Solved Complete freeze in different Distros

[FangOfDoom]

Hello everyone. I'm trying to make my way into Linux, I tried some years ago with a different PC, and now I'm trying again with my current one.

The problem: At no specific moment, or during a specific task, my computer freezes, mouse and keyboard don't respond, forced to manually reboot my system. Sometimes it happenes 5 minutes into the system, sometimes using Firefox, sometimes installing an app like Discord or Steam. For the most part I'm able to update all drivers and browse folders but sooner or later it freezes.

The environment: I tried Mint Cinnamon, Mint Mate and Kubuntu. It happens in all of them. I'm doing dual boot, but Windows 11 and Linux are kept in separate drives. First, I tried using Linux in a 1TB HDD, the problem happened. Then, I tried using Linux in a 120GB SSD, the problem also happened. Both disks work fine in Windows.

System specs: Ryzen 5 3400g, a GTX 1650, 16gb RAM.

What I tried: Using novau video drivers. Updating to the recommended nvidia propietary drivers. Updating kernel. Using "nomodeset" at boot and desinstalling and reinstalling video drivers through the console.

I have read entire discussions and related threads but didn't find a solution. I didn't try ALL possible solutions I have found because I do not understand all of them, I'm a newbie to Linux, and I do not wish to break stuff unnecessarily.

Tell me what aditional info you need, and I will try and get it for you. I'm currently on my Windows system because, well, my Linux freezes.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Brickwizard]

Welcome to the forums
If you can get your Linux running from the terminal, run inxi -Fnxxz , then copy and paste back the results, we can see what we are up against

 

[FangOfDoom]

Thank you Brickwizard! Here it goes:

Spoiler: inxi -Fnxxz

System:
  Kernel: 6.4.12-060412-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.4 tk: Qt v: 5.15.8 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM
Distro: Ubuntu 23.04 (Lunar Lobster)
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: A320M-S2H v: N/A
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Gigabyte model: A320M-S2H-CF v: x.x serial: <superuser required>
UEFI: American Megatrends v: F52 date: 08/03/2020
CPU:
Info: quad core model: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G with Radeon Vega Graphics bits: 64
type: MT MCP arch: Zen/Zen+ note: check rev: 1 cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 2 MiB
L3: 4 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1400 min/max: 1400/3700 boost: enabled cores: 1: 1400
2: 1400 3: 1400 4: 1400 5: 1400 6: 1400 7: 1400 8: 1400 bogomips: 59090
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA TU117 [GeForce GTX 1650] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia
v: 535.104.05 arch: Turing pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 8 ports: active: none
off: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1f82
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.8
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch
display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 92
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-0 note: disabled model: Samsung LF24T35
res: 1920x1080 dpi: 92 diag: 606mm (23.9")
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 535.104.05 renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX
1650/PCIe/SSE2 direct-render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA vendor: eVga.com. driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus-ID: 3-2:2 pcie: chip-ID: 0d8c:0012 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 8
bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10fa
Device-2: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 08:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3
Device-3: C-Media USB Audio Device type: USB
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
Sound API: ALSA v: k6.4.12-060412-generic running: yes
Sound Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.65 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
port: e000 bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
IF: enp7s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 1.24 TiB used: 17.17 GiB (1.4%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-08WN4A0
size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Kingston model: SHFS37A120G size: 111.79 GiB
speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37240G size: 223.57 GiB
speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 108.98 GiB used: 17.16 GiB (15.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb2
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sdb1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
file: /swapfile
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 40.6 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 37 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0%
Info:
Processes: 240 Uptime: 0m Memory: 15.55 GiB used: 1.17 GiB (7.5%)
Init: systemd v: 252 target: graphical (5) default: graphical Compilers:
gcc: 12.3.0 alt: 12 Packages: 2171 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2161 pm: snap pkgs: 10
Shell: Bash v: 5.2.15 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.25

I forgot to add: I also updated the BIOS

 

[Alexzee]

n/m

 

[FangOfDoom]

n/m

Sorry, I saw your post before you deleted it. Just in case, I will add that info:
Fast boot is disabled. But I cannot find a setting called secure boot, but I found "security option", I don't know if that's what we are looking for.

 

[Alexzee]

Sorry, I saw your post before you deleted it. Just in case, I will add that info:
Fast boot is disabled. But I cannot find a setting called secure boot, but I found "security option", I don't know if that's what we are looking for.

That's fine.
Page 26 of the manual has the details about the BIOS.
I didn't see secure boot mentioned.

Here's the link to your mobo manual:

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-a320m-s2h_e_1201.pdf

 

[FangOfDoom]

That's fine.
Page 26 of the manual has the details about the BIOS.
I didn't see secure boot mentioned.

Here's the link to your mobo manual:

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-a320m-s2h_e_1201.pdf

Thank you! This will come in handy if I need to change something to fix my problem

 

[Alexzee]

Thank you! This will come in handy if I need to change something to fix my problem

You're welcome.
Downloading the mobo manual is one of the first things I do after I do a fresh build.

