What's causing my PC to freeze up?

[Qqmike]

Looks like my BIOS is at version 1017:

Machine:
Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME Z590-P v: Rev 1.xx
serial: <superuser required> UEFI: [B]American Megatrends v: 1017[/B]
date: 07/12/2021

I can update the BIOS easily. ASUS provides a couple ways.

But your ASUS link shows a much newer version:

PRIME Z590-P BIOS 1801
Version 1801
8.87 MB
2023/01/04

"1. Improve system stability
2. Improve compatibility with NVIDIA RTX40 series cards

[Qqmike]

code tags added, btw

[Schwarzer Kater]

Thanks.
If your motherboard is at version 1017 there already have been 4 updates in the meantime, if I understand ASUS correctly (click "Show all" beneath the 1801 info).

But back to your "crash": it seems like the Firefox Snap was running at the time - did you try the "traditional" Firefox (you could install the one from Mozilla.org additionally to the Snap without any problems - feel free to use my script ), the Firefox Flatpak or another non-Snap web browser instead to test if the "crash" still occurs then?

PS: to look specifically at KWin like jlittle suggested is also a very good idea, I think.

[Qqmike]

I updated the BIOS to v 1801 (it always makes me real nervous to do that!).
For now, I'd rather stick with the standard stock snap-whatever for Firefox.

Let's see if the updated BIOS has any effect.

(Btw, updating BIOS on ASUS boards is easy in Linux, too -- EZ Flash utility built right into the BIOS settings menu under Advanced > Tools > EZ Flash. Just download your BIOS .zip, extract, copy your .cap BIOS file to a FAT 32 flash drive, plug it in, and re-boot to your BIOS screens, Advanced > Tools > EZ Flash and follow the questions asked.)

Thanks!

[Qqmike]

PS: to look especially at KWin like jlittle suggested is also a very good idea, I think.

I don't know how to specifically look for KWin, other than to look for it (specifically!) in the journalctl output ...

[Schwarzer Kater]

This is the way! (Maybe )

But perhaps the motherboard update has already solved the problem. *fingers crossed*
And I remember: the ASUS motherboard update process is platform-agnostic - my other half had an ASUS motherboard in her PC several years ago…

[Qqmike]

Thanks, again. 👍🤞

[Qqmike]

Had a typo above: should be EZ Flash utility, as you may recall from your ASUS.

[Schwarzer Kater]

… oh, and I just remembered:
Firefox 114.0.2 should fix some crashes (I have not experienced them myself, but to cover all the bases…) - did you sudo snap refresh?

[Qqmike]

$ sudo snap refresh
[sudo] password for mike:
All snaps up to date.

However, Firefox Help shows 114.0.1 => implies I do NOT have 114.0.2.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Strange…
I am "on the road" at the moment and in one of my Kubuntu 22.04 VMs the Firefox Snap has been updated to 114.0.2 today or yesterday (both snap list and Firefox Help show 114.0.2).

[Qqmike]

Before running this:

sudo snap refresh

it is necessary to close Firefox, which I didn't do. I did it now, though, and got 114.0.2.

[Qqmike]

I want to record another freeze-up.

This time I couldn't do anything with the PC. The mouse wasn't responding. Couldn't even do a hard re-start (by pressing the restart button on the PC case) -- had to do a hard shutdown (pressing and holding the power button on the PC case).

I'm pretty sure the freeze-up occurred at about 9:40 (using the time stamps in the output below).
I re-booted the Pc at about 9:45 (no output shown for that -- re-boot went OK).
Just before the freeze-up:

