Desktop freeze after screen flickers

3mo old fresh install Kubuntu 22.04.2 LTS with all updates
5.15.0-67 kernel
i9 3.6Ghz 8core 16 thread
65G ram

For some months now Ive been dealing with a issue across my desktop and two laptops and two other desktops that I thought were all related to a browser issue - until today.

I use the vivaldi browser. One day while working I was listening to a video in one window and the whole screen blinked and everything was frozen but the mouse. I finally had to hard boot. Some weeks later it happened again. Every now and then I would be on fb and the cpu would ramp up and once it died down - the screen would blink and again I would have to shut down. Because I had seen similar things but far more rare on my other units I thought it was the browser. This morning though I was working with an associate on telegram and the same thing happened. The browser was open but not up.

I went to the log to see if I could see anything that caught my eye and I noticed that the last log was syslog.1 = 3/19/23 at 12:00 AM is the last entry… and in the current log its syslog =3/24/23 7:25AM is the first entry. The blink this morning happened at 7:23. There are no log entries between Mar 19 and 24.

Now Im not sure how to track down what this is if I cant see log files and it could be any application.

What GPU /Video card is being used?

1920x1080
Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)
On this specific machine its not a separate unit.

*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
logical name: /dev/fb0
version: 02
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb
configuration: depth=32 driver=i915 latency=0 resolution=1920,1080
resources: irq:155 memory:a0000000-a0ffffff memory:90000000-9fffffff ioport:5000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

I wonder if there are fixes from Intel for the display driver in newer versions of the kernel? You wouldn’t get those updated kernels using the LTS version.

The symptoms are shouting ‘hardware!’

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I would have said so too, but he said it was not just one computer.

For some months now Ive been dealing with a issue across my desktop and two laptops and two other desktops that I thought were all related to a browser issue - until today.

Really? Its shouting hardware … from just this device or all?

Ive been on my laptop all day - three open apps: my browser(3 tabs), my code editor and my chat screen. Then - just out of the blue - a flicker and a freeze. Frustration at that moment because - I was having trouble getting the laptop to shut down.

Back on the logs, each log I look at has the same issue: Nothing before 7:25 this morning and a black back to 3/19. That is just very strange (I think).

Not sure what you mean. If it is open, it is running.
Hangups like that are often gpu issues. … try turning off hardware acceleration in vivaldi
It says vga-compatable controller…is the gpu firmware present?
Why no logs? A system does not stop logging without a reason. Look at all the logs, not just syslog. Do you have all logs enabled? Use syslogd… systemd logs are impossible.
5.15 is an old kernel. Are you sure upgrades are up to date?
Seems to happen when system is online.

Regards
Neville

You have 3 desktops and 2 laptops

Are all 5 machines running on Kub LTS
If yes
consider that 1 desktop and 1 laptop could have change of distro, yeah I know PITA
suggest SpiralLinux changing kernels while keeping old kernel, just in case.
use option to upgrade Linux Kernel 6.0.0 at install time,
install using the Ext4 filesystem not Btrfs

also
Can you help me understand this
Explain how this is done

You picked it. That 5.15 kernel is old. The firmware comes with the kernel, so that will be old too.
It says driver = i915 that is for amdgpu
@wadesmart do you actually have an amdgpu … which model?
If it is RX series graphics card you need at least kernel 5.18, and preferably 6.0

Yes, but its because he has the same crappy software in all machines. Its not driving the gpu properly

My search shows i915 is for an Intel display adapter.

But either way a newer kernel would have updated firmware.

Its both . AMD use the Intel software.
So he could have either an amd or an intel graphics adaptor.

Afterthought:
I think you are right, if it says driver=i915 in the lshw -c video output, it is Intel

It means in all other times on all devices the browser was up as in on screen. But yes, if its open its running.

Currently accelerated-2d-canvas was moved to enabled, canvas-opp-rasterization was disabled, ignore-gpu-blocklist was enabled. Each one was done on its own and still had the freezing. I have one more ozone-platform-hint to switch to x11. Hardwre-accelerated vide decode is currently disabled from a previous search.

As I said, 3mo old install and its a LTS and I have applied all updates except one. I have a UEFI dbx version 217 that is outstanding and its not updated because … it will not update - so I just left it.

Operating System
Version
Kernel Linux 5.15.0-67-generic (x86_64)
Version #74-Ubuntu SMP Wed Feb 22 14:14:39 UTC 2023
C Library GNU C Library / (Ubuntu GLIBC 2.35-0ubuntu3.1) 2.35
Distribution Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS

Note what @pdecker said.
The kernel ( which includes firmware modules) is probably not new enough to drive your graphics card.
It takes 2-3 years for linux to catch up with new hardware.
To get a newer kernel you need to

  • use a bleeding edge distro… probably a rolling release like Solus or Void or Arch
  • use MX “ahs” release which is specialized for new hardware
  • find some other distro release that has a kernel of 6.0 or better
  • see if Kubuntu has a backport which offers a newer kernel and firmware

If you can tell us what the graphics card is, we may be able to be more specific.

It uses the onboard video:

lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller:
Intel Corporation CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] (rev 02)

lshw -C video:
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
logical name: /dev/fb0
version: 02
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pciexpress msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb
configuration: depth=32 driver=i915 latency=0 resolution=1920,1080
resources: irq:155 memory:a0000000-a0ffffff memory:90000000-9fffffff ioport:5000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

I cant find any specific info for the UHD 630 about how new the kernel needs to be.
Not sure how new UHD 630 is. Not sure if combination with corei9 matters.

If you want to see how complicated it can get read this
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/intel_graphics

I suggest you avoid getting in too deep , and just find the newest kernel you can obtain.

I had a similar problem recently when I purchased a new amd graphics card. I dug around for ages , tried backports, and eventually just used MX “ahs”… it worked. Only other thing that worked was Void Linux ( it is rolling release).

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I purchased this system in 2019 and Shuttle is known for using things for a long long time.

I’ve updated the kernel while using an LTS release before. At the time I was just messing around. This would be a valid reason.

Pop!_OS has been pretty good. I’m using it right now and it has much newer kernel.

Linux pop-os 6.2.6-76060206-generic #202303130630~1679424972~22.04~4a8cde1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue M x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Maybe you could boot off a live USB for Pop or something else and see what it looks like (literally).

The GPU acceleration might be worth turning off too as was mentioned by Nev. Not sure how to do that in Vivaldi.

3 Likes