Sudden freezes on asus laptop on every distribution (VivoBook - X415MA_X415MA 1.0)

[chipichapeu]

Since I bought this new computer more than a year ago, I have been experiencing sudden freezes where sound doesn't stop but keeps repeating a short fragment of audio nonstop, and the light from the caps lock button on the keyboard won't switch when I press it.

Contrary to what I have been most commonly sugested, I don't think it is due to a lack of RAM memory since once it has frozen, it will keep freezing few seconds after restarting and logging in (Which I have tried with several desktop environments and greeters) for some minutes sometimes without giving time to do anything.

 

[kc1di]

Which Distro are you using right now?
Can you go to a terminal and try this command

inxi -Fxxzr

and post the output here.
If your using ubuntu or one of it's spins you may have to install inxi first

sudo apt install inxi

Most freezes are cause by graphics cards. But not all. Some because of over heating in any event that command should shed some light I what the cause may be.

 

[osprey]

Since I bought this new computer more than a year ago, I have been experiencing sudden freezes where sound doesn't stop but keeps repeating a short fragment of audio nonstop, and the light from the caps lock button on the keyboard won't switch when I press it.

Contrary to what I have been most commonly sugested, I don't think it is due to a lack of RAM memory since once it has frozen, it will keep freezing few seconds after restarting and logging in (Which I have tried with several desktop environments and greeters) for some minutes sometimes without giving time to do anything.

If there are freezing irregularities in the machine, the following steps are among those that can help to establish its basic health and may direct the user to where an issue may lie:

1. Upgrade and update to latest software.
2. Check RAM. Run: memtest86+ (either from Grub or a live disk)
3. Check logs. Run: journalctl -b -x -p 3 (or check /var/log/messages, /var/log/syslog)
4. Check disk. Run: smartctl -H /dev/sd# (where # is the number of the disk)
(for nvme, use nvme-cli and check nvme-error-log for errors)
5. Check temperatures. Run: sensors (Install: lm-sensors)
6. Check graphics card: Run: glxgears (FPS around 60 is okay)

 

[I-hate-Windows]

just for a sanity check can you try to disable freesynch and see if it helps

 

[chipichapeu]

Which Distro are you using right now?
Can you go to a terminal and try this command

inxi -Fxxzr

and post the output here.
If your using ubuntu or one of it's spins you may have to install inxi first

sudo apt install inxi

Most freezes are cause by graphics cards. But not all. Some because of over heating in any event that command should shed some light I what the cause may be.

This is the output for inxi -Fxxzr:
System: Kernel: 6.5.7-zen2-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1 Desktop: GNOME v: 45.0 tk: GTK v: 3.24.38 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM Distro: Arch Linux Machine: Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: VivoBook_ASUSLaptop X415MA_X415MA v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required> Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X415MA v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: X415MA.302 date: 12/28/2020 Battery: ID-1: BAT0 charge: 6.0 Wh (19.1%) condition: 31.4/37.1 Wh (84.5%) volts: 7.8 min: 7.8 model: ASUSTeK ASUS Battery serial: N/A status: discharging CPU: Info: dual core model: Intel Celeron N4020 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Goldmont Plus rev: 8 cache: L1: 112 KiB L2: 4 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 2686 min/max: 800/2800 cores: 1: 2686 2: 2686 bogomips: 4377 Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx Graphics: Device-1: Intel GeminiLake [UHD Graphics 600] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3185 Device-2: Azurewave USB2.0 VGA UVC WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 13d3:5a11 Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.1 compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,intel,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: 0 Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: BOE Display 0x08b2 res: 1366x768 dpi: 112 diag: 355mm (14") API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends. Audio: Device-1: Intel Celeron/Pentium Silver Processor High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:3198 Device-2: bestechnic HUAWEI USB-C HEADSET driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-2:4 chip-ID: 12d1:3a07 API: ALSA v: k6.5.7-zen2-1-zen status: kernel-api Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.83 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: AzureWave driver: rtw_8821ce v: N/A pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:c821 IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> Bluetooth: Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-1:2 chip-ID: 13d3:3529 Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: disabled rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: see --recommends Drives: Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 20.94 GiB (17.6%) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Foresee model: P900F128GH size: 119.24 GiB speed: 15.8 Gb/s lanes: 2 serial: <filter> temp: 39.9 C Partition: ID-1: / size: 118.74 GiB used: 20.86 GiB (17.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 ID-2: /boot size: 511 MiB used: 80.9 MiB (15.8%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 3.79 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0 Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 68.0 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 1500 Repos: Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 814 Active pacman repo servers in: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist 1: https://edgeuno-bog2.mm.fcix.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch 2: http://mirrors.udenar.edu.co/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch 3: http://edgeuno-bog2.mm.fcix.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch Info: Processes: 210 Uptime: 3m Memory: total: 8 GiB available: 7.58 GiB used: 1.98 GiB (26.0%) Init: systemd v: 254 default: graphical Compilers: gcc: 13.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: kgx inxi: 3.3.30

 

[kc1di]

I do not see anything that stands out Intel graphics cards are well supported in the kernel. Your system temp is a bit high but not enough to cause the freeze. My laptop generally runs aroung 35 to 40C. Maybe someone more familar with Arch will come in and have an Idea. In the mean time I would do a memory check see if all is Ok there.

 

[I-hate-Windows]

if you cant figure out how to disable freesynch, you can use any linux distro you like on a live usb and see if the issue is with your os or packages, a vanilla version of your own os is very helpful for diagnosing

 

[chipichapeu]

if you cant figure out how to disable freesynch, you can use any linux distro you like on a live usb and see if the issue is with your os or packages, a vanilla version of your own os is very helpful for diagnosing

I do not see anything that stands out Intel graphics cards are well supported in the kernel. Your system temp is a bit high but not enough to cause the freeze. My laptop generally runs aroung 35 to 40C. Maybe someone more familar with Arch will come in and have an Idea. In the mean time I would do a memory check see if all is Ok there.

The problem is not only with arch linux but with every distribution I have tried. When using ubuntu, specially, the computer would most of the time freeze after one or two minutes on; arch is the distro that lasts the longest. I will try to do a memory check in another moment, but had trouble figuring out how to disable freesynch.