sudo journalctl -b -1 -a
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox">
etc etc etc
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: kauditd_printk_skb: 291 callbacks suppressed
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1326 audit(1690730864.269:11549): auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firef>
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox">
etc etc etc
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1326 audit(1690730864.385:11556): auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firef>
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1326 audit(1690730864.405:11557): auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox>
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox" sig=0 arch=c000003e sy>
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1326 audit(1690730864.421:11558): auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox>
Jul 30 09:27:44 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox" sig=0 arch=c000003e sy>
etc etc etc
Jul 30 09:27:49 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox" sig=0 arch=c000003e sy>
Jul 30 09:27:49 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: kauditd_printk_skb: 290 callbacks suppressed
Jul 30 09:27:49 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1326 audit(1690730869.285:11849): auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox>
Jul 30 09:27:49 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox" sig=0 arch=c000003e sy>
Jul 30 09:27:49 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1326 audit(1690730869.301:11850): auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox>
etc etc etc
Jul 30 09:27:49 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox" sig=0 arch=c000003e sy>
etc etc etc
Jul 30 09:27:54 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: kauditd_printk_skb: 290 callbacks suppressed
Jul 30 09:27:54 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1326 audit(1690730874.301:12149): auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox>
etc etc etc
Jul 30 09:27:59 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox" sig=0 arch=c000003e sy>
Jul 30 09:27:59 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: kauditd_printk_skb: 291 callbacks suppressed
Jul 30 09:28:10 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox" sig=0 arch=c000003e sy>
Jul 30 09:28:10 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: kauditd_printk_skb: 282 callbacks suppressed
etc etc etc
Jul 30 09:28:15 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox" sig=0 arch=c000003e sy>
Jul 30 09:28:15 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: kauditd_printk_skb: 245 callbacks suppressed
etc etc etc
Jul 30 09:28:17 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.firefox.firefox pid=91433 comm="CanvasRenderer" exe="/snap/firefox/2908/usr/lib/firefox/firefox" sig=0 arch=c000003e sy>
Jul 30 09:29:47 mike-System-Product-Name systemd[1461]: Started Dolphin - File Manager.
Jul 30 09:30:01 mike-System-Product-Name CRON[98909]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by (uid=0)
Jul 30 09:30:01 mike-System-Product-Name CRON[98910]: (root) CMD ([ -x /etc/init.d/anacron ] && if [ ! -d /run/systemd/system ]; then /usr/sbin/invoke-rc.d anacron start >/dev/null; fi)
Jul 30 09:30:01 mike-System-Product-Name CRON[98909]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Jul 30 09:30:04 mike-System-Product-Name systemd[1461]: Started LibreOffice Writer - Word Processor.
Jul 30 09:30:04 mike-System-Product-Name audit[98926]: AVC apparmor="ALLOWED" operation="open" profile="libreoffice-soffice" name="/usr/share/hwdata/pnp.ids" pid=98926 comm="soffice.bin" requested_mask="r" denied_mask="r" fsui>
Jul 30 09:30:04 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: kauditd_printk_skb: 139 callbacks suppressed
Jul 30 09:30:04 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1400 audit(1690731004.118:13146): apparmor="ALLOWED" operation="open" profile="libreoffice-soffice" name="/usr/share/hwdata/pnp.ids" pid=98926 comm="soffice.bin" req>
Jul 30 09:30:04 mike-System-Product-Name audit[98926]: AVC apparmor="ALLOWED" operation="open" profile="libreoffice-soffice" name="/usr/share/kubuntu-default-settings/kf5-settings/kdeglobals" pid=98926 comm="soffice.bin" reque>
