I have random freezes on my system

Ever since I changed my GPU from a GTX 1650 to a Radeon 6600XT I’ve been experiencing random freezes, I don’t know if the problem is the GPU because it seems to work well on windows, and it happens very randomly for example I can be playing something like CP2077 or using Unreal Engine and everything is fine but I could be doing random stuff like writing a document on LibreOffice or watching a youtube video and it starts to stutter and freezing. This freezes only last for a few seconds, I did uninstall the nvidia drivers but it didn’t help, and all the disks seem to be healthy according to crystaldisk on windows. Also I’m a noob in arch (I’ve been using previously POP OS and I wasn’t an expert in that either)

My specs

System:
  Kernel: 5.16.0-arch1-1 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-linux
    root=UUID=6bb7b559-7740-4080-bd85-32e37f1aa399 rw quiet loglevel=3
    nowatchdog nvme_load=YES nvidia-drm.modeset=1
  Desktop: GNOME 41.3 tk: GTK 3.24.31 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM 41.3
    Distro: EndeavourOS base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: B450 Steel Legend
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: P3.50
    date: 09/23/2020
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 2
    family: 0x17 (23) model-id: 0x71 (113) stepping: 0 microcode: 0x8701021
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 tpc: 2 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 3 MiB desc: 6x512 KiB
    L3: 32 MiB desc: 2x16 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2400 high: 3600 min/max: 2200/4208 boost: enabled
    scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 2276 2: 2104
    3: 2135 4: 2193 5: 2196 6: 2193 7: 3600 8: 2183 9: 2089 10: 2112 11: 3591
    12: 2130 bogomips: 86278
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass
    mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1
    mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional,
    STIBP: conditional, RSB filling
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 23 [Radeon RX 6600/6600 XT/6600M]
    vendor: Sapphire Limited driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 0c:00.0
    chip-ID: 1002:73ff class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: USB
    driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-7.3:5 chip-ID: 046d:082d
    class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.21.1.3 compositor: gnome-shell driver:
    loaded: modesetting alternate: ati,fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x286mm (20.0x11.3")
    s-diag: 583mm (23")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 96
    size: 509x286mm (20.0x11.3") diag: 584mm (23")
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (DIMGREY_CAVEFISH DRM 3.44.0
    5.16.0-arch1-1 LLVM 13.0.0)
    v: 4.6 Mesa 21.3.4 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 21 HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 6800/6800 XT / 6900 XT]
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 0c:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab28
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: ASRock
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 0e:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: USB
    driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-7.3:5 chip-ID: 046d:082d
    class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Device-4: Kingston HyperX QuadCast type: USB
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 3-2:2 chip-ID: 0951:16df
    class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.16.0-arch1-1 running: yes
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.20 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.43 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: ASRock driver: r8169 v: kernel port: f000 bus-ID: 09:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp9s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) type: USB
    driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-3:2 chip-ID: 0a12:0001 class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.07 TiB used: 1.81 TiB (58.8%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: TeamGroup model: TM8FP6256G
    size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
    speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: EDFM20.0
    temp: 9.8 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Biostar model: S100-120GB
    size: 111.79 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 5.0 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Seagate
    model: ST2000LM003 HN-M201RAD size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
    rev: 0001 scheme: GPT
  ID-4: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABD100
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 3J scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 238.17 GiB size: 233.38 GiB (97.99%)
    used: 212.59 GiB (91.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 27.8 MiB (9.3%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: N/A mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 39.0 C
    mem: 36.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
  Processes: 369 Uptime: 50m wakeups: 0 Memory: 31.28 GiB
  used: 5.47 GiB (17.5%) Init: systemd v: 250 tool: systemctl Compilers:
  gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 13.0.0 Packages: 1557 pacman: 1531 lib: 468 flatpak: 5
  snap: 21 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.11

other specs

-CPU Cooler Cooler Master ML120L V2
-Ram 2x 8gb Adata XPG Spectrix D50 3200 mhz + 2x 8gb G.Skill Aegis 3200mhz (everything is running at 2666mhz because it’s what my motherboard supports)
-GPU AMD Radeon 6600XT Sapphire Pulse (I use 2 1080p monitors and sometimes an HD TV)
-PSU Seasonic Focus GM-850
-Storage 1 m.2 nvme 240gb SSD TeamGroup MP33 (Eandeavor OS) + 1 Sata SSD Biostar 120gb (windows 11), 1 2tb Sata HDD for endeavor storage and 1tb HDD for Windows

Also check your PSU is able to cope with the new GPU.

It’s easier to post text as text, and inxi -Faz provides much more useful detail than neofetch (why do we care which icon theme you’re using? :stuck_out_tongue:).

If it’s up-to-date, however, you are well out of date (kernel is now at 5.16.5) so you should update immediately and reboot before doing or changing anything else. There have been many fixes since kernel 5.16.0.

1 Like

Beyond what @jonathon said, update your BIOS. That board has had multiple updates since the one currently installed. Considering the age of your new GPU (pretty damn new) this may be the principal cause.

