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Oct 22 Update:

I changed my SSD two weeks ago from LITEON CV3-8D256 to Samsung 970 Evo Plus, and the problem described below hasn't happened since then. I suspect the problem was due to the malfunctioning SSD.

  1. Description of the errors

I am using Ubuntu 18.04.04 on Samsung Notebook 9 pro. I have both Windows 10 and Ubuntu. (My Windows is working perfectly fine.)

My Ubuntu crashes in two different ways:

  • When I lock my screen and try to re-log in after some time, the log-in screen shows "Authentification error", and I cannot type in my password.
  • Sometimes Gnome stops working (all the icons in the left panel turn blank; Minimize, enlarge, close icons on the right upper side of windows turn blank as well) and I cannot use terminal. This happened twice of so when I was using Zoom, but happened in other occasions as well.

When these two happen, I cannot give any inputs to my Ubuntu. If I turn off my computer using the power button, the following error message pops up.

    EXT4-fs error (device sda7): __ext4_find_entry:1532: inode #2102576: comm dbus-daemon: reading directory iblock 0
    systemd-journald[327]: failed to write entry (9 items, 338 bytes), ignoring: Read-only file system

A lot of similar EXT4-fs errors (with different applications names such as gdm3) and systemd-journald[327] error pops up in the screen as well. They keep showing up continuously and I have to use power button to turn it off.

When I reboot my computer and check dmesg | grep 'systemd', I can see

    systemd-journald[336]: File /var/log/journal/fa8422ed75134510a339189bf20b432e/user-1000.journal corrupted or uncleanly shut down, renaming and replacing.

I did repartitioning of my hard drive about about a month before the errors first started to pop up.

  1. What I have tried:

Fsck and smartctl did not show any errors.

I tried to WaylandEnable=false in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf and changing fs.inotify.max_user_watches following this.

Since the above two did not work, I formatted the partition that Ubuntu was installed, and installed Ubuntu again. After the clean install, I restored the data and Ubuntu worked fine for about a month, and the same error started to happen.

  1. I would appreciate any help!

Edit 1. Screenshot of SMART test SMART

Edit 2. Result of free -h

                  total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
    Mem:            15G        1.6G         12G        536M        1.6G         13G
    Swap:          1.9G          0B        1.9G

Result of sudo lshw -C memory

  *-firmware                
       description: BIOS
       vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
       physical id: 0
       version: P04AGF.048.170731.PS
       date: 07/31/2017
       size: 64KiB
       capacity: 15MiB
       capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int14serial int17printer acpi usb biosbootspecification uefi
  *-memory
       description: System Memory
       physical id: 13
       slot: System board or motherboard
       size: 16GiB
     *-bank:0
          description: SODIMM DDR4 Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered) 2133 MHz (0.5 ns)
          product: M471A1K43BB0-CPB
          vendor: Samsung
          physical id: 0
          serial: 00000000
          slot: ChannelA-DIMM0
          size: 8GiB
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 2133MHz (0.5ns)
     *-bank:1
          description: [empty]
          physical id: 1
          slot: ChannelA-DIMM1
     *-bank:2
          description: SODIMM DDR4 Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered) 2133 MHz (0.5 ns)
          product: M471A1K43BB0-CPB
          vendor: Samsung
          physical id: 2
          serial: 00000000
          slot: ChannelB-DIMM0
          size: 8GiB
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 2133MHz (0.5ns)
     *-bank:3
          description: [empty]
          physical id: 3
          slot: ChannelB-DIMM1
  *-cache:0
       description: L1 cache
       physical id: 1a
       slot: L1 Cache
       size: 128KiB
       capacity: 128KiB
       capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
       configuration: level=1
  *-cache:1
       description: L2 cache
       physical id: 1b
       slot: L2 Cache
       size: 512KiB
       capacity: 512KiB
       capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
       configuration: level=2
  *-cache:2
       description: L3 cache
       physical id: 1c
       slot: L3 Cache
       size: 4MiB
       capacity: 4MiB
       capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
       configuration: level=3
  *-memory UNCLAIMED
       description: Memory controller
       product: Sunrise Point-LP PMC
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 1f.2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2
       version: 21
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz (30.3ns)
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:f722c000-f722ffff

