Mageia forum

I am running Mageia 2 with the KDE desktop. My computer will just freeze at random. I haven't been able to identify a specific program that causes this. It has happened while working and running various programs, or just while browsing the internet. It also happened once while the screen saver was on. Is there any way I can figure out what is causing this? This has also just started happening within the past month. I have only installed the updates recently.
Thanks.

This has been happening here at random with one of my machines since MGA2 came up - I've reported it here in the forum, spent some time trying to find any key in the logs. No success. Then I was thinking of a hardware problem cause there were neither temperature problems nor extensive load nor any other signal when it happened. It only happened with the desktop machine, neither with the laptop (same graphic system) nor the netbook.
Then it did not happen for weeks, now it happened again a couple of days ago. Total mystery.

Hi,
I have sometime a freeze when pluging a USB stick with Mageia 1
With other OS I met freezes with a bad mouse driver (yes, it is strange) or a missing thermal paste, normal temperature on the radiator.
My two cents.

I was getting freezes recently which were becoming more and more frequent.
Then I removed the SSD I had installed a couple of months ago and the freezes have disappeared.

I had a problem with ssd on another linux os, endian to be specific.

It would lock up os frequently.

Replaced it with conventional harddisk and no re occurence.

I do run a corsair sandforce in my main desktop, an asus formula v mb, and never had a lockup mga1 or 2

Regards peter

Well, it's good to know I'm not the only one having this problem. Although, my freezes are occuring on a laptop. It doesn't happen all the time, but has happened twice this week which is unusual and happened once the week before that. Also, I don't have an ssd installed so that can be ruled out at least.

There are lots of possible reasons, you all mentioned one or more. But in my case none of them are met because I did not change anything right before these freezes started. And I did not do anything identifiable, the freeze even comes in when I'm doing nothing at all or in the middle of writing a word in LO or whatever.

as first step you should check if the whole machine is freezed or just the graphic part;
in the second case the machine still answers to ping requests and it is possible to have a connection
with it via ssh (if the daemon runs) and restart the desktop;
obviously you can blame the graphic stack

in the first case, you can try if the sequence reisub works,
so you can at least sync the disk before the shutdown;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key
in this case is harder to blame some component...

in both case /var/log/syslog could contain some information

Thanks for the help. It just froze up on me again this evening, although this time I was able to determine that it is just the KDE desktop that freezes. I was able to exit back to the log in screen with alt+sysrq+k and after logging back in everything seems functional again. The syslog file is huge and i have no idea what I should be looking for.

z wrote:The syslog file is huge and i have no idea what I should be looking for.

you should look for events just before the freeze time,
and in your case also the very last lines of dmesg could contain intresting infos

Maybe like the last 500-1000 lines around the time where the freeze occured? You could also post them here, but please use code tags as explained in ftp://ftp.mandrivauser.de/rpm/rpm/extra ... e_tags.ogv
Another log to look at could be ~/.xsession-errors

I've been experiencing the same problem, and, at first, I was blaming Firefox here in the forums. But then, it started happening during other programs, and one time, I only had dolphin open when it happened.

Here are some of my observations:
1. I have checked and re-checked various logs which do not show anything out of the ordinary.
2. I suspect it's an X issue as occassionly my screen shows various discolored pixels (lines next to a dolphin window, discoloration in the middle of my task bar at the bottom of the screen, etc.)
3. Dolphin requires me to refresh the window, or press F5, in order for icons to show when I move, copy, or delete an item.
4. Rebooting after a freeze, or using the magic keys, overwrite any text that may have been captured in .xsession-errors.
5. I have to clear my browser cache when it reaches the limit I have set or else the browser begins to become sluggish.

It almost sounds like a refresh problem, but what could be causing that?

doktor5000 wrote:please use code tags as explained in ftp://ftp.mandrivauser.de/rpm/rpm/extra ... e_tags.ogv

Side note: we should stop using links to that address because it will be closed in 2 weeks and I am not sure yet when the archive will be opened and under which address..

Well, I've had a couple more desktop freezes but have not had time to check the syslog file until today. I had another one a few minutes ago and here is the output from the syslog file at the time the freeze occurred, around 9:48. The last thing that happened was checking for updates at 9:39 and then nothing until it froze just after 9:48. I killed the session with alt+sysrq+k and logged back in. Everything seems fine now, but no errors show up in syslog at all at the time of the freeze.

