HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

gnvkja · 2021-08-06 11:43:13

Hello,

a friend of mine has an HP laptop (HP 255 G7, AMD Ryzen) with xubuntu 20.04 that after some minutes (~5-10 maybe) of not doing anything freezes. If you constantly move the mouse or do stuff, it works fine.

Freezing means:
- I *can* move the mouse without issues
- The clock in the upper right corner continues ticking
- Clicking anything will not work
- Writing anything for example in an open LO document does not work (cursor does not blink)
- Hotkeys (ctrl+alt+t, ctrl+alt+L, alt+f2, ...) do not work
- AltGR + printScr + K does not work (cat /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq is 176 and I think syslog logged it "This sysrq operation is disabled" so I have to look into this again, just saw it while writing this post)

What works:
- I can Ctrl+alt+F1 into console and login. Being logged in:
- - startx does not work (not found if I remember correctly)
- - xfwm4 --replace: (xfwm4:4385) Gtk-WARNING **: ...: cannot open display: <nothing further written here>
- - sudo service lightdm restart: goes into GUI desktop and everything works again, but my previous session (open FF for example) is gone (also when I switch back to ctrl+alt+f7).

I thought maybe screen lock/saver are an issue, but I disabled both of them in this dialog: https://docs.xfce.org/apps/screensaver/start and I even went to Session and Startup -> Application Autostart, and there disable "Screen Locker".
I also disabled all energy saving in this dialog: https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-power- … references

Laptop hardware: https://bpa.st/SZCQ
var/log/xorg0.log (for a normal start I think?): https://bpa.st/UMBQ
var/syslog (at 12:35:07 I restarted lightdm): https://bpa.st/KZRQ

EDIT: A bit earlier I got this error for /usr/bin/xfwm4 but this was the first time I saw it so maybe not related: https://imgur.com/a/3ot2taJ

Any ideas?
Thank you

Last edited by gnvkja (2021-08-06 11:53:05)

ToZ · 2021-08-06 12:46:16

Hello and welcome.

Have a look at this bug report. Although the bug report is regarding an nvidia card, the error message and explanation is relevant for AMD as well. The suggested solution is to disable the vlank mode as by default it will revert to present mode. See if that helps.

gnvkja · 2021-08-06 15:32:56

ToZ wrote:

Hello and welcome.
Have a look at this bug report. Although the bug report is regarding an nvidia card, the error message and explanation is relevant for AMD as well. The suggested solution is to disable the vlank mode as by default it will revert to present mode. See if that helps.

I did this from the normal desktop: `xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/vblank_mode -s off` but it froze some minutes later.

ToZ · 2021-08-06 15:42:58

What might be helpful is a syslog from the time the freeze happens. Identify the syslog time that the freeze happens so we can see if any error messages appear.

gnvkja · 2021-08-08 16:25:12

syslog from boot (16:28) until shutdown (17:11). It probably froze after 10 min or so. But there is nothing going on.

https://pastebin.com/jtULzxui

I tried to disable nomodeset in grub but it just gives a black screen. Setting acpi=off gives other errors with USB (did not make a screenshot).
I now got Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to work, and I get to the login screen and can login back and do work again (not sure if my session, open programs, are still open, I did only test with no programs started unfortunately).

Last edited by gnvkja (2021-08-08 16:26:02)

ToZ · 2021-08-08 17:42:50

I can see this:

Aug 8 16:28:23 b kernel: [ 0.057045] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-80-generic root=UUID=53a16c48-6842-45f4-b888-53388c33870f ro nomodeset quiet splash
Aug 8 16:28:23 b kernel: [ 0.057115] You have booted with nomodeset. This means your GPU drivers are DISABLED
Aug 8 16:28:23 b kernel: [ 0.057116] Any video related functionality will be severely degraded, and you may not even be able to suspend the system properly
Aug 8 16:28:23 b kernel: [ 0.057117] Unless you actually understand what nomodeset does, you should reboot without enabling it

Perhaps its related to your video card and drivers. Which one do you have and how is it set up?

