Random lockups of Xfce

Sideburns · 2015-10-05 21:08:28

Right now, I'm stuck using only my laptop, until hardware issues on my desktop are corrected. The laptop uses Fedora 21 and Xfce 4.10, fully updated, and the classic xscreensaver. If I leave the laptop alone long enough, either the screensaver will freeze or, if it's blanked the screen, it won't come back. (I don't lock the screen, so that's not an issue.) Sometimes, I'll get a mouse cursor that moves, but nothing else.

When it happens, I can move to another console, log in and work from a CLI, but if I go back to the GUI, nothing has changed. I can, however, kill the X server and log in again. What's weird is, if I go to a CLI before leaving the computer, I can go back to the GUI with no trouble when I come back, even if I never logged into the CLI. This isn't a security issue, BTW, because I'm the only person with an account on that machine, nobody knows either my password or root's and there's nothing sensitive kept on it.

What I'd like to know is, is there anything that can be done before killing the server that might preserve the forensic info needed to learn what's going on and possibly fix it? I know about saving .xsession-errors, but unless I have some idea what to look for, it's not much good. I'm asking here, instead of at a Fedora site because Fedora is Gnome-centric and I'd rather rule out any DE issues before asking there.

ToZ · 2015-10-05 23:17:55

Sounds to me like an issue with the video driver. What video card do you have and what video driver are you using? Also look for messages in your dmesg and/or Xorg log files at the time of the issue.

Sideburns · 2015-10-05 23:53:34

It's a laptop with integrated Intel graphics. My desktop is back up, now, but I can fire up the laptop and check.

Sideburns · 2015-10-06 21:22:04

Posting from the laptop. Using:

lspci | grep VGA

I get this:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)

I've just updated the system and rebooted. As I'm not expecting to need it today, I'm just going to let it sit here and run for a few hours to see what happens. It's possible that either a recent update or some tweaks to the power management (I almost never use this on battery, so power management's rarely an issue.) may have fixed things. If not, I'll use a CLI to save copies of the files you suggested. I'll also save a copy of .xsession-errors, just in case.

Last edited by Sideburns (2015-10-06 21:34:17)

ToZ · 2015-10-07 00:57:53

Ok. Thats a pretty standard and stable video driver. It will be interesting to see what the logs say if it happens again.

Sideburns · 2015-10-07 19:18:42

When I came back, at bedtime, my X session was locked up. Before killing the session I saved ~/.xsession-errors as Xerrors, made a copy of /var/log/Xorg.0.log and piped dmesg to a text file. Is there anything specific I should look for? If it's easier, I can upload the files to my (vanity) website and post links to them.

Also, I'm well aware that this may not be related to Xfce, but if I take it to a Fedora help forum, I'd rather be able to tell them that I've already checked here.

ToZ · 2015-10-07 19:48:52

Yes, please upload them somewhere where we can view them. Any error messages that stick out would be worth investigating.

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#1 2015-10-05 21:08:28

Random lockups of Xfce

#2 2015-10-05 23:17:55

Re: Random lockups of Xfce

#3 2015-10-05 23:53:34

Re: Random lockups of Xfce

#4 2015-10-06 21:22:04

Re: Random lockups of Xfce

#5 2015-10-07 00:57:53

Re: Random lockups of Xfce

#6 2015-10-07 19:18:42

Re: Random lockups of Xfce

#7 2015-10-07 19:48:52

Re: Random lockups of Xfce

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