2

I have a problem on my Arch-Linux system. I use startx to start my GUI, and this issue occurs randomly throughout my day. There is no sign of anything going wrong (until I switch to a Virtual Terminal/Console, that is), and this issue is persistent regardless of my desktop environment.

So the issue is: When I switch to a VT from my DE my VT's display seems frozen. By "Frozen" I mean it displays whatever text was last on the VT before it (for lack of better term) "Crashed". Anything I type does not display, but I know what ever commands I type go through and are executed properly. So basically the VT works fine and stuff, only this display stays frozen. Even if I switch to a different VT, it displays the same "Frozen" text.

Looking at the logs (journalctl -xe) shows no errors, no warnings - nothing odd at all. This wouldn't be an issue if I only started up my computer and used a GUI, but I spend a lot of y time using both a graphical interface and the Virtual Terminal simultaneously. A pattern I have noticed is that going fullscreen in an application will almost guarantee the VT to Freeze, but again there are no errors.

So the Question: How Do I Fix This??

EDIT:

My graphics card: Intel HD 5500 (Integrated Graphics)
I use the the xf86-video-intel package, for the DRI(2) Drivers
Using light-dm instead of starting from VT makes no difference, the error still occurred sometime throughout my session.

EDIT 2:

I now think this might be caused by a GPU hang, but am not 100% sure. I have also noticed that this error occurs when running some programs or games through Wine.

EDIT 3:

Running:

$ glxinfo | grep -i vendor

Output: 

server glx vendor string: SGI
client glx vendor string: Mesa Project and SGI
    Vendor: Intel Open Source Technology Center (0x8086)
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center

My Kernel Driver is i915: 

$ lspci -nnk | grep -i vga -A3 | grep 'in use'
Kernel driver in use: i915

EDIT 4:

Output from journctl -xe (from start of relevant time, to end of file)

Apr 09 10:45:00 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: psmouse serio2: bad data from KBC - timeout
Apr 09 10:46:59 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: psmouse serio2: bad data from KBC - timeout
Apr 09 10:51:43 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: psmouse serio2: bad data from KBC - timeout
Apr 09 10:52:28 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: psmouse serio2: bad data from KBC - timeout
Apr 09 11:20:54 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: VBoxPciLinuxLinuxUnload
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: Found 4 processor cores
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: TSC mode is Invariant, tentative frequency 1995507786 Hz
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: Successfully loaded version 5.0.16_OSE (interface 0x00240000)
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: VBoxNetAdp: Successfully started.
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: VBoxNetFlt: Successfully started.
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: VBoxPciLinuxInit
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxpci: IOMMU not found (not registered)
Apr 09 11:22:40 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: capability: warning: `VirtualBox' uses 32-bit capabilities (legacy support in use)
Apr 09 11:22:41 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:22:42 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:22:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: SUPR0GipMap: fGetGipCpu=0x3
Apr 09 11:22:49 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: ffffffffa1008020 VMMR0.r0
Apr 09 11:22:50 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: ffffffffa0258020 VBoxDDR0.r0
Apr 09 11:22:50 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: ffffffffa002e020 VBoxDD2R0.r0
Apr 09 11:22:50 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: ffffffffa0047020 VBoxEhciR0.r0
Apr 09 11:23:20 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:23:20 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.bluez' unit='dbus-org.bluez.service'
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.bluez.service': Unit dbus-org.bluez.service not found.
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:49 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.bluez' unit='dbus-org.bluez.service'
Apr 09 11:31:49 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.bluez.service': Unit dbus-org.bluez.service not found.
Apr 09 11:31:49 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:57 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:34:18 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:34:19 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:34:31 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:34:31 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).


