I have to say I am stumped by what has been happening to my old ASUS desktop.
I used to have it a my mom’s but it stopped booting after Linux Mint upgrades last year. So I brought it home but am just now getting to work on the issues.
I had used an SSD I had on hand when I set it up for her. It lasted maybe 6 months in her home before issues began.
Yesterday, I completely wiped the drive and created a new gpt and then formatted to ext 4 the single partition. Installed MX Linux and thought things were good for about two hours. Then I saw tons of error popups about the drive being full. What???
I only installed, updated and added 3 flatpaks: input-leap for sharing mouse keyboard from other computers and localsend to be able to send docs/images/sound files from other computers to this one.
So I tried again. I ended up installing 3 times before assuming the disk must be bad, as e2fsck gave not only errors about padding but also non-contiguous usage, and saying Y to fix, then running again, same errors appeared.
So new SSD installed this morning with MX Linux. All good for about 4 hours, then I checked disk usage around lunch time and thought, “How can there be 125 GB used with only MX and a couple of flatpaks installed?”
After work, opened the file manager, still no errors like the last ones, but now MX Package installer gave the error could not download list of packages, check your APT sources.
So I used CLI to update and got
Err:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease
Splitting up /var/lib/apt/lists/deb.debian.org_debian_dists_bookworm_InRelease into data and signature failed
Err:1 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease
Error writing to file - write (28: No space left on device) [IP: 2a04:4e42:d::644 80]
Get:3 http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mxlinux/mx/repo bookworm InRelease [25.3 kB]
Err:3 http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mxlinux/mx/repo bookworm InRelease
Error writing to file - write (28: No space left on device) [IP: 128.112.18.21 80]
Reading package lists... Error!
W: An error occurred during the signature verification. The repository is not updated and the previous index files will be used. GPG error: http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease: Splitting up /var/lib/apt/lists/deb.debian.org_debian_dists_bookworm_InRelease into data and signature failed
W: Failed to fetch http://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/bookworm-updates/InRelease Error writing to file - write (28: No space left on device) [IP: 2a04:4e42:d::644 80]
W: Failed to fetch http://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/bookworm/InRelease Splitting up /var/lib/apt/lists/deb.debian.org_debian_dists_bookworm_InRelease into data and signature failed
W: Failed to fetch http://security.debian.org/debian-security/dists/bookworm-security/InRelease Error writing to file - write (28: No space left on device) [IP: 2a04:4e42:d::644 80]
W: Failed to fetch http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mxlinux/mx/repo/dists/bookworm/InRelease Error writing to file - write (28: No space left on device) [IP: 128.112.18.21 80]
W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
E: Write error - write (28: No space left on device)
E: IO Error saving source cache
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
And checking Thunar, File System size 456 GB used.
I am no hardware expert, but I know now it is not the drive. It has to be a cable or the motherboard, something is causing this to happen.
Any ideas on why a simple Linux install would cause the space used to grow exponentially until out of space?
Specs:
System:
Kernel: 6.12.8-1-liquorix-amd64 [6.12-10~mx23ahs] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0 parameters: audit=0
intel_pstate=disable amd_pstate=disable BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.12.8-1-liquorix-amd64
root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.38 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.20.0 vt: 7
dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.5_ahs_x64 Libretto Jan 12 2025 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
(bookworm)
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: M32CD_A_F_K20CD_K31CD v: Rev 1.xx serial: <superuser required>
UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1102 date: 04/12/2018
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i5-6400 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Skylake-S gen: core 6 level: v3
note: check built: 2015 process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x5E (94) stepping: 3
microcode: 0xF0
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB
L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3100 min/max: 800/2701 boost: enabled scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq
governor: ondemand cores: 1: 3100 2: 3100 3: 3100 4: 3100 bogomips: 21599
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities:
Type: gather_data_sampling status: Vulnerable: No microcode
Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled
Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: disabled; RSB filling;
PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GP108 [GeForce GT 1030] vendor: Gigabyte driver: nouveau v: kernel
non-free: 530.xx+ status: current (as of 2023-03) arch: Pascal code: GP10x process: TSMC 16nm
built: 2016-21 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 4 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s ports:
active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DVI-D-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1d01 class-ID: 0300 temp: 30.0 C
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.20.0 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 509x286mm (20.04x11.26") s-diag: 584mm (22.99")
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 model: Samsung C27F390 serial: <filter> built: 2022
res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 82 gamma: 1.2 size: 598x336mm (23.54x13.23") diag: 686mm (27")
ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
API: OpenGL v: 4.3 Mesa 24.2.2-1~mx23ahs renderer: NV138 direct-render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a170 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: NVIDIA GP108 High Definition Audio vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 4 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.1
chip-ID: 10de:0fb8 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.12.8-1-liquorix-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8821AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: AzureWave
driver: rtl8821ae v: kernel modules: wl pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000
bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8821 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169
v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: c000 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
class-ID: 0200
IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: IMC Networks Bluetooth Radio type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-7:2
chip-ID: 13d3:3414 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.0
sub-v: a041 hci-v: 4.0 rev: e2f
Info: acl-mtu: 820:8 sco-mtu: 255:16 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park
link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio,
telephony
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 698.73 GiB used: 457.12 GiB (65.4%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB
block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q
scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: USB 3.2Gen1 size: 232.97 GiB
block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR
SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 465.51 GiB size: 457.13 GiB (98.20%) used: 457.12 GiB (100.0%) fs: ext4
dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 274 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat
dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 30.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nouveau fan: 1714
Repos:
Packages: 2149 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2141 libs: 1068 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 8
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
1: deb http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
2: deb http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
Info:
Processes: 260 Uptime: 9h 39m wakeups: 1 Memory: 15.55 GiB used: 1.38 GiB (8.9%) Init: SysVinit
v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI```
I tried installing the MX without AHS and had to install extra stuff for this pc after, so I installed MX 23.5 AHS.
I am at a loss.
Thanks,
Sheila