daily linux problems

[marbles]

hi all,

as you know i have daily linux problems. it will just freeze up and then i have to do a push button power down to restart it works fine (until have to do the same thing EVERYDAY)

i don't do anything that uses alot of computing power (no games, no videos)

its random programs that will cause it to freeze - sometimes firefox will cause it to freeze, sometimes it will be libre office

its as if linux is getting "tired" and just freezes

can someone please tell me where to start looking

and as you know i'm an idiot, so gui instructions would be needed plz

 

[Condobloke]

I have asked you before. Is there a possibility your hard drive is nearing full ?

I can show you how to find out, if you wish.

 

[APTI]

if you drive is not nearing full you most likely have a memory leak in one of the programs. I had that and I watched the performance monitor and was able to see the RAM slowly being used up and it was a particular program doing it over about 12 hours of time. So that may be something to check into. Most likely you will find either a physical issue or a particular program as the culprit.

 

[marbles]

hi c - yes lets do it (that one sounds easy so you can give me terminal commands if thats easier for you, thank you c

hi a - well that sucked for you. was it a virus? is their a log file that will give us that same info? or do i have to watch performance manager...btw. i don't have performance manager, do i need to download it or is it called by some other name - thx a

 

[Condobloke]

Click on menu

type in disks , and then click on it

your hard drive will show on the left hand side

click on it...once.

It may have a couple of partitions.....click on the larger one

Underneath that, it will say its size.....and how much of is free (free, meaning empty)

 

[marbles]

hi c - thx for your prompt response

i have a feeling that u found the problem. this doesn't look right;

partition 1 - file system - 537mb - 0.2% full
partition 2 - extended partition - doesn't say % full - why not?
partition 5 - file system - 21% full

why no partition 3,4?

 

[Condobloke]

partition 2 - extended partition - doesn't say % full - why not?

click on it....that may bring up the detail

3 partitions in total are fine

 

[camtaf]

Having partitions of 1, 2, & 5, suggests to me an MBR partitioning with an 'extended' partition, 5, so in effect, just two partitions.

 

[kc1di]

@marbles please also issue this command in a terminal and post the output here.

inxi -Fxxzr

if that command does not work which distro are you using?

 

[MikeWalsh]

Having partitions of 1, 2, & 5, suggests to me an MBR partitioning with an 'extended' partition, 5, so in effect, just two partitions.

Uh-huh. Mention of 1, 2 & 5 suggests the older MBR.....which supported 4 'primary' partitions per drive. That configuration suggests that partition 2 is the 'extended' partition, with 5 being the first 'logical' partition within the extended one....

Do any Linux installers do this kinda thing? I always understood that when 'extended' partitions come into 'the mix', it's usually because they've been created/added by the individual user. (I'm willing to admit, this is one area I know very little about. The one time I had an 'extended' - with 3 'logicals' within - it was because I, myself, had put it there...)


Mike.

 

[kc1di]

most likely any debian based distro will use extended partition management if you are installing and ext4 system under MBR.

 

[wizardfromoz]

i have a feeling that u found the problem. this doesn't look right;

No, not so. Brian @Condobloke is not online at the moment.

You are using a computer, likely older, that uses a partitioning scheme known as DOS-MBR, as opposed to newer ones that use UEFI-GPT.

Your scheme (also known as Legacy) only allows for 4 Primary Partitions, and Members above have described how that works.

The Extended Partition, Partition 2, consumes nearly no space at all, but acts as an umbrella over the top of what can be a number of Logical Partitions, each able to house an operating system. The first of these partitions is 5, and that is where your LInux Mint is.

Only 21% is currently used, so there are no space issues at all.

I believe a viable solution to your problem may be to make a modification to one of the files that controls your bootup, and that is

/etc/default/grub

It would involve inserting an instruction

acpi=off OR noacpi

on a particular line, and then saving the altered file. This process can be done either through Terminal or GUI.

Following that, you must enter Terminal and issue an instruction

sudo update-grub

to finalise the changes. You would then reboot and monitor any performance changes over an unspecified period of time to see that it is working.