. . . . . . . . .
Jul 30 09:30:23 mike-System-Product-Name audit[98926]: AVC apparmor="ALLOWED" operation="open" profile="libreoffice-soffice" name="/usr/share/zoneinfo-icu/44/le/zoneinfo64.res" pid=98926 comm="soffice.bin" requested_mask="r" d>
Jul 30 09:30:23 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: kauditd_printk_skb: 12 callbacks suppressed
Jul 30 09:30:23 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1400 audit(1690731023.730:13168): apparmor="ALLOWED" operation="open" profile="libreoffice-soffice" name="/usr/share/zoneinfo-icu/44/le/zoneinfo64.res" pid=98926 com>
Jul 30 09:30:23 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1400 audit(1690731023.730:13169): apparmor="ALLOWED" operation="open" profile="libreoffice-soffice" name="/usr/share/zoneinfo-icu/44/le/timezoneTypes.res" pid=98926 >
Jul 30 09:30:23 mike-System-Product-Name audit[98926]: AVC apparmor="ALLOWED" operation="open" profile="libreoffice-soffice" name="/usr/share/zoneinfo-icu/44/le/timezoneTypes.res" pid=98926 comm="soffice.bin" requested_mask="r>
Jul 30 09:30:58 mike-System-Product-Name systemd[1461]: app-libreoffice\x2dwriter-f14e2f2dbc6247558240f51b490ad381.scope: Consumed 5.590s CPU time.
Jul 30 09:31:01 mike-System-Product-Name rtkit-daemon[1201]: Supervising 10 threads of 7 processes of 1 users.
Jul 30 09:31:01 mike-System-Product-Name rtkit-daemon[1201]: Supervising 10 threads of 7 processes of 1 users.
Jul 30 09:31:02 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.fi>
Jul 30 09:31:02 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1326 audit(1690731062.661:13170): auid=1000 uid=>
Jul 30 09:31:02 mike-System-Product-Name audit[91433]: SECCOMP auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=3 subj=snap.fi>
Jul 30 09:31:02 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1326 audit(1690731062.957:13171): auid=1000 uid=>
Jul 30 09:33:10 mike-System-Product-Name systemd[1]: Started Run anacron jobs.
Jul 30 09:33:10 mike-System-Product-Name anacron[99076]: Anacron 2.3 started on 2023-07-30
Jul 30 09:33:10 mike-System-Product-Name anacron[99076]: Normal exit (0 jobs run)
Jul 30 09:33:10 mike-System-Product-Name systemd[1]: anacron.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jul 30 09:36:13 mike-System-Product-Name systemd[1461]: Started snap.firefox.firefox.ca7d3417-2311-49bf-8c83->
Jul 30 09:36:14 mike-System-Product-Name rtkit-daemon[1201]: Supervising 9 threads of 6 processes of 1 users.
etc etc
Jul 30 09:36:19 mike-System-Product-Name rtkit-daemon[1201]: Supervising 9 threads of 6 processes of 1 users.
Jul 30 09:38:23 mike-System-Product-Name systemd[1461]: Started snap.firefox.firefox.1f651f53-3ada-4845-8336->
Jul 30 09:38:23 mike-System-Product-Name audit[99357]: AVC apparmor="DENIED" operation="capable" profile="/sn>
Jul 30 09:38:23 mike-System-Product-Name kernel: audit: type=1400 audit(1690731503.114:13172): apparmor="DENI>
Jul 30 09:38:24 mike-System-Product-Name rtkit-daemon[1201]: Supervising 9 threads of 6 processes of 1 users.
etc etc
Jul 30 09:40:58 mike-System-Product-Name rtkit-daemon[1201]: Supervising 9 threads of 6 processes of 1 users.
Jul 30 09:40:58 mike-System-Product-Name rtkit-daemon[1201]: Successfully made thread 100031 of process 99282>
Jul 30 09:40:58 mike-System-Product-Name rtkit-daemon[1201]: Supervising 10 threads of 7 processes of 1 users.
​

[Schwarzer Kater]

You had three user applications open again - the Firefox Snap, Dolphin and LibreOffice - when the freeze-up occured?
You do have sufficient RAM, but did you test it already with something like Memtest 86+ (bootable ISO here: https://www.memtest.org/) - grasping a bit at straws, but doing this could not hurt either…

Do you use the 5.15.x or the 5.19.x kernel when the freeze-ups occur? Did you try both?
(I am thinking about my problems with the 6.3.x kernels…)

[Qqmike]

I'll do Memtest first. May take a little time to get to it. Thanks.

mike@mike-System-Product-Name:~$ uname -a
Linux mike-System-Product-Name 5.15.0-78-generic #85-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 7 15:25:09 UTC 2023 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux