System freezes if left unattended

Gep_Etto · November 4, 2023, 4:08pm

Hi all. For a couple of weeks now, I’ve had this problem where if I leave my PC on but unattended for long enough - sometimes ten minutes is enough, sometimes it takes up to an hour - it will completely freeze, to the point where the only thing I can do is reboot with the magic SysRq key. It won’t respond to any other keyboard or mouse input whatsoever. I can’t change ttys or anything. It still displays the last screen it was showing before freezing.

As long as I don’t leave the PC without user input for too long, it will function for several hours without any trouble. I haven’t tested watching a movie where the screen stays on and constantly refreshes even without input, but keeping other programs such as Firefox, Kmail, Kate, Konsole, Qalculate and Dolphin open does not prevent the freezing.

This issue is happening in both the Zen and LTS kernels. I’d love some help troubleshooting, as I am quite stuck.

At first I thought it was an issue with SDDM, so I disabled screen locking when idle and it still happened.

There is one warning in journalctl that I think might be related (kernel: [drm:detect_link_and_local_sink [amdgpu]] *ERROR* No EDID read.) but Googling it lead me to mostly old solved issues with the screen going black, which isn’t exactly my situation. I still think it may be relevant. I noticed that it’s preceded by kscreen.kded: Config does not have at least one screen enabled, WILL NOT save this config, this is not what user wants. and before that a bunch of qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash, which I believe might be related.

Here’s the tail end of journalctl from the last time this happened. This is representative. I have looked over nearly a dozen boots’ worth of journals and they all contain these same messages near the end. Note the timestamps (there was a six-minute period with no logging before the errors started).

nov 04 12:08:39 Thanatos systemd[1]: NetworkManager-dispatcher.service: Deactivated successfully.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos DiscoverNotifier[2025]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kactivitymanagerd[1755]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kclockd[2004]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1[1761]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kdeconnectd[2006]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos xdg-desktop-portal-kde[1763]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kgpg[2057]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_migration_agent[2691]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_akonotes_resource[2678]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwalletd5[2927]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_sendlater_agent[2695]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwalletmanager5[2969]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_indexing_agent[2683]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_contacts_resource[2680]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_mailfilter_agent[2688]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kalendarac[2062]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_archivemail_agent[2679]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_maildir_resource[2684]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_newmailnotifier_agent[2692]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos yakuake[2009]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos klauncher[2957]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_google_resource[2682]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_mailmerge_agent[2689]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos krunner[4035]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_maildispatcher_agent[2685]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_followupreminder_agent[2681]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_unifiedmailbox_agent[2696]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kscreenlocker_greet[19163]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos akonadi_control[2391]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos org_kde_powerdevil[1762]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kded5[1670]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos dbus-daemon[1493]: [session uid=1000 pid=1493] Activating via systemd: service name='org.kde.kscreen.osdService' unit='plasma-kscreen-osd.service' requested by ':1.13' (uid=1000 pid=1670 comm="/usr/bin/kded5")
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos systemd[1442]: Starting KScreen OSD service...
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30731]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30734]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30733]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos dbus-daemon[1493]: [session uid=1000 pid=1493] Successfully activated service 'org.kde.kscreen.osdService'
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos systemd[1442]: Started KScreen OSD service.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30746]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30750]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30758]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kscreen_osd_service[30737]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30731]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30733]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30750]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30734]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30766]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30746]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30778]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30758]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30766]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30796]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: qt.qpa.wayland: Wayland does not support QWindow::requestActivate()
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: qt.qpa.wayland: Wayland does not support QWindow::requestActivate()
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:20: TypeError: Cannot read property 'pluginName' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:75: TypeError: Cannot read property 'configuration' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:78: TypeError: Cannot read property 'pluginName' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:80: TypeError: Cannot read property 'configuration' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:81: TypeError: Cannot read property 'configuration' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:82: TypeError: Cannot read property 'configuration' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:83: TypeError: Cannot read property 'configuration' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:84: TypeError: Cannot read property 'configuration' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:16: TypeError: Cannot read property 'configuration' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:17: TypeError: Cannot read property 'configuration' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos plasmashell[9580]: file:///usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/contents/ui/main.qml:18: TypeError: Cannot read property 'configuration' of null
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kwin_wayland[1521]: kf.service.services: The desktop entry file "/usr/share/applications/org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop" has Type= "Application" but has no Exec field.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30802]: qt.qpa.wayland: Creating a fake screen in order for Qt not to crash
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30778]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30796]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kded5[1670]: kscreen.kded: Config does not have at least one screen enabled, WILL NOT save this config, this is not what user wants.
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kcminit[30802]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_fonts.so"
nov 04 12:14:58 Thanatos kernel: [drm:detect_link_and_local_sink [amdgpu]] *ERROR* No EDID read.
nov 04 12:14:59 Thanatos rtkit-daemon[1532]: Supervising 8 threads of 5 processes of 1 users.
nov 04 12:14:59 Thanatos rtkit-daemon[1532]: Supervising 8 threads of 5 processes of 1 users.
nov 04 12:15:00 Thanatos kernel: sched: RT throttling activated
nov 04 12:15:00 Thanatos dbus-daemon[832]: [system] Activating service name='org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper' requested by ':1.47' (uid=1000 pid=1762 comm="/usr/lib/org_kde_powerdevil") (using servicehelper)
nov 04 12:15:00 Thanatos backlighthelper[30866]: org.kde.powerdevil: no kernel backlight interface found
nov 04 12:15:00 Thanatos dbus-daemon[832]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper'
nov 04 12:15:00 Thanatos org_kde_powerdevil[1762]: org.kde.powerdevil: Failed to set screen brightness ""
nov 04 12:15:23 Thanatos kernel: sysrq: Keyboard mode set to system default
nov 04 12:15:24 Thanatos systemd-journald[364]: Journal stopped

