It started freezing maybe a month or two ago. It happens anytime between a few seconds after the OS loads, to hours or days later. I do not recall downloading anything around when this issue began that could be suspect.

I’ve put off fixing this because I have no idea how to even begin troubleshooting it. Internet searches for “Linux freezes” returns practically countless potential problems.

What are some recommendations? I have my root directory on a 30 GB partition separate from my home directory, which I think makes reinstalling my base image (Debian) easy without losing personal data, so that’s an option. Maybe there’s a system log file that would provide some insight?

I’m Linux dumb so please teach me how to fish!

I’ll add that my Windows install (on a separate drive) doesn’t freeze, and my Linux install is on a new Samsung drive that didn’t report issues, so the problems unlikely hardware related.

02:05 18OCT: Thanks for all the quick responses, a lot of helpful suggestions so far. I should clarify that “my computer freezes” means it is 100% unresponsive until it is rebooted. Ctrl+alt+del spam or changing terminal sessions gets a response. The last few entries in my most recent journalctl boot outputs are different from one another, and the I did not see any errors. For now, I’ll boot a live USB and let it sit for while, see if it crashes again.

  • GooseFinger@sh.itjust.worksOP
    2·
    8 hours ago

    Debian 12. When the freezing first started, I lied to myself saying it’ll self-correct with time. I’ve since lost track of which timeshift backup to use. I am a silly fool.

    And there was no kernel update afaik.

    • AllForTwo@lemmy.world
      1·
      7 hours ago

      I suppose the logging from the Os there is the same as journalctl. I’m new to Linux, but I’ve done Hackintosh quite a bit, so a lot of similar commandlines and debugging. I digress.

      Have you tried making a new user, booting from a live usb or booting into a different desktop environment? I feel those are the lowest hanging fruits where you can check if it hangs universally or just on your main user account. Would help narrow it down a little if you haven’t been able to spot anything in logs.