Same as Above, but no -xe (journalctl)

Apr 09 11:20:54 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: VBoxPciLinuxLinuxUnload
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: Found 4 processor cores
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: TSC mode is Invariant, tentative frequency 1995507786 Hz
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: Successfully loaded version 5.0.16_OSE (interface 0x00240000)
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: VBoxNetAdp: Successfully started.
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: VBoxNetFlt: Successfully started.
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: VBoxPciLinuxInit
Apr 09 11:22:35 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxpci: IOMMU not found (not registered)
Apr 09 11:22:40 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: capability: warning: `VirtualBox' uses 32-bit capabilities (legacy support in use)
Apr 09 11:22:41 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:22:42 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:22:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: SUPR0GipMap: fGetGipCpu=0x3
Apr 09 11:22:49 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: ffffffffa1008020 VMMR0.r0
Apr 09 11:22:50 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: ffffffffa0258020 VBoxDDR0.r0
Apr 09 11:22:50 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: ffffffffa002e020 VBoxDD2R0.r0
Apr 09 11:22:50 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: vboxdrv: ffffffffa0047020 VBoxEhciR0.r0
Apr 09 11:23:20 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:23:20 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.bluez' unit='dbus-org.bluez.service'
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.bluez.service': Unit dbus-org.bluez.service not found.
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:48 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:49 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.bluez' unit='dbus-org.bluez.service'
Apr 09 11:31:49 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.bluez.service': Unit dbus-org.bluez.service not found.
Apr 09 11:31:49 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:31:57 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:34:18 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:34:19 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:34:31 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:34:31 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:39:47 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dhcpcd[2126]: wlp7s0: carrier lost
Apr 09 11:39:47 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dhcpcd[2126]: wlp7s0: deleting route to 192.168.1.0/24
Apr 09 11:39:47 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dhcpcd[2126]: wlp7s0: deleting default route via 192.168.1.254
Apr 09 11:39:47 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:39:47 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:39:47 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: r8169 0000:08:00.0 enp8s0: rtl_counters_cond == 1 (loop: 1000, delay: 10).
Apr 09 11:55:25 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: psmouse serio2: bad data from KBC - timeout
Apr 09 11:57:07 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.Avahi' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service'
Apr 09 11:57:07 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service': Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service not found.
Apr 09 11:57:46 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus-daemon[585]: Activating service name='org.gnome.evince.Daemon'
Apr 09 11:57:46 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus-daemon[585]: Successfully activated service 'org.gnome.evince.Daemon'
Apr 09 11:58:28 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.Avahi' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service'
Apr 09 11:58:28 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service': Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service not found.
Apr 09 11:58:54 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.Avahi' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service'
Apr 09 11:58:54 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service': Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service not found.
Apr 09 11:59:07 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: psmouse serio2: bad data from KBC - timeout
Apr 09 11:59:10 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.Avahi' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service'
Apr 09 11:59:10 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service': Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service not found.
Apr 09 12:03:05 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus-daemon[585]: Activating service name='org.gnome.Terminal'
Apr 09 12:03:05 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush org.gnome.Terminal[585]: (gnome-terminal-server:7081): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:700:22: 'text-decoration-line' is not a valid property name
Apr 09 12:03:05 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus-daemon[585]: Successfully activated service 'org.gnome.Terminal'
Apr 09 12:07:41 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.hostname1' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.hostname1.service'
Apr 09 12:07:41 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush systemd[1]: Starting Hostname Service...
Apr 09 12:07:41 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus[240]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.hostname1'
Apr 09 12:07:41 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush systemd[1]: Started Hostname Service.
Apr 09 12:08:24 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush kernel: psmouse serio2: bad data from KBC - timeout
Apr 09 12:08:50 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus-daemon[585]: Activating service name='org.gnome.gedit'
Apr 09 12:08:50 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush dbus-daemon[585]: Successfully activated service 'org.gnome.gedit'
Apr 09 12:08:50 UNIX-ARCH-Ankush org.gnome.gedit[585]: (gedit:7237): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:700:22: 'text-decoration-line' is not a valid property name
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3
  • 1
    I've seen systemd do this before. Add to your post what graphics card and what driver you use for it. Also test if a display manager like light-dm has the same issue as startx. Remember, if Poettering and the people around him don't do a practice, systemd is going to be weak in that practice, sad to say, and they may not use startx.
    – Lizardx
    Commented Mar 20, 2016 at 5:53
  • Have you tried a non-specific driver in X, like vesa or fbdev?
    – L. Levrel
    Commented Mar 26, 2016 at 20:19
  • No, But i'll give it a shot
    – Ankush
    Commented Mar 27, 2016 at 1:11

2 Answers 2

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1
+50

It really looks like a video driver issue.

