Computer keeps freezing

[Bluey]

I've been having this issue for months now. I don't know exactly how it happens, but every now and then I'll open a program or a new tab in my browser and suddenly everything slows down to the point of freezing. This is similar to the issue I had in my previous post, but I've switched to the Nvidia driver since then, so I don't think that's the problem. How exactly do I troubleshoot this? (Currently using Kubuntu 24.04 with Plasma version 5.27.12)

System:
  Host: jordan-inspiron3670 Kernel: 7.0.0-28-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.12 Distro: Kubuntu 24.04.4 LTS (Noble Numbat)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Dell product: Inspiron 3670 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0H4VK7 v: A01 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: 2.26.0 date: 11/22/2022
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: Intel Core i7-8700 bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache:
    L2: 1.5 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 891 min/max: 800/4600 cores: 1: 900 2: 900 3: 900 4: 900
    5: 900 6: 900 7: 800 8: 900 9: 900 10: 900 11: 900 12: 900
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP108 [GeForce GT 1030] driver: nvidia v: 580.173.02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915
    resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,nvidia,swrast
    platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa
    v: 25.2.8-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.275 drivers: N/A surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP108 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  API: ALSA v: k7.0.0-28-generic status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    driver: r8169
  IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 8c:ec:4b:79:06:3a
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
    driver: ath9k
  IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: 90:32:4b:7f:d6:ed
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros driver: btusb type: USB
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down
    bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
    address: 90:32:4B:7F:D6:EE
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 129.89 GiB (13.9%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST1000DM010-2EP102 size: 931.51 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 915.53 GiB used: 129.89 GiB (14.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 7.8 MiB (2.6%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 512 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 31.0 C pch: 53.0 C mobo: 31.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 996
Info:
  Memory: total: 12 GiB available: 11.5 GiB used: 3.78 GiB (32.8%)
  Processes: 297 Uptime: 27m Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.34
​

[skyfishgoo]

you are probably running out or RAM and it's trying to use that tiny swap file.


https://labex.io/tutorials/linux-lin...xamples-422813

[Bluey]

NAME TYPE SIZE USED PRIO
/swapfile file 512M 0B -1
/home/jordanr/swapfile file 2G 0B -1

I couldn't find a /project folder on my computer, so I ended up making a new file. I feel like I shouldn't have two separate swap files, but I'm not sure what to do now.

[barfly]

NAME TYPE SIZE USED PRIO
/swapfile file 512M 0B -1
/home/jordanr/swapfile file 2G 0B -1

I couldn't find a /project folder on my computer, so I ended up making a new file. I feel like I shouldn't have two separate swap files, but I'm not sure what to do now.

Bluey

I would start with the basics. Eliminate areas you can control easily first. Do you have an alternate o/s you can use, such as a fast USB stick at least 500gb where you can load a system on it with persistence? That would completely eliminate your Kubuntu o/s. You only have one drive of 1tb, not a good idea to touch that. If you get lockups with a persistent USB stick, then it points directly to a hardware issue. If you don't know how to make a system with persistence, any distro will do, easiest is Mint or vanilla Ubuntu, and use mkusb to create a persistent drive. It's always a valuable tool to have as a backup if your system goes down. I have one with boot-rescue, qt-fsarchiver, gparted, and a plethora of other tools as well as a couple of browsers and open office. It has got me out of a hole more than once and I can continue with my daily admin stuff using that before I get on with sorting out my broken system.

Cheers Tony

[Bluey]

Thank you, but I would appreciate it if someone could help me with the two swap files before I touch anything else.

[claydoh]

I feel like I shouldn't have two separate swap files, but I'm not sure what to do now.

It doesn't harm or hinder having multiple swap files.

Thank you, but I would appreciate it if someone could help me with the two swap files before I touch anything else.

That might be better for its own, separate topic.

[skyfishgoo]

it's ok to have multiple swap files and even swap partitions... that's what the priority if for in case you want to manage which ones get used first.... but your set up work better as you have it shown.

i would have made it bigger, say at least 3GB because with 12GB of ram the min swap space should total sqrt(12) or 3.5GB ... if you intend to use suspend at all, then you would want to have a total of 16GB, preferably on a disk partition.

[oshunluvr]

There's no longer any benefit to having swap on a partition vs. as a file. The performance is the same. Additionally, there is clearly a deficiency to using a partition. For example, if you decide to change the size of your swap.

[skyfishgoo]

the benefit to using a partition for suspend/resume is you can give the partition id to grub so that it reloads the saved image properly... i don't know that you can do that with a swap file (by id number), but there may be some other way.

[oshunluvr]

the benefit to using a partition for suspend/resume is you can give the partition id to grub so that it reloads the saved image properly... i don't know that you can do that with a swap file (by id number), but there may be some other way.

Here'a a "how-to" to use resume from either partition or swap file.

https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php...-ubuntu-21-10/

TL/DR there one more step necessary to set up resume when using a swap file: finding it's offset.