Result of sysctl vm.swappiness

    vm.swappiness = 60
Simon
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    If the disk shows clean on the diagnostic tests, then maybe it's a problem with memory. Reboot with a non-UEFI live USB system and run memtest. – ajgringo619 Aug 25 '20 at 01:37
  • 1
    You mention needing to use the power-button, I see evidence of what I assume is fs corruption & thus it flipping RO, but that shouldn't stop SysRq keys allowing you to command kernel directly (thus avoiding an unclean shutdown). If SMART checks out, I'd also check hardware (memtest @ajgringo619 suggested) & check your PSU (devices can struggle when getting insufficient power, and another OS working doesn't mean much if it has a different config & you're not watching the power being drawn) I would also examine further up your logs (not just the two lines you pasted) – guiverc Aug 25 '20 at 03:54
  • Edit your question and show me screenshots of the Disks application SMART Data scrollable window. Start comments to me with @heynnema or I'll miss them. – heynnema Aug 25 '20 at 14:57
  • @heynnema I just added the screenshot. If you need anything else please do let me know. Thanks – Simon Aug 25 '20 at 17:40
  • @guiverc If the error pops up again, I will save the log through SysRq and update it. After I asked the question, the crash still hasn't happened. Is there a way to check PSU that you can recommend? Thanks!! – Simon Aug 25 '20 at 17:43
  • @ajgringo619 Thanks for you suggestion! I will run it overnight tonight and check whether there is any failures in the check. – Simon Aug 25 '20 at 17:44
  • Do you have Windows installed? If so, have you installed a driver to allow r/w to Linux ext2/3/4 partitions? Does fsck constantly show repairs? Is your SSD firmware up to date? Edit your question and show me free -h and sudo lshw -C memory and sysctl vm.swappiness. – heynnema Aug 25 '20 at 17:50
  • @heynnema I just added the result for the three commands. I have Windows 10 installed and since I installed Ubuntu 2 years ago, I don't recall whether I installed a driver to allow ext2/3/4 paritions on Windows. fsck does not show repairs. It only shows that there is non-contiguous part. I will check my SSD firmware version and get back to you. – Simon Aug 25 '20 at 18:07
  • I tried to check for a newer BIOS than what you have (version: P04AGF.048.170731.PS), as it seems very old, but the Samsung web site does not want to show me BIOS updates for your computer. There may be a BIOS Updater application on your computer, or something that can be downloaded from the Samsung web site, but I couldn't find it. – heynnema Aug 25 '20 at 18:30
  • @heynnema Samsung Update software on Windows provide firmware updates, and I cannot check the version newer than the currently installed one. I will recheck it just in case. Also, my SSD is LITEON CV3-8D256 with firmware version T882004, if this would be of help. – Simon Aug 25 '20 at 18:34
  • There is a Samsung Firmware Update Utility available to check the SSD firmware. – heynnema Aug 25 '20 at 18:39
  • @heynnema Samsung Update on my Windows say that everything is up-to-date on my laptop. As for SSD firmware, I think the Samsung Firmware Update is for Samsung's SSD, not for other brands like Liteon? I googled for any firmware updates on my Liteon SSD, but could not fine one. The only somewhat relevant result was on Dell. I think this is an even older firmware than what I currently have. – Simon Aug 25 '20 at 19:17
  • If it's the original SSD that came with the Samsung Notebook, then their Firmware Updater should work on it. – heynnema Aug 25 '20 at 19:22
  • @heynnema Now I see what you mean. Sorry if my understanding was too slow. That update tool (Samsung Update which is both for firmware and drivers) shows that everything is up-to-date. – Simon Aug 25 '20 at 19:24
  • Well... it sure sounds like a SSD problem... but there's no real proof that I can point to. I don't have any more ideas for you. – heynnema Aug 25 '20 at 19:30
  • @heynnema Thanks for your help though. I think I probably have to send it to Samsung support. – Simon Aug 26 '20 at 15:09
  • @ajgringo619 I ran memtest86+ for 16 hours and got 6 passes and 0 errors. Any ideas regarding other possible reasons? – Simon Aug 26 '20 at 15:11
  • https://askubuntu.com/questions/1173738/crash-systemd-journal-failed-to-write-entry-ignoring-read-only-file-system-on – Awaaaaarghhh Nov 02 '20 at 15:42
  • @Awaaaaarghhh Thanks for your input!! – Simon Nov 03 '20 at 16:07

0 Answers0