Here’s my hardware information from inxi -Fzy:

System:
  Kernel: 6.5.9-zen2-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.9
    Distro: EndeavourOS
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: X570 Phantom Gaming 4
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: P5.01
    date: 01/18/2023
CPU:
  Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache: L2: 4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2198 min/max: 2200/4662 cores: 1: 2200 2: 2200 3: 2200
    4: 2200 5: 2200 6: 2200 7: 2200 8: 2200 9: 2200 10: 2200 11: 2200 12: 2182
    13: 2200 14: 2200 15: 2200 16: 2200
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 22 [Radeon RX 6700/6700 XT/6750 XT / 6800M/6850M XT]
    driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.9 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.2
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu unloaded: modesetting,vesa
    dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu resolution: 1920x1080
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: radeonsi,swrast
    platforms: wayland,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 23.2.1-arch1.2
    renderer: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (navi22 LLVM 16.0.6 DRM 3.54
    6.5.9-zen2-1-zen)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.269 drivers: radv surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 21/23 HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  API: ALSA v: k6.5.9-zen2-1-zen status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX210/AX211/AX411 160MHz driver: iwlwifi
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel I211 Gigabit Network driver: igb
  IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: br-5528ae44d596 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-2: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX210 Bluetooth driver: btusb type: USB
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.3
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 10.35 TiB used: 4.57 TiB (44.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST4000DM004-2U9104 size: 3.64 TiB
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Seagate model: ST1000DM003-1ER162 size: 931.51 GiB
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Seagate model: ST2000DM008-2FR102 size: 1.82 TiB
  ID-4: /dev/sdd vendor: Seagate model: ST2000DM008-2UB102 size: 1.82 TiB
  ID-5: /dev/sde vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37120G size: 111.79 GiB
  ID-6: /dev/sdf vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37240G size: 223.57 GiB
  ID-7: /dev/sdg vendor: Seagate model: BUP Slim BL size: 1.82 TiB type: USB
  ID-8: /dev/sdi vendor: Generic model: Flash Disk size: 14.51 GiB type: USB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 109.22 GiB used: 53.6 GiB (49.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdf2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 349.9 MiB (68.5%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sdf1
  ID-3: /home size: 109.23 GiB used: 54.8 GiB (50.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdf3
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 10 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/sdc5
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 10 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/sdd5
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 57.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
  Processes: 409 Uptime: 37m Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.27 GiB
  used: 5.01 GiB (16.0%) Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.31

I’m running Wayland/SDDM/KDE Plasma from the repos (no -git versions of important packages) with all the latest updates.

EDIT: In case it’s relevant, my monitor is connected to the GPU via HDMI and turning it on or off does not affect whether the freeze happens. This is also a desktop PC, so any powersaving features should not be kicking in, if they’re even installed at all. TLP is not installed. Powerdevil is installed as a dependency for plasma-desktop, but all features are disabled in kcm.

mihalycsaba · November 5, 2023, 3:12pm

I have an 5700g apu with a vega integrated gpu, I noticed something weird too the last few days. I use gnome with gdm, the system doesn’t freeze for me, but whenever the screen turns off and I wake it up, I can’t play any game because the fps tanks, from 50+ goes to 10 fps. I have to restart the system for the gpu to work again. Maybe the gpu part doesn’t wake up and it’s using software rendering idk, no idea how to troubleshoot further.

I checked my journal I don’t see these messages that you have, also I don’t have kde installed can’t check if my system freezes, don’t have enough space to install kde. If you have gnome you could check if it freezes too.

Also since you have a dedicated gpu, the issue could be because your gpu doesn’t turn on, just like mine, but you can’t use cpu rendering since your gpu didn’t wake up. If you have a video output on your motherboard, maybe you could try use software rendering and check if the system freezes if you don’t use gpu at all.

Just some ideas, sorry for my bad english, I’m tired.

Do you guys know how to check if software rendering is used?

Take a look around here, I couldn’t find anything relevant for me, but maybe you will.

mihalycsaba · November 5, 2023, 3:26pm

Maybe this:

Or these:

You can look up your error messages here, at least you have some, my journal only has some gnome-shell errors, but I suspect the culprit is the amdgpu, I just don’t have errors from that. Something really similar was happening in july with suspend/wake up freezes, they fixed it in a month or so.

Gep_Etto · November 6, 2023, 2:31pm

Thank you very much for the references. Sadly, my issue seems not to be related to any of those, and the fixes in those reports and related ones were ineffective.

To clarify, this happens when the computer is left without user input but still running. I might, for example, be downloading something. It probably has nothing to do with suspend, sleep, hibernate, etc. because as a desktop PC, it’s always connected to AC power and all Powerdevil functions are disabled in kcm. Disabling aspm in the kernel parameters had no effect. Is there any other amdgpu powersaving function I’m unaware of that can be causing this? My searches have turned up nothing.

I had the opportunity to test if this happens when video is playing for a long time. An entire two-hour movie played from beginning to end and the machine was still responsive afterwards. But since the time it takes for this freeze to occur is variable, maybe I just got lucky.

mihalycsaba · November 6, 2023, 4:10pm

But did your screen go dark if there’s no video and left idle, before this issue started happening? That’s the default in most desktop environments, to turn off the screen after x minutes.

Most video players prevent the screen from turning off. I’m not sure, but I think, when the screen turns off, the system does some power state change or turns off the gpu or does something to it, that could cause it to not wake up, everything else works, just the screen goes to some powersave mode. I really don’t know though, and had no time to look into.

Gep_Etto · November 8, 2023, 2:38pm

That is the default behavior, but I disabled it in kcm’s power settings to troubleshoot. The problem still occurred.

However, it seems to have gone away on its own now, possibly due to a system update. Thanks for your help and your time regardless.

mihalycsaba · November 9, 2023, 1:09pm

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=290089

Have a look through arch forums too

system · November 11, 2023, 1:09pm

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