Score:0

Ubuntu

System randomly closes apps

KingdomB

6/26/24, 9:38 PM

I am experiencing some odd behavior with my Ubuntu 22.04. I installed this about 3 weeks ago and if I am using my browser and vscode together and I am not using a vpn, then both my browser and ide will close without warning. I'm not sure what the vpn has to do with this but that is what I have noticed. Is there a way to see what is causing the crash. It might be noteworthy that I have recently suspected that someone has accessed my system remotely but I cannot prove this other than some even more strange behavior that occurred some months ago. This incident is what prompted me to switch from Mint to Kali, and now Ubuntu. I'm trying to stick with this OS but it's been tough losing unsaved work and context switching from my tasks. Other than the privacy issue I never had any issues with Mint. All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

1 + 6

troubleshooting

crash

Richard Cooke

7/2/24, 8:11 PM

As soon after they close as you can, note or calculate the time they closed/crashed, then go grab the /var/log/syslog file and post it here. What caused the crash should be near the end of the file, or around the calculated time of the crash. Sometimes searching for "error" can find it faster than scrolling. sometimes.

KingdomB

7/4/24, 4:10 AM

I'll set it up and do just that later today. Thanks!

KingdomB

7/4/24, 2:34 PM

@RichardCooke This morning when I attempted to log in the system froze so I am posting links to two results. NOTE: The content was too long to post here so I'm using Google Drive. 1st result of syslog content starts from when I put the system to sleep at 3:17 AM [full_syslog_7-4-23](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UwSwlnWd7nGpLbC5Q41gXRKqzIkcEIkt/view?usp=sharing) 2nd result of the following command: "grep -i -e fail -e error -e corrupt /var/log/syslog" [grep_syslog_7-4-23-fail-error-corrupt](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wwLqEZKCaMTwvLuvln7raIxr8EB9ZKp8/view?usp=sharing)

KingdomB

7/8/24, 1:15 AM

@Richard Here are the logs from a crash that happened at 8:58PM EST. The only exception is that my vpn was turned on. Note that when I filtered the syslog, the latest results were from 7-4-23, but in the unfiltered file it contains instances of the filtered words up until the time of the incident... [full_syslog_7-7-23](https://drive.google.com/file/d/18d87OrjyKAHqBttEubHFD7KSrnFYA78V/view?usp=sharing) __ [grep_syslog_7-7-23-fail-error-corrupt](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12quhh-UcvA8oXiAlxgS-85NrCR_lu4fB/view?usp=sharing)

KingdomB

7/11/24, 6:10 AM

Yesterday evening my system froze around 9:20ish and I did not log back in until 1:50is AM. I did execute a reboot at some point maybe 12AM, but not certain. What is interesting is that there seems to be a ton of activity during the downtime. Can anyone help with this? [full_syslog_7-10-23 from 9ish](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CgDsnRGFxLADQVHvoU_6z9e8LCN0vkFk/view?usp=sharing)

Richard Cooke

7/13/24, 8:10 PM

wow! Your logs have a lot of strange things, and a lot of errors. Many of them should be harmelss, features your not using reporting they are off. no loss. But some things need to be checked out. What graphics card do you have? I see a Noveu driver usually used for nvidia, I would try a native driver if your have an nvidia card.

Score:0

Ubuntu

Richard Cooke

7/13/24, 7:47 PM

I just figured this problem out on a client's computer. They record movies on this computer using OBS and it would "randomly" close all their programs and return to the user login screen.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the pattern - there is always a pattern. And I eventually figured out that it occurs more often when its hot outside. In fact, since they don't have Air Conditioning, when its hot outside, its hot inside.

What I found is when the machine starts to get warm, the Intel CPU will automatically reduce its clock speed. Slowing everything down, generating less heat, but also making it impossible for OBS to keep up recording HD movies to disk! And that would crash the X-Windows server (GPU or graphics card CPU). That crash would in turn emergency close all apps and reboot the X-Windowing server which starts up the login screen.

Since they don't have budget to install AC I am trying two workarounds:

Installed a GNOME plugin to display and control CPU MAX/MIN speeds
Bought a low cost fan to blow hot air out of the computer's cabinet.

