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Like some other people I'm receiving random crashes on Ubuntu 20.04. I've reinstalled Ubuntu and the crashes continue. Sometimes I can work days with no problems and other times it can happen again within the hour.

Search the net shows others have the same problem, but ask Ubuntu provided the best answers, so I will ask here. One particularly good suggestion was given:

sudo journalctl -r -p err

This gave me what look like the correct times for the crashes: (sorry for the formatting, the terminal output is very long and I can't get it to look good)

-- Logs begin at Mon 2020-10-05 10:07:40 IDT, end at Sun 2020-12-20 12:12:16 IST. --

Dec 20 11:18:07 ilan-AM1M-S2H pulseaudio[1866]: GetManagedObjects() failed: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.TimedOut: Failed to activate service 'org.bluez': timed out (service_start_timeout=25000ms)

Dec 20 11:18:01 ilan-AM1M-S2H gdm-password][1853]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file

Dec 20 11:17:01 ilan-AM1M-S2H kernel: Initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed

-- Reboot --

Dec 20 11:11:37 ilan-AM1M-S2H pulseaudio[1878]: GetManagedObjects() failed: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.TimedOut: Failed to activate service 'org.bluez': timed out (service_start_timeout=25000ms)

Dec 20 11:11:31 ilan-AM1M-S2H gdm-password][1865]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file

Dec 20 11:10:30 ilan-AM1M-S2H kernel: Initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed

-- Reboot --

Dec 20 08:10:56 ilan-AM1M-S2H pulseaudio[1886]: GetManagedObjects() failed: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.TimedOut: Failed to activate service 'org.bluez': timed out (service_start_timeout=25000ms)

Dec 20 08:10:51 ilan-AM1M-S2H gdm-password][1872]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file

Dec 20 08:09:49 ilan-AM1M-S2H kernel: Initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed

-- Reboot --

Dec 20 08:02:26 ilan-AM1M-S2H pulseaudio[1906]: GetManagedObjects() failed: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

Dec 20 08:02:00 ilan-AM1M-S2H gdm-password][1889]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file

Dec 20 08:01:46 ilan-AM1M-S2H systemd[1]: Failed to start Rotate log files.

Dec 20 08:00:58 ilan-AM1M-S2H kernel: Initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed

-- Reboot --

Dec 19 22:29:48 ilan-AM1M-S2H gdm3[991]: Failed to contact accountsservice: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.Accounts: Refusing activation, D-Bus is shutting down. Dec 19 13:27:57 ilan-AM1M-S2H pulseaudio[1875]: GetManagedObjects() failed: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

Dec 19 13:27:30 ilan-AM1M-S2H gdm-password][1850]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file

Dec 19 13:26:19 ilan-AM1M-S2H kernel: Initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed

-- Reboot --

The message which repeats is ilan-AM1M-S2H kernel: Initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed, but it happens 1-2 minutes before the crash which looks a bit long to me.

On the latest 2 crashes it seems to implicate blue tooth, but I have no blue tooth on this machine. Strange.... In other cases it claims network problems. I don't know what is going on but ask Ubuntu gave me the correct command to apply. Now I need to understand what I can do about the unpacking failed, if that is indeed the problem.

In no other case of random crashes did I find a solution to the problem, but the sudo journalctl -r -p err is a very powerful tool, which may help others as well.

I would appreciate any suggestions as to if unpacking failed may be indeed the problem, in spite of the long time delay between the error messages. Likewise what I can do to cause the unpacking to succeed.

Edit: I couldn't find this question while looking from my laptop. I thought perhaps I forgot to post it? In any case coming back to my desktop I find it again. Meantime there are another 2 crashes, nearly back to back. The log this time is:

Failed to get journal fields: Cannot assign requested address

-- Logs begin at Mon 2020-10-05 18:04:40 IDT, end at Fri 2020-12-25 14:53:51 IST. --

Dec 25 14:41:12 ilan-AM1M-S2H pulseaudio[1896]: GetManagedObjects() failed: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.TimedOut: Failed to activate service 'org.bluez': timed out (service_start_timeout=25000ms)

Dec 25 14:41:07 ilan-AM1M-S2H gdm-password][1881]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file

Dec 25 14:40:06 ilan-AM1M-S2H kernel: Initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed

-- Reboot --

Dec 25 14:38:24 ilan-AM1M-S2H kernel: #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page

Dec 25 14:38:24 ilan-AM1M-S2H kernel: #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode

It looks like another fake blue tooth, preceded by a different error which I haven't seen. Can anyone give me a clue what is going on? It seems like a specific thread is timing out, but should that crash the entire system? A timeout should act gracefully instead of crashing??

