1

How can I diagnose random freezing on Ubuntu? I've tried fresh reinstalls several times but the OS still freezes often.

Spectro
  • 367
  • 1
    This is not a duplicate. That question is about how to recover from a hang; this question is about how to diagnose the cause of hangs. – Jonathan Cast Oct 05 '16 at 03:05

1 Answers1

1

The freezing usually can occur due to HDD failing or/and a problem with graphics card driver.

  • So first check the HDD for bad sectors. Open the Disks utility and check the S.M.A.R.T and see if disk is Healthy.

enter image description here

  • Then you can install an additional driver for your graphics card (if any). This can be done from Ubuntu Software Center → Edit → Software Sources and activate a binary-proprietary driver. Reboot your system for changes to take effect. An example for Nvidia

enter image description here

  • Also you can run a memtest from grub menu (memtest86+). Leave it for 30-40 minutes at least an see if any weird - red lines - messages appears.

If the problem persists, you can check some logs for weird - error messages 

cat var/log/Xorg.0.log 
dmesg
NickTux
  • 17,539
  • My disks utility looks different than yours and I don't see any "S.M.A.R.T." area that I can check.

    http://imgur.com/utUX5Qp

    I have the latest Nvidia drivers installed. How do I run the memtest?

     – Spectro Jul 28 '13 at 16:29
  • 1
    Click the gears and you will see S.M.A.R.T. – NickTux Jul 28 '13 at 16:32
  • OK, there are three types of tests "Short", "Extended", and "Conveyance". What should I choose? – Spectro Jul 28 '13 at 16:33
  • No necessary to run tests. Check the attributes, are all OK ? – NickTux Jul 28 '13 at 16:35
  • Yes, both hard drives say "OK" under Assessment. – Spectro Jul 28 '13 at 16:59
  • Note that memtest86 is no longer available under Ubuntu (I can't find a way to get it in my grub menu on 16.04, and it's not even available on my 14.04 install DVD), so that part of this answer is obsolete. – Jonathan Cast Oct 05 '16 at 03:04