The default Max/Min speeds are 100% and 20% on this system. Using the plugin I changed that to 100% and 90%. So now, even if it gets hot, it wont slow down much.

It has passed 2 tests so far. What I need is nice hot day for another test.

+ 11

KingdomB

7/14/24, 8:31 PM

I have a fan under my laptop that is always on so heat shouldn't be the issue. However, I have implemented some changes from a few YT videos, and one of those I do believe adjusts some type of speed. I'll check the clock speed, but this crash has happened at least 4 or 5 times today and at this point, it is just not worth it to keep using this OS so I'm probably gonna migrate back an update, and if that doesn't work then I'm ditching ubuntu and switching back to mint. This has been a horrible experience.

Richard Cooke

7/15/24, 9:33 PM

How long have you been using this OS? There are so many weird errors, it looks like packages were installed, them ripped out. An external fan does not do much for a laptop. They have tightly integrated heat exchangers inside the case. What usually happens, after a few years, is the heat sink compound that is critical to transfer heat goes hard, cracks, or even pulls away - leaving an air gap. Heat cannot cross that. And the problems start. If you live in a dusty area or have pet(s) it is very likely to have a cooling problem - the fans clog easily.

Richard Cooke

7/15/24, 9:35 PM

To rule out all those strange errors as part of the problem, boot from a USB LIVE version of the OS. Let that sit idle or run some tests. If that does not fail, then its a problem in your install. You can install a free app "Psensor" to find out how hot the internal parts are getting. CPU and GPU are most critical. And the hard disk or SSD temp gives you an idea of how hot the "insides" are over-all.

KingdomB

7/18/24, 4:37 AM

Alright that system died. I tried to do a reinstall from a live usb and on the next several boots and after Logo display came the black screen.

KingdomB

7/18/24, 4:44 AM

I’ve had that os for about 6 weeks or so. Do you have a resource to help with reading sys logs? I need a better understanding of what is going on. Lastly, I think my graphics card is a gtx brand. When I had mint installed I used some special driver identified by numbers instead of brand names. I know it was either 15 or 115 or 151 or 515 or 511 or 551. Basically some version of 5s and 1s… Thanks!

Richard Cooke

7/18/24, 3:50 PM

This is the place to post syslogs and get help. Although you should start with the boot log called dmesg (sudo dmesg | more). This is a log of what the system did while booting up. In this phase, hardware is discovered and drivers loaded. Any warnings or errors in this log should be looked at first. Graphic cards frequently have proprietary drivers, those numbers will be the manufacturer version number for the driver. Sometimes the community develops our own "open source" driver. Sometimes the open driver is better, sometimes not. When you boot from the live USB, see what driver it is using

KingdomB

7/19/24, 3:41 AM

It's dead. I'll get around to fixing it at some point, but right now I lack the expertise.

Richard Cooke

7/19/24, 12:51 PM

Heh. I'm a developer. Doing dodgey things is in the job description. Which means I crash computers often. If the syslog or dmesg is full of all kinds of weird stuff, I boot from a live USB, erase the disk, and do a fresh install. If there are any important files on there, I copy them to a USB stick or drive first. In your case, you want to COMPRESS the folder that holds your VM. Then copy the ZIP file to an external disk. And if you want to play it safe, pop out that drive. Pop in a new drive and install on it. That way you can load up the original drive to get files or settings.

KingdomB

7/25/24, 5:09 PM

I appreciate that you mentioned crashing computers is okay. It was starting to become discouraging believing it was just me. Basically, I never hear anyone devs say that they are having OS issues. I have a new install of 22.04 and am going to document all my changes in case this happens again but so far everything is working well.

KingdomB

7/25/24, 7:44 PM

OMG! It happened again! Here is the log full_syslog_7-25-23 Let me know if you see anything, please. At this point it's not even worth the hassle, I'm switching back to Mint. Note: This is the same model but a different laptop that I just bought last week.

KingdomB

7/28/24, 3:52 AM

I replaced the thermal paste as you indicated and haven't had any issues since. Hopefully, that solves the problem.

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