Code: Select all

Mar 19 09:39:02 xps mgaapplet[3981]: Checking... Updates are available
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588269] SysRq : SAK
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588278] SAK: killed process 2699 (X): task_session(p)==tty->session
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588321] SAK: killed process 2513 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588426] SAK: killed process 2553 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588428] SAK: killed process 2554 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588430] SAK: killed process 2555 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588432] SAK: killed process 2556 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588434] SAK: killed process 2557 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588436] SAK: killed process 2558 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588438] SAK: killed process 2559 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588440] SAK: killed process 2560 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588442] SAK: killed process 2561 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588444] SAK: killed process 2565 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588446] SAK: killed process 2566 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588448] SAK: killed process 2567 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588450] SAK: killed process 2568 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588452] SAK: killed process 2569 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588454] SAK: killed process 2570 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588456] SAK: killed process 2571 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588458] SAK: killed process 2572 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588460] SAK: killed process 2573 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588462] SAK: killed process 2574 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588463] SAK: killed process 2575 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588465] SAK: killed process 2576 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588467] SAK: killed process 2577 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588469] SAK: killed process 2578 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588471] SAK: killed process 2579 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588473] SAK: killed process 2580 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588475] SAK: killed process 2581 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588477] SAK: killed process 2582 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588479] SAK: killed process 2583 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588481] SAK: killed process 2584 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588483] SAK: killed process 2585 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588485] SAK: killed process 2586 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588487] SAK: killed process 2587 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588488] SAK: killed process 2588 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588490] SAK: killed process 2590 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588492] SAK: killed process 2591 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588494] SAK: killed process 2592 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588496] SAK: killed process 2593 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588498] SAK: killed process 2594 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588500] SAK: killed process 2595 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588502] SAK: killed process 2596 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588504] SAK: killed process 2597 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588506] SAK: killed process 2598 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588508] SAK: killed process 2599 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588510] SAK: killed process 2600 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588512] SAK: killed process 2601 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588514] SAK: killed process 2602 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588516] SAK: killed process 2603 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588518] SAK: killed process 2605 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588520] SAK: killed process 2607 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588522] SAK: killed process 2608 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588524] SAK: killed process 2609 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588526] SAK: killed process 2610 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588528] SAK: killed process 2611 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588530] SAK: killed process 2612 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588531] SAK: killed process 2613 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588533] SAK: killed process 2614 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588535] SAK: killed process 2615 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588537] SAK: killed process 2616 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588539] SAK: killed process 2617 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588541] SAK: killed process 2618 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588543] SAK: killed process 2619 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588545] SAK: killed process 2620 (console-kit-dae): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588547] SAK: killed process 2641 (gmain): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588549] SAK: killed process 2643 (gdbus): fd#9 opened to the tty
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kernel: [ 1032.588553] SAK: killed process 2699 (X): task_session(p)==tty->session
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps systemd[1]: console-kit-daemon.service: main process exited, code=killed, status=9
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps systemd[1]: Unit console-kit-daemon.service entered failed state.
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kdm[2435]: X server for display :0 terminated unexpectedly
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps dbus-daemon[2429]: dbus[2429]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit' unit='console-kit-daemon.service'
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps dbus[2429]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit' unit='console-kit-daemon.service'
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps console-kit-daemon[4976]: missing action
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps dbus-daemon[2429]: dbus[2429]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit'
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps dbus[2429]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit'
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps kdm: :0[3478]: Cannot close ConsoleKit session: Unable to close session: Unable to find session for cookie
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps acpid: client 2699[0:0] has disconnected
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps acpid: client connected from 5042[0:0]
Mar 19 09:48:56 xps acpid: 1 client rule loaded
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps NetworkManager[2351]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: activated -> disconnected (reason 'connection-removed') [100 30 38]
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps NetworkManager[2351]: <info> (wlan0): deactivating device (reason 'connection-removed') [38]
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps NetworkManager[2351]: <info> (wlan0): canceled DHCP transaction, DHCP client pid 3778
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.248131] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:18:3a:ae:52:df by local choice (reason=3)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.276198] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps avahi-daemon[2189]: Withdrawing address record for 192.168.1.40 on wlan0.
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps avahi-daemon[2189]: Leaving mDNS multicast group on interface wlan0.IPv4 with address 192.168.1.40.
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps avahi-daemon[2189]: Interface wlan0.IPv4 no longer relevant for mDNS.
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps NetworkManager[2351]: <info> (wlan0): removing resolv.conf from /sbin/resolvconf
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.284773] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.284775] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.284777] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.284779] cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.284781] cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.284782] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.284784] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.284891] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.291154] cfg80211: Regulatory domain changed to country: US
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.291164] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.291174] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.291183] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 1700 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.291190] cfg80211:   (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.291198] cfg80211:   (5490000 KHz - 5600000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.291205] cfg80211:   (5650000 KHz - 5710000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:57 xps kernel: [ 1034.291213] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 3000 mBm)
Mar 19 09:48:58 xps systemd[1]: PID file /var/run/nscd/nscd.pid not readable (yet?) after start.
Mar 19 09:48:58 xps dbus-daemon[2429]: dbus[2429]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher' (using servicehelper)
Mar 19 09:48:58 xps dbus[2429]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher' (using servicehelper)
Mar 19 09:48:58 xps NetworkManager[2351]: <info> (wlan0): supplicant interface state: completed -> disconnected
Mar 19 09:48:58 xps dbus-daemon[2429]: dbus[2429]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher'
Mar 19 09:48:58 xps dbus[2429]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher'
Mar 19 09:49:00 xps kdm: :0 '[5192]: Session log file according to  cannot be created: No such file or directory