On ACPI -

This parameter disables the whole ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) system. This may prove very useful, for example, if your computer does not support ACPI or if you think the ACPI implementation might cause some problems (for instance random reboots or system lockups).

If you wish to give this method a try, let me know whether you want to change the file under GUI or Terminal, and I will describe a blow by blow. Bear in mind that Brian and I are in Australia.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[marbles]

hi all,

so it sounds like my partition structure is okay, thats good to hear thank you everyone for reading

condobloke - i did what you said i clicked on partition 2 and still doesn't say % full...if it doesn't matter then we can move on

we haven't heard back from apti yet....do u smell what he was cooking? any idea where to see which programs are sucking me dry

thx everyone for helping. its very frustrating using linux

 

[Condobloke]

The suggestion offered by @wizardfromoz just above your post, is more likely than not the next most likely cause of your freezes.

 

[sofasurfer]

Do you have adequate memory? Hard drive space? Is it froze or just taking forever to accomplish tasks?

 

[marbles]

wiz - that sounds like something that could permanently screw up my system. thanks for offering to hold my hand during it but that would be impossible as you are not sitting right here next to me. why didn't stupid linux do it properly when i did a fresh install of it? i don't know about partitions so i chose the default configuration.

sofa - i answered all of those earlier

while we're waiting for apti to respond; how do we know its not my crappy hardware - which programs will test the hdd and memory

linux is horrible

 

[wizardfromoz]

wiz - that sounds like something that could permanently screw up my system.

Not really, you could take a Timeshift snapshot beforehand, then make the changes, and if something went wrong, you could use Timeshift to roll it back to how it is currently.

But it's always your computer, your choices, and your problems.

thanks for offering to hold my hand during it but that would be impossible as you are not sitting right here next to me.

Have you considered joining a LInux User Group (LUG)?

If you are a US citizen and (just using a few states as an example) type in at Google -

linux user group new york state
linux user group washington state
linux user group texas
linux user group california

and so on, you might find there is help available in your area. Personal contact would have dialled down during the worst of COVID, but should be OK now.

We have an embryonic LUGs subforum here, but it will take a lot of input to make it useful, and I think the UCLA reference may be unsuitable.

Just a thought.

Cheers

Wiz

 

[MikeRocor]

If you are a US citizen and (just using a few states as an example) type in at Google -

linux user group new york state
linux user group washington state
linux user group texas
linux user group california

and so on, you might find there is help available in your area.

While I'm not actively looking for a local LUG, it might be nice to have contact with a few more geeks...

Alas googling

linux user group pennsylvania

turns up little of value for the Pittsburgh area - a couple of hits where the most recent activity was several years ago (longer ago that Covid would account for) and a couple of dead links but nothing current. I did find that a former coworker was on the board of of one of the old LUGs, so if I can find him maybe he can advise on what's still out there, if anything. I wouldn't be too surprised if one or more of the colleges has some sort of on campus meetup but if they do, google doesn't know about it. I'm pretty sure CMU still does some geek stuff.

You'd think a happenin' place like Pittsburgh would have some kind of activity. Even "Geek Night" (pghgeeks.org is not even an English language site these days) went away back in about 2014.

It's a sad state of affairs.

 

[I-hate-Windows]

is this a laptop ot a desktop pc? when they get old you need to clean them, your issues sound like overheating to me, either that or a bad drive or such

 

[marbles]

mike - i couldn't find a lug directory neither, was i looking at the right spots?

https://www.linux.org/groups/

Locating a Linux User Group - Linux.com

In my location we are fortunate to have the Tidewater Linux User Group, this group is in place to discuss all subjects relating to Unix systems, Linux systems and Free and Open Source Software. This is the first LUG I have joined and it has become a great resource to help me to learn …

www.linux.com

i - good point. shouldn't matter if its a desktop or laptop right? either can be cleaned - which items are overheating so i can clean them...if its a bad drive..which program will confirm that. thx

apti - when are you going to respond and put an end to this thread