Icons disappear and then system crashes

Question

The symptoms are pretty much similar to this question here, but with slight differences.

LSB Version:    core-9.20170808ubuntu1-noarch:printing- 9.20170808ubuntu1-noarch:security-9.20170808ubuntu1-noarch
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
Release:    18.04
Codename:   bionic

I'm running an Asus computer with 2 os (win 10, ubuntu), but i almost never use windows. Sometimes, while I'm browsing or working on ubuntu, the computer starts to fail.

First of all, all the icons on the launchbar and dashboard disappear (expect, for some unknown reason, for the Qt Creator icon).

In this state, the terminal is no longer working, meaning that any command (sudo,cd,ls,etc.) ends up in an error. The keyboard shortcuts do not work anymore. If I try to lock screen and then reopen it, I lose the right to access.

After few minutes, the monitor changes into the following screen and all I can do is hard reset. Alt+Ctrl+F* does not let me change into another command line and Alt+Stamp+K do not reset the os.

Any help? Have you any idea on what could be the cause?

Have you installed a Windows driver that allows read/write access to Linux ext2/3/4 partitions? If so, remove it asap, then do a fsck on your Ubuntu partition, and you should be fine. Also... if you're running from a SSD, have you checked for firmware updates for the SSD? — heynnema, Mar 08 '19 at 21:55
I actually almost never used Windows, so whatever program it is installed on it, it is due to classic windows updates @heynnema — Exodd, Mar 08 '19 at 22:05
Do you know how to fsck your system, or should I give you the steps? Have you checked for a SSD firmware update? — heynnema, Mar 08 '19 at 22:06
I already booted from a live usb and ran the e2fsck command on the drive. didn't see anything wrong @heynnema — Exodd, Mar 08 '19 at 22:07
And did it show errors and resolve them, or just run clean? If errors, did you fsck again? — heynnema, Mar 08 '19 at 22:08
What does the SMART relocated sector counts and pending sector count show? Do you have more than one disk on this computer? — heynnema, Mar 08 '19 at 22:12
The reallocated sector counts has value: 0, normalized: 253, threshold: 36, worst: 100, type: old-age, assessment:ok. Could not find the pending sector count — Exodd, Mar 08 '19 at 22:14
I just noticed that all the errors are against block 0... different apps. You may have a problem with your boot blocks or partition table or superblock. I'd look in syslog like this grep -i sda /var/log/syslog*. Also, have you checked for SSD firmware updates? — heynnema, Mar 08 '19 at 22:17
@heynnema not sure what we're looking for. Here's the pastebin https://pastebin.com/D3giDkRy — Exodd, Mar 08 '19 at 22:23
I don't see anything wrong there. Boot to the Ubuntu Live DVD/USB and run memtest for one complete pass. Go to the ASUS web site and check for BIOS updates, and SSD firmware updates. — heynnema, Mar 08 '19 at 22:28

Charles Green · Answer 1 · 2019-03-08T21:14:07.740

0

The "read-only file system" indicates that Ubuntu had a problem with the disk, and unmounted it and then remounted in read-only mode, as described in https://askubuntu.com/a/197468/283721

You should boot a live USB and run fsck on the disk in question, and you might also check the disk connections, and test the hard disk for errors, as described in How can I check the SMART status of a SSD or HDD on current versions of Ubuntu 14.04 through 18.10?

edited Mar 08 '19 at 21:14

answered Mar 08 '19 at 20:53

Charles Green

21,339

already did a e2fsck check on the disk and it seemed to be fine to me – Exodd Mar 08 '19 at 21:58
I also just ran a SMART check and it seems also to be ok – Exodd Mar 08 '19 at 22:06
@user49870 The smart check would indicate that there is no apparent problem with the HDD - Did you use the -f option for your fsck? It may be that the super block reports the disk clean, even if it is not. – Charles Green Mar 09 '19 at 02:58

Icons disappear and then system crashes

1 Answers1