Had another crash today, seems to be getting more frequent. I checked the .xsession-errors file and the below information is mentioned several times:

Code: Select all

QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
QDBusObjectPath: invalid path ""
plasma-desktop(9445)/libplasma Plasma::isPluginVersionCompatible: unversioned plugin detected, may result in instability

There are also a lot of errors regarding starting the Akonadi server but I disabled that a long time ago so I don't think that is what is causing the problems.

As far as the errors listed above, could someone let me know what plugin this is referring to? Thanks.

It's plasma-desktop that's crashing. I've found it several times. For me though, it hasn't crashed in forever now, so I quit being bothered about it.
Since, though, it does seem to take a bit of a forever for KDE to load in the desktop.

Here there are some tips on how to have more details about faults of that task:

http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=212&t=98156

Hello:

While testing Mageia 3 beta 3, I began experiencing freezes of the plasma desktop. Specifically, the panel and widgets would become unresponsive, and right-clicking on the desktop did not work. However, any open windows remained live, and even krunner was accessible which is interesting.

Researching the problem on this and other KDE distros, I found that gmail-plasmoid was crashing or freezing Kubuntu desktops. I personally experienced this myself using Kubuntu and wound up having to abandon the widget. (Before abandoning Kubuntu altogether, that is.)

If you're using the Gmail widget on your desktop, try removing it, or else try this change that has worked for at least one person: in the gmail-plasmoid settings, in the "Accounts" section, "Misc" tab, set your fetching mechanism to "KDE" (it defaults to "Python").

I'm trying this fix now and I'll get back to you with an update.

Thanks for the assistance. I don't use gmail with any other programs in KDE so that's not the problem. I did delete a few widgets that I've installed over the past 6 months or so. Hopefully one of those widgets was causing the problem and it will stop. I haven't had a freeze in a few days but I'll see how long it lasts. If it happens again I may try deleting/moving the .kde4/share/config folder and see if that fixes the problem.

Haven't had any freezes since my last update; interested to hear how you're faring.

Well, I had one more freeze 2 days after this post so I renamed the config folder. I hadn't had any more freezes until this morning, about 10 minutes after I added the battery monitor widget back to my task bar. So, at this point, it appears the battery monitor widget is the culprit, although I'll see how long I can go without another occurrence. Hopefully it won't happen again.

I still see plasma-desktop crashing. There's something going on somewhere, where it's not compatible with *something*, but that something seems to be different for different people.

I've run KDE both with and without widgets; I don't use the gmail one, among a lot of others.

I had the netbook desktop crashing on me, and plasma-desktop alike on the netbook, and this has returned on my machine. It's also been happening on the desktop server, and in beta3 on a Lenovo laptop, running plasma-desktop (not netbook desktop).

Who knows what, but I know something sure is up. When this happens, and I finally can get to where I can see the errors, it's always plasma-desktop being the main thing that's crashing. I myself am beginning to wonder about qt3 & 4.

That's extraordinary; I haven't had that kind of consistent trouble with the plasma desktop. Wonder what's happening here? :/

I just had another freeze a few minutes ago. It's not the battery monitor after all. Now I have no idea what is causing this problem. Anyone have any other ideas of settings I should change?

I would suggest trying this. Put up a program called KSysGuard provide by kdebase4-workspace package. Click on the memory header. Shrink the window, but make sure you can see what is floating at the top spot in the memory column. Option the window to stay on top. Then go about your usual stuff. It things start to freeze up, note what program is at the top of the memory column and note whether it is eating up all of your memory. IF this doesn't produce anything, try the same thing over again, but instead watch what is happening with CPU usage. If any application is hogging either memory or cpu, your desktop will freeze since it won't have the resources to be responsive. Other things can cause freezes as well, but lack of memory or cpu are at the top of the suspect list in my experience.