed that fedora has this nice feature where you at installation send your complete hardware setup to the developers of fedora, so they know your config and can create proper updates. Anything like that on Mint? Would be extremely useful