Thanks to Ray's suggestion, I am including hardware information:

Computer: Processor AMD Sempron(tm) 3850 APU with Radeon(tm) R3 Memory 12208MB (2654MB used) Machine Type Desktop Operating System Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS User Name ilan (Ilan) Date/Time Sat 02 Jan 2021 13:43:43

Display Model: "nVidia GT218 [GeForce 210]" Resolution 3840x1080 pixels OpenGL Renderer (Unknown) X11 Vendor The X.Org Foundation

Audio Devices Audio Adapter HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic Audio Adapter HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia Audio Adapter USB-Audio - USB Device 0x46d

Input Devices Power Button Power Button AT Translated Set 2 keyboard PixArt USB Optical Mouse HD-Audio Generic Rear Mic HD-Audio Generic Front Mic HD-Audio Generic Line HD-Audio Generic Line Out UVC Camera (046d:081b) HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm:3 HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm:7 HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm:8 HDA NVidia HDMI/DP,pcm:9

Ilan
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  • Just wondering... You're on the latest version of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS? Have you tried an older kernel? Like maybe one or a few versions back? – Ray Dec 25 '20 at 13:25
  • Previously I had a bad disk, which I replaced with the current disk. So the answer to your question is "no", not on this new disk. It isn't encouraging to revert to 18.04. I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, those log messages might mean something to somebody who knows the insides of Ubuntu. If so, it could possibly help other people who are also having unexplained crashes, and might even shed some light on the cause of the problem (if it is software and not hardware). I couldn't find anyone who could explain the problem, and this may possibly be a start... – Ilan Dec 26 '20 at 16:34
  • No, I don't mean a previous version of Ubuntu. I meant Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, but an older version of the kernel (the central part of the Ubuntu system). Within a distribution of Ubuntu (i.e., 20.04), there are various kernel updates and you might have upgraded to that is somehow conflicting with your system. As that's what your error message refers to, I'd change that instead of the whole Ubuntu. See this. – Ray Dec 26 '20 at 17:50
  • Ubuntu I am updating all the time. I have had 5-10 versions of the kernel since seeing the problem. Anytime I have a suspicion I use sudo apt autoremove. If there are packages which need update I use sudo apt dist-update to update them and again autoremoved to verify that all is well. I won't submit ANY problem report without verifying that my system is up to date. I can go backwards in time to try old kernels but I see many complaints about 20.04 (and earlier) crashing, but without much documentation. It may well be hardware, but just maybe it could be software as well. – Ilan Dec 28 '20 at 07:52
  • Well, what you're seeing is not unusual for me. I do try to always go forward and "hope" that a future release of the kernel will get over it. I'm using a combination of 20.04 and 20.10 across multiple systems and they are all fine. So, I'm not sure about the "many complaints" part. Some systems remain "on" for months with no problems. Sorry, but I guess you've considered everything I would -- guess I can't be of much help to you! – Ray Dec 28 '20 at 12:34
  • Ray, first of all thanks for your efforts. This is a difficult problem. It can work for days or it can crash 2-3 time in the first hour. Perhaps someone else who is having problems might see the way I got my error files and he can try the command as well. If multiple people can collect documentation, something good can come out of it. – Ilan Dec 29 '20 at 17:51
  • By the way, is this a custom-built system or a pre-assembled system? If the latter, perhaps you can include the make and model (i.e., Dell XXX)? Sometimes, these type of problems are associated with a particular manufacturer just because they did something "special" to it to accommodate Windows (for example), without realising it causes problems for Linux. (That has happened to me before.) Including such information might help someone find your posting! – Ray Dec 30 '20 at 02:58
  • Thanks again Ray. Lately I'm using mostly Ubuntu minimum install. (No Libre Office etc.) Then I put in all the IDE software I need: Netbeans, Spyder3, Android Studio etc. So I guess it is a pre-assembled system with additions. The desktop has 2 monitors, so that demands a nvidia display board different from the on board display, but that is the only thing special that I'm aware of. The additional display board has been around since my days with Windows when I got used to dual displays. The hardware has changed several times but always dual display. Until recently all was well. – Ilan Dec 31 '20 at 08:06
  • Ah! I was referring to the hardware. I'm not sure if something specific about your hardware combination that is causing that problem. So, someone with the same hardware specifications can search AskUbuntu and find your posting. (i.e., the model of your NVidia card, CPU, etc.) – Ray Jan 01 '21 at 03:40
  • Good idea. I edited the file to show the hardware. – Ilan Jan 02 '21 at 12:06

1 Answers1

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I think I may have found 2 problems:

  1. it is trying to call blue tooth, where my hardware has no booth tooth. This is solved by https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ubuntu-63/how-to-remove-bluetooth-4175678356/

  2. There is always an error: Initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed This is solved by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sAdA3XmUZ8

Ilan
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