Score:0

Firefox locks computer with HD light permanently on

cn flag

Ubuntu 20.04, Firefox 95.

The other day I watched a playlist on yt, paused it and put some music on with rhythmbox and fell asleep. When I woke up I tried to close both programs but it took a ages for the computer to respond. I ran Firefox and it ran okay for a few minutes, but then the HD light came on and the computer was completely unresponsive. The mouse would only move occasionally, and was jerky, and clicking things didn't seem to work.

I had to turn the computer off by holding down the power button in the end. I went back to Firefox and cleared the cache but this didn't work and the problem persists - I can start it but it takes ages to load up and start and then locks up with the drive light on and I have to do the power button reset again.

Has anyone else had this issue and know what is causing it and how to fix it? I am using chromium at the minute, but Firefox is all set up for various sites so would like to continue using it.

user535733 avatar
cn flag
What do your logs say?
marienbad avatar
cn flag
Which logs should I be looking at?
user535733 avatar
cn flag
Were I suffering from this reproducible problem, I would start with /var/log/syslog, then move on to dmesg, and finally to journalctl. There could be a dozen possible causes. You are looking for clues that narrow the list of possibilities. Specifically, you are looking for error messages and crash messages that occur around the right times.
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