Hey everyone,

I’m running into a frustrating issue and could use some guidance on how to pinpoint the faulty component.

My system completely locks up every few hours. It’s not just a DE crash; the entire machine becomes unresponsive. The mouse and keyboard are completely dead (no cursor movement, Caps Lock key doesn’t toggle). I’ve tried waiting 10-15 minutes to see if it recovers, but it never does.

REISUB does not work. Holding Alt + SysRq and pressing the keys in order does nothing. The only way out is a hard reset using the case button.

The last time this happened, I ended up buying components for a new computer and replaced them one by one until I found the faulty one. I’d rather try a more targeted approach this time. Though if it takes too much effort, I do have another computer I can fall back on.

Any advice on how to diagnose this efficiently? Logs to check, stress tests to run, or hardware to suspect first?

Thanks in advance!

  • klangcola@reddthat.com
    3·
    5 hours ago

    For actual advice:

    • run memtest to verify RAM. Do multiple passes, at least overnight.
    • Check cooling? RAM and other things can overheat and cause locks, not just CPU.
    • Can you throw a couple of different distros on there, to try different permutations of kernel and drivers, old and new.
    • journalctl --follow (with sudo), dmesg -w. I ran these over ssh from a remote machine. Even better if you can run it on a local 2nd monitor. The point is to have them open the whole time since it’s too late to change once the system is locked up