Also, perhaps you Xorg.0.log or ~/.xsession-errors log files might hold some more valuable information.

gnvkja · 2021-08-08 18:34:17

This is xorg0.log but it seems to be from after the reboot (17:12). Cannot get the old one right now since I don't have access to the PC at the moment. I'll have a look when I get access for the .xsession-errors log.

https://bpa.st/XYWQ

Yes I thought maybe the driver is a problem, so I disabled nomodeset, but then it won't start. I read that for AMD I don't need extra drivers since kernels is supposed to have them, but I guess I should look up how to install the proprietary drivers.

See first post:

EDIT: R3 card, because CPU says: "AMD A4-9125 RADEON R3".

16: PCI 01.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA)
  [Created at pci.386]
  Unique ID: vSkL.JZVBbrUIP_E
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0
  SysFS BusID: 0000:00:01.0
  Hardware Class: graphics card
  Model: "ATI Stoney [Radeon R2/R3/R4/R5 Graphics]"
  Vendor: pci 0x1002 "ATI Technologies Inc"
  Device: pci 0x98e4 "Stoney [Radeon R2/R3/R4/R5 Graphics]"
  SubVendor: pci 0x103c "Hewlett-Packard Company"
  SubDevice: pci 0x84ac 
  Revision: 0xe2
  Memory Range: 0xe0000000-0xefffffff (ro,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0xf0000000-0xf07fffff (ro,non-prefetchable)
  I/O Ports: 0x4000-0x40ff (rw)
  Memory Range: 0xf0c00000-0xf0c3ffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0x000c0000-0x000dffff (rw,non-prefetchable,disabled)
  IRQ: 3 (no events)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00001002d000098E4sv0000103Csd000084ACbc03sc00i00"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: amdgpu is not active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe amdgpu"
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

EDIT: Would it maybe make sense to disable/remove lightdm and `startxfce4` manually?

Last edited by gnvkja (2021-08-08 21:33:28)

gnvkja · 2021-08-09 17:57:43

I think I solved it :)

As I wrote amdgpu was not enabled. `sudo modprobe amdgpu` did not work because of nomodeset and booting without nomodeset resulted in a black screen (at least this is what I was told by my friend whom I gave support over the phone all the time, but maybe he did something wrong).

I uninstalled the radeon drivers `sudo apt purge xserver-xorg-video-radeon`. Leaving only the xserver-xorg-video-amd drivers on the laptop. I then removed nomodeset from grub and the laptop booted without issues to the desktop. Interesting note: The desktop background was changed after this reboot, why(?).

Now after 10 minutes or so, the screen went black, but moving the mouse restored it and everything was clickable again.
So it works now, although I wonder why the screen goes black because all energy saving stuff is disabled. But that is a deal I'm willing to take :)

Last edited by gnvkja (2021-08-09 17:58:37)

ToZ · 2021-08-09 18:18:00

gnvkja wrote:

I think I solved it

Nice.

The desktop background was changed after this reboot, why(?).

Generally, the desktop wallpaper xfconf property naming scheme is based on screen, monitor name, workspace number. Have a look at the xfce4-desktop channel in the xfce4-settings-editor program. Kind of strange that it happened, but it looks like one of those was renamed as a result of the changes you made.

Now after 10 minutes or so, the screen went black, but moving the mouse restored it and everything was clickable again.
So it works now, although I wonder why the screen goes black because all energy saving stuff is disabled. But that is a deal I'm willing to take

Check to see if you have a screensaver enabled.

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#1 2021-08-06 11:43:13

HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

#2 2021-08-06 12:46:16

Re: HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

#3 2021-08-06 15:32:56

Re: HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

#4 2021-08-06 15:42:58

Re: HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

#5 2021-08-08 16:25:12

Re: HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

#6 2021-08-08 17:42:50

Re: HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

#7 2021-08-08 18:34:17

Re: HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

#8 2021-08-09 17:57:43

Re: HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

#9 2021-08-09 18:18:00

Re: HP xubuntu laptop freezes in idle, xfce or lightdm crash?

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