 

[Brickwizard]

OK, so I have run my eyes over the inxi and cannot see anything major. Your machine is coming up to 3 yrs old, it has the latest CPU & NVIDIA drivers. As it's a desktop/tower you could try a BIOS purge , disconnect all cables, open access panel and pull the COMS battery for 30 seconds then replace. and reconnect and try boot

 

[FangOfDoom]

OK, so I have run my eyes over the inxi and cannot see anything major. Your machine is coming up to 3 yrs old, it has the latest CPU & NVIDIA drivers. As it's a desktop/tower you could try a BIOS purge , disconnect all cables, open access panel and pull the COMS battery for 30 seconds then replace. and reconnect and try boot

Should I replace the battery with a new one or can I use the same? Can this process hurt my Windows system in anyway? Just to make sure.
Something that could be related, a bit weird, is that when I boot my Windows after being in Linux, my clock is 2 hours in advance of my real time. I fix it right away but I remember reading about the clock being somewhat related to the battery, could that mean something?

 

[z7vl7abxc]

when I boot my Windows after being in Linux, my clock is 2 hours in advance of my real time

that sounds like it is related to this: https://itsfoss.com/wrong-time-dual-boot/

 

[FangOfDoom]

that sounds like it is related to this: https://itsfoss.com/wrong-time-dual-boot/

Awesome, thank you! This will also come in handy

 

[Brickwizard]

that sounds like it is related to this

Good read and in simple English.

Should I replace the battery with a new one or can I use the same

A CMOS battery should last for many years [unless it's been left in storage for a Long time], you should be perfectly safe to re-use it. It should not affect either systems as it's only the motherboard initial boot it controls.
There is another way to purge the bios [mainly for laptops] but does work on some desktops, save work, disconnect everything [except main power on desktops], Press and hold the power button in for 60 seconds, release re-connect and re-boot

 

[Brickwizard]

But I cannot find a setting called secure boot,

in some machines its not in the BIOS but embedded in the windows, the following should help

Disabling Secure Boot

Disabling Secure Boot

learn.microsoft.com

 

[z7vl7abxc]

Awesome, thank you! This will also come in handy

you're welcome. i hope that helps

But I cannot find a setting called secure boot

you may be able to check that with the command

mokutil --sb-state

Info: quad core model: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G with Radeon Vega Graphics bits: 64

that looks like it suggests that your system should have an igpu (integrated) in addition to the nvidia dgpu (dedicated), but i don't see it listed in the graphics section. unless i am just missing it or reading that first part wrong.

you could try checking with

lspci -knn | grep -iA3 vga

 

[FangOfDoom]

you may be able to check that with the command

mokutil --sb-state

I will try that. In case it's enabled, could that be the culprit of the freeze?

that looks like it suggests that your system should have an igpu (integrated) in addition to the nvidia dgpu (dedicated), but i don't see it listed in the graphics section. unless i am just missing it or reading that first part wrong.

you could try checking with

lspci -knn | grep -iA3 vga

It does have an integrated video card, could that be causing problems in any way?

Thanks for the help!

 

[FangOfDoom]

Update:

The first command shows that Secure Boot is disabled, good.

The second command gave me some info but I wasn't fast enough to copy and past it here, another freeze while I was editing my last post. The info was related to my dedicated 1650, though.

 

[z7vl7abxc]

my understanding is that a lot of distros (including ubuntu-based ones) have been able to work with secure boot for a while. it's one of those things that is sometimes suggested to check just in case.

It does have an integrated video card, could that be causing problems in any way?

if you have one and it isn't listed by the system, that might indicate that there could be an issue. inxi and the lspci command i posted before show both my intel and nvidia gpus. one other variation of the lspci command might be

lspci -knnd ::0300

from your inxi output, it looks like you might have kubuntu 23.04 installed. or maybe ubuntu with plasma. i don't have a virtual machine for that, but the one i have of ubuntu 22.04 has a file named
/var/log/gpu-manager.log
that might have similar info.

 

[KGIII]

I will say that it's a fine time to replace the battery if you're already pulling it out and have a spare handy. It's most often a Cr2032, but not always.

And, while it does keep the CMOS going - it also keeps the RTC going, which is the real-time clock, a chip of its own (generally speaking). We tend to just say "CMOS" (myself included) even though it's an RTC chip that keeps the time. Even today, that's (generally speaking) a chip all its own. These days, it's just a tiny thing. We still use them because they're cheap, small, plentiful, and work.

I'm not sure what some folks are doing, but I decided to look and see how long a CMOS battery is expected to last - and people are saying around 3 years. I don't recall replacing one within the past decade (on my own devices). The CMOS and RTC are very low-power these days. I have no idea how they go through them that quickly.

 

[FangOfDoom]

if you have one and it isn't listed by the system, that might indicate that there could be an issue.

I think my inxi does list my integrated graphics, but I think it doesn't have another name, just Radeon Vega Graphics. If that's the case, it does list it. I wil check again with the second command though.

I will do the CMOS battery next and bring news.