[Errors] Kubuntu 16.04 Random freezing

[Guest]

I've recently built a new computer and decided to swtich entirely to linux. My OS has started freezing randomly a week ago. The freeze seams to happen while I'm moving the mouse. I've read several threads about similar problems but in most cases, the other people have different symptoms, or solutions that don't seam to make sense for my problem. I've seen suggestions that a field for intel CPUs somewhere in /etc needs to be changed, or the kernel needs to be updated. But I think I'm already using the latest kernel for the LTS since a manual .deb install of 4.15 would not boot, and a command to find the latest kernel tells me I already have the latest version for my system. Maybe the freezing is a memory issue? I found an old post that suggested the issue was caused by a foreign USB connection and I decided to remove my Corsair Scimitar mouse which I had been running with CKB. I've replaced it with something less exotic. This seams to have caused freezes to happen much less often.

When the freezing happens, the mouse and keyboard stop working entirely, video freezes, sound stutters and loops for a few minutes then stops entirely. There seams to still be power to peripherals if they remain in their ports because the LEDs underneath and around my mice remain on. If peripherals change USB ports, there is no power to them. Maybe the problem is a hardware issue? I'm almost sure that the CPU, GPU, and RAM are properly seated because I made sure of this a few times after building because of problems I'm also having with GPU performance. It seams to also happen less often when there are less applications open, or few tabs in the browser. This is a frustrating problem that's making me consider trying Arch or Debian.

I'm using Kubuntu as my only OS with Linux 4.10.0-42-generic
CPU is Ryzen 1200
GPU is gtx 1060 6GB
8GB of RAM and 8GB of swap

/var/log/apport.log shows that I've had 2 crashed today:

ERROR: apport (pid 1709) Mon Jan 1 14:39:43 2018: called for pid 1693, signal 11, core limit 0, dump mode 1
ERROR: apport (pid 1709) Mon Jan 1 14:39:43 2018: executable: /usr/bin/korgac (command line "/usr/bin/korgac")
ERROR: apport (pid 1709) Mon Jan 1 14:39:43 2018: gdbus call error: Error: GDBus.Errorrg.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files

ERROR: apport (pid 1709) Mon Jan 1 14:39:43 2018: debug: session gdbus call:
ERROR: apport (pid 1709) Mon Jan 1 14:39:47 2018: wrote report /var/crash/_usr_bin_korgac.1000.crash
ERROR: apport (pid 11327) Mon Jan 1 17:48:04 2018: called for pid 6576, signal 11, core limit 0, dump mode 1
ERROR: apport (pid 11327) Mon Jan 1 17:48:04 2018: executable: /usr/bin/qaptworker3 (command line "/usr/bin/qaptworker3")
ERROR: apport (pid 11327) Mon Jan 1 17:48:04 2018: is_closing_session(): no DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS in environment
ERROR: apport (pid 11327) Mon Jan 1 17:48:06 2018: wrote report /var/crash/_usr_bin_qaptworker3.0.crash
ERROR: apport (pid 1787) Mon Jan 1 20:10:44 2018: called for pid 1711, signal 11, core limit 0, dump mode 1
ERROR: apport (pid 1787) Mon Jan 1 20:10:44 2018: executable: /usr/bin/korgac (command line "/usr/bin/korgac")
ERROR: apport (pid 1787) Mon Jan 1 20:10:44 2018: gdbus call error: Error: GDBus.Errorrg.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files

ERROR: apport (pid 1787) Mon Jan 1 20:10:44 2018: debug: session gdbus call:
ERROR: apport (pid 1787) Mon Jan 1 20:10:44 2018: apport: report /var/crash/_usr_bin_korgac.1000.crash already exists and unseen, doing nothing to avoid disk usage DoS

Is it important to share the /var/crash log? It seams long and sensitive.

[Snowhog]

Laptop or Desktop? Did you install Kubuntu 16.04 ‘fresh’, or was it upgraded from an earlier release?

[Guest]

Desktop. Fresh install from a Live USB. I also suspect it started happening after I played around with the desktop environment. Installed Gnome and Budgie to try, then uninstalled which caused weird changes like the panel and panel icons changing size every time I boot. I've started using Debian Gnome and iy feels much more stable and responsive. Though I'd still like this problem solved.

[Snowhog]

I also suspect it started happening after I played around with the desktop environment.

If you haven’t done a lot of customization yet, and don’t have anything you can’t afford to loose (or if you do, have it backed up), then a fresh re-install (formatting both the / and /home partitions) would be the easiest (and quickest) way to resolve this issue of yours. Once back with a working installation and functioning Desktop, start making detailed notes of changes you start making, so that ‘if’ something ‘goes wrong’, you have a known starting point.