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I have been using Ubuntu 16.04 in the past without any issues on my desktop (dual boot with Windows 10 on separate SSD's). At point I tried upgrading to 18.04 and then my computer would freeze just a couple of minutes after login, which made me revert back to Ubuntu 16.04. Recently I decided to try a clean install of Ubuntu 20.04, but I am having the same issue. Usually 2-3 minutes after logging in, my PC just freezes and mouse and keyboard are not working. I bought a new SSD (WD 500GB) and tried to clean install on the new drive, but I am having the same issue. I read a lot of topics that it may be Nvidia related, so I tried multiple Nvidia drivers ( 340,390,440, and the open source nouveau one) but the problem persists. Since mouse and keyboard are not working, I cannot press ctrl+alt+f2 to try to debug the issue or at least find the source of the problem.

I have been a casual user of Ubuntu in the past and used it mainly for development purposes so I am not very familiar with how I can find the source of the problem. I need to sort out the issue because I need to set up Ubuntu on my desktop for work purposes and I am desperate. Any hints on what command outputs I need to post here to help reach a solution would be greatly appreciated!

Specifications: Motherboard: MSI 970a-g43

Processor: AMD FX-6300

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti

Memory: G.Skill PC 1333 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Edit:

sudo dmidecode -s bios-version
V10.6

free -h
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:          7,7Gi       841Mi       5,9Gi       2,0Mi       995Mi       6,6Gi
Swap:         2,0Gi          0B       2,0Gi


ls -al ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions
ls: cannot access '/home/stavros/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions': No such file or directory


ls -al /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions
total 20
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 31 19:29 .
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 Jul 31 19:30 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 31 19:29 desktop-icons@csoriano
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jul 31 19:29 ubuntu-appindicators@ubuntu.com
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jul 31 19:29 ubuntu-dock@ubuntu.com

Update: The issue has been fixed by installing the 5.9 Ubuntu kernel!

zakos
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  • Does this happen with a newly created user? Does this happen also with Ubuntu 20.04 live cd? – FedKad Sep 15 '20 at 18:58
  • Edit your question and show me sudo dmidecode -s bios-version and free -h and ls -al ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions and ls -al /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions... more in next comment..., – heynnema Sep 15 '20 at 19:49
  • Ryzen processors are notorious for memory compatibility issues. Go to https://www.memtest86.com/ and download/run their free memtest to test your memory. Get at least one complete pass of all the 4/4 tests to confirm good memory. This may take many hours to complete. Report back. Start comments to me with @heynnema or I'll miss them. – heynnema Sep 15 '20 at 19:50
  • This can also be a problem with some hardware. I have a similar issue with a logitech mouse driver. After I started using another mouse the freezes went away. – LnxSlck Sep 16 '20 at 10:39
  • @heynnema Thank you for your help! I edited my post to include the info that you asked for. I also run the memtest test twice ( 2 full passes) and no errors were found. – zakos Sep 17 '20 at 10:17
  • @FedonKadifeli Yes it does it with a newly created user and it also happened when i tried to reinstall ubuntu from a live cd once. – zakos Sep 17 '20 at 10:18
  • Please see my answer. I'm not sure that updating to the 5.9 kernel is the correct fix. Also, memtest should be run for 4/4 tests to verify RAM. Report back. – heynnema Sep 17 '20 at 13:07
  • @heynnema memtest reportes no issues after 4/4 tests. since i upgraded my kernels the issue did not reoccur. – zakos Sep 26 '20 at 16:47
  • @zakos The MSI web site is down, so the BIOS information that I have is probably incorrect. I've updated my answer... – heynnema Sep 26 '20 at 17:12
  • @zakos The MSI web site is back up. If your BIOS and motherboard info is correct, you may possibly have the wrong BIOS installed. Please review. – heynnema Sep 30 '20 at 15:34
  • @heynnema I have bios version A.6 installed, which is the latest bios driver for my motherboard. – zakos Oct 01 '20 at 17:38
  • @zakos In your question you indicate "V10.6". Typo? – heynnema Oct 01 '20 at 17:42
  • @heynnema apparently this is the name that shows up when you install A.6. I have double checked and have the latest bios available. – zakos Oct 02 '20 at 11:57

3 Answers3

2

The issue has been solved by updating the linux kernel to 5.9. Thanks to everyone for your answers!

zakos
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0

Upgrade to kernel 5.8 on Ubuntu 20.04.

The same thing happened with me and it resolved after the upgrade.

Visit Upgrading Ubuntu to Linux kernel 5.8: A case for and against it for details.

Eliah Kagan
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user8017947
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  • Thank you! This has fixed the freezing issue, no freezes have happened after the upgrade. The only issue that I have now is that the peripherals that are plugged in USB 3.0 ports are not responding/are not recognized. Any ideas on how to fix that? – zakos Sep 17 '20 at 11:21
  • Update: The 3.0 USB issue appears to be kernel-specific and has been fixed by installing the 5.9 kernel. Big thanks to everyone for helping me out, I really appreciate it! – zakos Sep 17 '20 at 12:03
0

For other Ubuntu users, this might help.

If you used nouveau.modeset=0 in /etc/default/grub, remove it. In my case, this is the culprit. Concretely, this is what I have done.

Before:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nouveau.modeset=0"

After:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="" #nouveau.modeset=0"

After that do sudo update-grub and reboot (sudo init 6). Do it fast before it freezes. For sure the nouveau is what reason for the freeze.

sugab
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