2 Likes

UPDATE ALL THE THINGS!

2 Likes

Thanks for the advice I edited the post

It’s a 850W Seasonic Focus, it should be fine

How do I update the kernel? I tried running yay -Syu and pacman -Syu but it doesn’t update

If you’re not seeing any updates then your mirror is not syncing.

Use something like reflector or reflector-simple to generate a new mirrorlist file (or just pick an up-to-date mirror from https://archlinux.org/mirrors/status/).

2 Likes

I updated both the bios and the system, I hope that solves the issue, I will test throughout the day to see if it’s fixed

1 Like

Does he need above kernel parameter? Since, he no longer use NVIDIA GPU.

Not needed, but it won’t make any difference if it’s still there.

1 Like

Nope, I’m still getting random freezes and actually they’re more frequent now

Check journal for error messages

journalctl -b -p3 --no-hostname --no-pager

I used to have a random freezing problem when my gpu’s power was throttled. I installed corectrl and raised my power limit allowing it pull as much power as it wanted. Fixed for me but random problems are the most difficult to troubleshoot. You could try keeping a terminal open and running journalctl -f to see if the system logs something when it happens. And journalctl -b -1 to see your previous boot.

I did that and is outputting this, most of the errors seems to be about audio, but there are come gnome errors as well that I don’t know what they mean to be honest

feb 04 07:46:58 libvirtd[627]: internal error: Missing udev property 'ID_VENDOR_ID' on '1-7'
feb 04 07:47:00 gnome-session-binary[1998]: GLib-GIO-CRITICAL: g_bus_get_sync: assertion 'error == NULL || *error == NULL' failed
feb 04 07:47:00 gnome-session-binary[1998]: GLib-GIO-CRITICAL: g_bus_get_sync: assertion 'error == NULL || *error == NULL' failed
feb 04 07:47:03 pipewire-media-session[2588]: spa.alsa: The decibel volume range for element 'Speaker' (-4000 dB - -900 dB) has negative maximum. Disabling the decibel range.
feb 04 07:47:03 pipewire-media-session[2588]: spa.alsa: The decibel volume range for element 'Speaker' (-4000 dB - -900 dB) has negative maximum. Disabling the decibel range.
feb 04 07:47:03 pipewire-media-session[2588]: spa.alsa: The decibel volume range for element 'Speaker' (-4000 dB - -900 dB) has negative maximum. Disabling the decibel range.
feb 04 07:47:03 pipewire-media-session[2588]: spa.alsa: The decibel volume range for element 'Speaker' (-4000 dB - -900 dB) has negative maximum. Disabling the decibel range.
feb 04 07:47:25 gdm-password][8469]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file
feb 04 07:47:29 pipewire-media-session[10138]: spa.alsa: The decibel volume range for element 'Speaker' (-4000 dB - -900 dB) has negative maximum. Disabling the decibel range.
feb 04 07:47:29 pipewire-media-session[10138]: spa.alsa: The decibel volume range for element 'Speaker' (-4000 dB - -900 dB) has negative maximum. Disabling the decibel range.
feb 04 07:47:29 pipewire-media-session[10138]: spa.alsa: The decibel volume range for element 'Speaker' (-4000 dB - -900 dB) has negative maximum. Disabling the decibel range.
feb 04 07:47:29 pipewire-media-session[10138]: spa.alsa: The decibel volume range for element 'Speaker' (-4000 dB - -900 dB) has negative maximum. Disabling the decibel range.
feb 04 07:47:30 gdm-launch-environment][1767]: GLib-GObject: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

Is constantly telling me this:

feb 04 08:37:03 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaWindowGroup>:0x5634fa02c360] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:37:03 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaWindowActorX11>:0x5634fef71330] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:37:03 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaSurfaceActorX11>:0x5634fc1edbe0] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:47:18 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaWindowGroup>:0x5634fa02c360] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:47:18 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaWindowActorX11>:0x5634fef71330] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:47:18 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaSurfaceActorX11>:0x5634fc1edbe0] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:47:27 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaWindowGroup>:0x5634fa02c360] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:47:27 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaWindowActorX11>:0x5634fef71330] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:47:27 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaSurfaceActorX11>:0x5634fc1edbe0] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:47:28 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaWindowGroup>:0x5634fa02c360] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:47:28 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaWindowActorX11>:0x5634fef71330] is on because it needs an allocation.
feb 04 08:47:28 Liberator gnome-shell[9717]: Can't update stage views actor <unnamed>[<MetaSurfaceActorX11>:0x5634fc1edbe0] is on because it needs an allocation.

I tried to disable the extensions to see if it would help, it didn’t

Did you try to use only one monitor? Just for testing?

Just double checking one of your statements: Is it correct that you never had any freezes with NVDIA GPU but that the freezing starts with the new AMD GPU?

If that is the case I suggest

  1. to try the linux-lts kernel and/or
  2. to try a different desktop environment. Instead of gnome try xfce or cinnamon

Yes physically disconnected my monitors

I didn’t thought of trying a different DE, I will try that, thanks for the suggestion