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On a 4th generation X1 Carbon laptop, which generally runs Linux and Ubuntu really well, and which has been updated every six months, I am currently having hard locking issues on the default Ubuntu Gnome UI (Edit: my bad, I presume it is no longer called Unity these days but Ubuntu's Gnome variant and theming) of Ubuntu 21.04 "Hirsute".

This is an i5 with the usual Intel graphics baked in, I can procure version numbers if it helps. I can get the machine to lock via

  • Chrome (which I currently do not launch, hardware acceleration is turned off, still locks)
  • Slack simply by changing window size
  • Firefox too whereas a normal gnome-terminal is fine.

Needless to say, this is frustrating. I also opted back into xorg (instead of Wayland) for no apparent change. Any and all pointers welcome. I would be happy to run under debug or trace mode.

Edit: UI is the default Gnome3 in Ubuntu styling, no extra themes or tricks. All packages are current to 21.04, a few extra repos for Chrome, Slack, OBS, R, my own PPA -- none of which govern graphics driver. This machine first installed several releases ago.

Edit 2: Per Settings -> About:

  • i5-6300 with Mesa Intel HD Graphics 520
  • Ubuntu 21.04, 64bit, Gnome 3.38.5, Wayland but the hard locking from graphics updates also occurred when I select 'ubuntu xorg' instead of the new default Wayland.

Edit 3: Kubuntu 21.04, off a USB drive, locks hard in normal mode right after selecting 'try it'. Under 'safe graphics' it seems to work so far. But even that is weird as it just offers 'nomodeset' for the initial boot step -- I end up locking 'later' when the system is up.

Dirk Eddelbuettel
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  • Your "question" lacks any information that would help us help you. Please visit the AskUbuntu Help [Help] and learn how to ask. – waltinator Jun 16 '21 at 17:43
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    "the default Ubuntu Unity UI": There are no currently supported versions of Ubuntu that use Unity by default. What version of flavor of Ubuntu are you using? Can you please edit your question and include more details about your system and give us more information about the problem you are experiencing. For example, what are you calling "hard locking"? It's best if you tell us exactly what steps you are taking to reproduce the problem and then tell us exactly what your device is doing that is problematic. Include all errors exactly as they are given – Nmath Jun 16 '21 at 18:01
  • Plain Ubuntu 21.04. I may be behind the current branding but it is simply Ubuntu's default (as in not Kubuntu or Xubuntu or ...) which at some point was called Unity. If it makes you happier we can call it Ubuntu's tweaks on Gnome3. A quick pstree shows wayland running. – Dirk Eddelbuettel Jun 16 '21 at 18:21
  • Currently is Gnome indeed, not Unity. Although Unity was/is based on Gnome, they aren't the same thing. – ChanganAuto Jun 16 '21 at 18:36
  • dpkg -l | grep " ubuntu-" gets me about 20+ packages most of which reveal no particular name but include artwork, desktop, session, standard, system-settings etc so as I tried to say: "standard Ubuntu 21.04". – Dirk Eddelbuettel Jun 16 '21 at 18:39
  • Try restarting gnome shell, if that part of the UI still works (Ctrl+Alt+F2 and then r+Enter)... Or try restarting the X server that surely goes with just a keyboard shortcut... (Ok, admittedly, restarting X seems to destroy your session...) Test the memory for faults (memtest) (should be available through the grub menu, among some advanced options). – Levente Jun 16 '21 at 19:57
  • That's not it. I have Gnome shell restarting issues on my normal (dual monitor, simple Nvidia card) desktop where it grow. I have learned to ssh in and killall -HUP it, or issueing busctl. This is different as it happens minutes after booting. And renders the laptop, for all intents and purposes, unusable apart for straight text and emacs work. – Dirk Eddelbuettel Jun 16 '21 at 20:05
  • In case it is an option, I just saw yesterday that 21.04 with Unity is a thing now. I assume it is likely not an option, but I figured I would let you know that the option exists just in case. If you have the storage (or a thumb drive) to temporarily sacrifice, you could give it a whirl just for troubleshooting purposes. Running 21.04 sans Gnome may help to pinpoint the issue. Just a thought. – Nate T Jun 19 '21 at 03:03
  • I actually don't mind the Gnome 3.* defaults -- in the all those (15 or os?) years I think I switched once to Kubuntu and once back, sticking a few years at each point. I feel it is just one simple config switch to suppress aggressive hardware acceleration. I just don't know where to turn. That Kubuntu under 'safe graphics' appeared to work is one hint. – Dirk Eddelbuettel Jun 19 '21 at 03:09
  • Yes, as I recall from the 21.04 release notes. – Dirk Eddelbuettel Jun 20 '21 at 03:26
  • Is it locking the system or just the graphics? Can you ssh in when its locked? Any clues in /var/log/kern.log? – Spacedman Jun 24 '21 at 19:16
  • I always powered down hard. It is different from occassional gnome-shell woes on the desktop where I indeed ssh in a simple kill -HUP which works. This is driver, feels very driver-related but ... uses Intel graphics which are generally solid :-/ – Dirk Eddelbuettel Jun 24 '21 at 19:28
  • The kernel log file should persist over resets, and maybe there's a kernel panic message in there as the last thing it did before freezing. I had a system freeze issue and there were graphics driver kernel error messages beforehand (this was Nvidia graphics, so ymmv). Even seeing nothing in the kernel log could be helpful and would eliminate some problems. – Spacedman Jun 24 '21 at 20:57
  • Looks dire. Lock is hard (this time I was ssh'ed ed.). kern.log has nothing between conclusion of previous boot (ending in 'Btrfs loaded...' which I don't use, but I digress) and then the reboot after power cycle. – Dirk Eddelbuettel Jun 24 '21 at 21:19
  • Just upgraded to 21.10 -- exact same story. Had the laptop up 'headless' for a month prior to that, but as soon as I launched graphical apps it locked (slack in this case, before with redraw was complete). Chrome after reboot holding for a few minutes so far. – Dirk Eddelbuettel Oct 14 '21 at 02:04
  • Not sure why somebody felt downvoting without comment helps anyone. The bug is real, and affects me under each available UI setting (wayland, xorg, gnome classic, unity) and is obviously rather frustrating as it render the machine useless for standard work. – Dirk Eddelbuettel Oct 14 '21 at 11:46

1 Answers1

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I seem to finally have gotten to the bottom of it: the 5.* kernel locks.

Currently running on the laptop, having upgraded to 21.10 (which by itself did not help, neither did different variants I tried usb-bootable isos). But with kernel 4.13.0-46 which I still had accessible via grub the usuall x11 apps that crashed (chrome, slack, ...) now work. Uptime now several hours.

Dirk Eddelbuettel
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