Sources
wiki.archlinux Intel_graphics
wiki.archlinux Xorg

X freeze/crash with intel driver

Some issues with X crashing, GPU hanging, or problems with X freezing, can be fixed by disabling the GPU usage with the NoAccel option - add the following lines to your configuration file:

Option "NoAccel" "True"

Alternatively, try to disable the 3D acceleration only with the DRI option:

Option "DRI" "False"

If you experience crashes and have

Option "TearFree" "true"
Option "AccelMethod" "sna"

in your configuration file, in most cases these can be fixed by adding

i915.semaphores=1

to your boot parameters.

If you are using kernel 4.0.X or above on Baytrail architecture and frequently encounter complete system freezes (especially when watching video or using GFX intensivelly), you should try adding the following kernel option as a workaround, until this bug will be fixed permanently.

intel_idle.max_cstate=1

If this did not resolve if, try to troubleshoot.

Troubleshoot video driver:
To see the current driver that is used:
lspci -nnk | grep -i vga -A3 | grep 'in use' (for full info remove the grep)

In my case: Kernel driver in use: i915.

Also handy to know the output off:
glxinfo | grep -i vendor (mesa-utils is needed for glxinfo)

All my packages

Command: pacman -Q | grep mesa

lib32-mesa 11.1.2-1
lib32-mesa-libgl 11.1.2-1

Command: pacman -Q | grep video

videoproto 2.3.3-1
xf86-video-amdgpu 1.0.1-1
xf86-video-ark 0.7.5-7
xf86-video-ati 1:7.6.1-1
xf86-video-dummy 0.3.7-5
xf86-video-fbdev 0.4.4-5
xf86-video-glint 1.2.8-7
xf86-video-i128 1.3.6-7
xf86-video-intel 1:2.99.917+587+gc186d4d-1
xf86-video-mach64 6.9.5-2
xf86-video-neomagic 1.2.9-2
xf86-video-nouveau 1.0.12-1
xf86-video-nv 2.1.20-7
xf86-video-openchrome 0.3.3-6
xf86-video-r128 6.10.1-1
xf86-video-savage 2.3.8-2
xf86-video-siliconmotion 1.7.8-2
xf86-video-sis 0.10.8-2
xf86-video-tdfx 1.4.5-7
xf86-video-trident 1.3.7-2
xf86-video-vesa 2.3.4-2
xf86-video-vmware 13.1.0-3
xf86-video-voodoo 1.2.5-7

Intel_graphics

Install the xf86-video-intel package. It provides the DDX driver for 2D acceleration and it pulls in mesa as a dependency, providing the DRI driver for 3D acceleration.

To enable OpenGL support, also install mesa-libgl. If you are on x86_64 and need 32-bit support, also install lib32-mesa-libgl from the multilib repository.

Follow VA-API and VDPAU for hardware-accelerated video processing; on older GPUs, this is provided instead by the XvMC driver, which is included with the DDX driver.

For Vulkan support, install vulkan-intel on Ivy-Bridge or newer GPUs.

To Reinstall video driver intel based:

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S xf86-video-intel lib32-mesa lib32-mesa-libgl

Full driver list:
$ pacman -Ss xf86-video

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11
  • Thank you for your response, could you please see my 3rd edit and try aid me from there?
    – Ankush
    Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 4:10
  • 1
    @Ankush - I edited my original post, apologies. I use Arch myself but I provided you my copy paste of a person I helped with Ubuntu. Sorry! I should have double checked the dependensies.
    – rowan
    Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 8:10
  • @Ankush - did it work?
    – rowan
    Commented Apr 1, 2016 at 8:13
  • So far my VT display has not froze (after taking the steps under "Troubleshoot") So I think (for now) it is safe to say yes!
    – Ankush
    Commented Apr 2, 2016 at 7:49
  • It turns out it hasn't worked :( I used Virtual Box, and it did it's thing again
    – Ankush
    Commented Apr 5, 2016 at 2:19
0

I had the same problem.And I solved this problem accidently. The answer is simple:

pacman -Syu
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2
  • Thank you, I update my system at least once a week, and I have had this problem for an extremely long time - so this does not fix the problem.
    – Ankush
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 11:13
  • Try to remove /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf and any other additional video driver configuration first.Good luck.
    – Peng
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 11:59

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