PoP!_os may have gotten a bit unstable...

[BigBadBeef]

Not really sure what's going on, the last few patches have made things a bit janky. On boot, everything is okay. After it starts to increase memory consumption. It goes from 12% (on boot) to up to 22% (of 16GB) as time passes. There is nothing out of the ordinary in the task manager, the OS itself just progressively starts claiming more memory as time goes on.

The next thing that happens is that anything that requires hardware acceleration will begin to suffer from microstutters if I try to move the window or go full screen. A typical example is YouTube videos. Moving the browser or going full screen will cause microstutters for a few seconds before stabilizing. Same is with any game I launch whether its natively supported or not.

But most notable thing I've experienced was with my network adapter. After about a week of system uptime, my internet just randomly cuts out. Modem restart doesn't help, neither does unplugging the cable. I cannot even go into localhost to configure the modem. Only a full PC restart will re-establish internet connection.

The timeframe we are talking about is one week or more. And I always restart after a major update. Before it wasn't like that. I could run the pc on for several months at a time, access it remotely, no problem. Everything is vanilla except the appearance. The only kernel tweak I have is "gamemode". And as a far as I know, those tweaks engage only when prompted and revert to the default setting.

A restart fixes everything, but stability starts to degrade with time all over again. Was some there change in the patch notes that I missed? Was there a configuration I should have done but I didn't?

 

[butnooneshome]

Hi, don't know if this helps but I'm also experiencing lack of stability. I'm completely new to Pop OS, having switched over from Mint. I really like the look and feel of the GUI, but it's not stable enough to be usable as a main machine.

It's particularly noticeable with Firefox, Brave, Obsidian. I haven't migrated any other apps over yet as there's no point until I'm sure it's going to be usable.

I'll be keen to find out if this is known issue or whether there is a fix.

Hopefully someone might add to the thread ...

 

[rado84]

That's the destiny of all derivatives - so much poking, tinkering and rewriting code that one day they become unstable one way or the other.
IDK how much we could help you here. The first place I would ask, if I were you, is the OS' forum or GitHub/GitLab, if they have one. In specific cases such as this memory leak it's always better to ask the developers first. I think many here will agree on that.

 

[butnooneshome]

That's the destiny of all derivatives - so much poking, tinkering and rewriting code that one day they become unstable one way or the other.
IDK how much we could help you here. The first place I would ask, if I were you, is the OS' forum or GitHub/GitLab, if they have one. In specific cases such as this memory leak it's always better to ask the developers first. I think many here will agree on that.

Thanks for the pointers, I'll go and see if there's a Distro specific forum somewhere.

In looking around elsewhere on this site I notice quite a few contributors suggesting that PopOS should only be used on Sytem76 kit; could just be I've gone for the wrong distro.

Interesting point you make about derivatives; I did look at installing Debian and setting everything up myself, but as I'm a stranger to the Terminal, I decided that would be well beyond my capabilities. Maybe next time ...

 

[Brickwizard]

I did look at installing Debian

Don't worry, you can install Debian stable as easy as any other as long as you remember to install the optional drivers pack at the same time. or you could try MINT LMDE it's built directly off Debian stable and is a one size [usually] fits all out of the box distribution [I am using this on my main desktop right now]

 

[butnooneshome]

Don't worry, you can install Debian stable as easy as any other as long as you remember to install the optional drivers pack at the same time. or you could try MINT LMDE it's built directly off Debian stable and is a one size [usually] fits all out of the box distribution [I am using this on my main desktop right now]

Thanks, I'll bear that in mind if I cant get this set up working. I had heard LDME was better for some reason than the Ubuntu fork.
Oddly enough, PopOS has been as steady as a rock this evening. Maybe my trash talking of it has snapped it into line with the fear of being erased - these distros are sentient, yes ?

 

[Brickwizard]

Maybe my trash talking of it has snapped it into line

You may never know
I did a test run on my HP prodesk with Pop, about 18 months ago It looked OK, and seemed to work live, but I just could not get it to install correctly and work from the hard-drive

 

[butnooneshome]

I just could not get it to install correctly and work from the hard-drive

It took me several attempts to install, and even once it was running I couldn't apply updates - kept getting errors around package extraction. I tracked it down to a GraphViz dependency file failing to extract so ended just deleting the file in question and re-updating. I don't get that error any more but it has been flaky as mentioned.
As a Terminal 'virgin' all of the above was a bit daunting, so I was quite chuffed when I (sort of) fixed it

 

[BigBadBeef]

Gentlemen, I am pleased to report that an update has since been released. Things are once again copacetic! Reading the patch notes - the "jank" was in the nvidia drivers. Leave it to the proprietaries to make an ass of themselves once again.

Maybe my trash talking of it has snapped it into line with the fear of being erased - these distros are sentient, yes?

Screaming at your OS is a windows thing, since you can't really do much else with the code being locked down there. Ever since I joined this noble brigate of FOSS aficionados, I haven't met a problem I couldn't solve internally, while in windows, harsh language around my pc was almost a weekly occurrence.

Eventually I will buy a hard drive to once again install windows for whatever I can't get to work on Linux, but I will treat it like a disease - fully quarantined in the deepest, dankest places of my storage space; but I digress.

 

[Brickwizard]

Reading the patch notes - the "jank" was in the nvidia drivers.

As I don't have Nvidia graphics, it would not affected me,