[Solved] KDE keeps crashing. Freezes and can't do anything.

[t20racerman]

Hi there

I had several problems with KDE not starting (see two threads "KDE is broken...") and have now got things working again. However, since then KDE has crashed on me three times in the last couple of hours. It was always when using Dolphin  - I have been doing some decluttering and sorting out of documents and photos - and the PC suddenly locks solid and nothing will unfreeze it. Only solution is to hit the reset button and start again.
Is this linked to the earlier problems I wonder? Can't see why.

Computer has run PCLinuxOS lovely for years, is fully updated, has never done this before and boots fine in windows, so I doubt a hardware fault. I don't use Windows much so maybe I could try lots of file moving in windows to see if I can replicate it, but I doubt that is the problem. Any ideas anyone?

Only updating I've done in last couple of days is the nvidia driver to fix my earlier problem, and Clementine this morning - is that the problem??

Any ideas welcome.

[t20racerman]

Just plugged an external back-up drive into the USB and ... FREEZE.... and reboot again. This made me realise that the problem started when I plugged in another (different) external hard drive and tried to access the files. it worked at first, but then after about 30 seconds, crashed.

Not sure if this helps. 

[aguila]

You might giving reinstalling Dolphin a try.

If you start Dolphin in terminal, do you get any error messages when dolphin crashes?

[t20racerman]

You might giving reinstalling Dolphin a try.

If you start Dolphin in terminal, do you get any error messages when dolphin crashes?

I tried using my PC without even opening Dolphin, and once again it crashed and locked solid - so I don't think that Dolphin is the cause. Unfortunately, once it crashes you can't even read the terminal as unless it is open and visible when the freeze occurs, you can't read it! The mouse icon still moves around the screen but ctrl-alt-bksp won't make it exit and the only way is to switch off and start again. This is getting really frustrating now and since the earlier nvidia driver problem I've had nothing but trouble 

Where are any logs kept so I can post them and see if anyone can work out what is going on. This computer has been superb, quick and stable running PClinux untill a few days ago and now it is becoming unuseable 

One other thing, the screen sometimes goes multicoloured and fuzzy for a second on booting, that it never did before the nvidia driver issue - could this be related? How can I roll back the nvidia driver to say the 280 version to see if that is causing the crashing?

Any ideas at all really appreciated folks   

[JohnW_57]

Disable the Dolphin Information Panel (toggle with F-11) could be a work-around.
The Dolphin Info Panel is bit buggy with DBus  actions.

JohnW

[AS]

I tried using my PC without even opening Dolphin, and once again it crashed and locked solid
...
 since the earlier nvidia driver problem I've had nothing but trouble 

Don't know if you have already done that, just in case:
do you have prelink installed ? If yes, try to remove prelink, as it appear to be an issue when used in combination with some (but not all) nvidia drivers.

AS

[JohnW_57]

Downgrading to the 280.13 driver:

Download: http://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/apt/pclinuxos/2010/RPMS.nonfree/dkms-nvidia-current-280.13-1pclos2011.i586.rpm  and  http://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/apt/pclinuxos/2010/RPMS.nonfree/x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-280.13-1pclos2011.i586.rpm
Remove the current nvidia drivers with synaptic.

Start Konsole (terminal) and su to root
Go to the folder where the rpms are downloaded.
Type rpm -Uvh *.rpm

After installing reboot your computer.

JohnW

[t20racerman]

Thanks for the help 

AS: I had already uninstalled prelink having heard that this could cause problems...

JohnW: Thanks for the links and command instructions. Computer froze again after downloading the rpms you suggested (but before installing them) and I've since rebooted, removed the current drivers, installed the 280.13 drivers, rebooted again and am now just sitting here typing away waiting to see if it crashes again. I'll keep you posted. Fingers crossed....

Thanks
 

[Ramchu]

Have you cleaned your computer of all dust and dirt lately ?
The reason I ask, is that my in-laws called a few weeks ago and said that their computer was freezing
and they could only get it to run by hitting the reset button, but then would freeze again.
After I had them clean it out all was good again.

Just my $0.02

[t20racerman]

I like that idea Ramchu    Not that though - lovely and clean inside....

Anyway, 280.13 nvidia driver installed, prelink removed, clean computer and guess what? Keeps freezing up again! Had to reboot it twice in 30 mins. 


I've now booted into windows instead (yuk!) to see if it crashes in Windows. If it does, I can start looking at hardware. If not (hasn't done yet!) then I'm still looking for solutions to why it keeps freezing up. Where are logfiles stored that might help see why it was freezing? Also, why won't ctrl-alt-bcksp work to drop out of KDE? Is there anything I can do other than hit the reset button every time?

[JohnW_57]

You can run memtest from a livecd to test your ram modules (sticks).
If you get errors (running it a few hours) possibly they are faulty.

Session errors can be found in your home folder: open .xsession-errors (hidden file) with a text editor.

JohnW

[JohnW_57]

Just a simple question: did you setup a new user and get the same problems?

JohnW

[t20racerman]

Just a simple question: did you setup a new user and get the same problems?

JohnW

That sounds a good idea. 

I'm still in windows, and no crash yet after an hour or so. I'll leave it like this for a few more hours, then try setting up a new user in PCLinux and seeing if that makes a difference. Certainly possible. Thanks for the help - much appreciated.

[marriedman]

I have this same problem, I thought it was just me! I can reproduce it everytime I insert a USB storage device or a CD/DVD. I will be watching this thread.

I also had the prelink/nVidia issue you had and your thread helped me.

[JohnW_57]

Just plugged an external back-up drive into the USB and ... FREEZE.... and reboot again. This made me realise that the problem started when I plugged in another (different) external hard drive and tried to access the files. it worked at first, but then after about 30 seconds, crashed.

Not sure if this helps.  

I have this same problem, I thought it was just me! I can reproduce it everytime I insert a USB storage device or a CD/DVD. I will be watching this thread.

I also had the prelink/nVidia issue you had and your thread helped me.

KDE4 (or Dolphin) freezes when a external device (hardrive/flashdrive/optical drive) is connected  to the a USB port?
If so it could be a DBus problem (had this issue with KDE 4.5.0 and the work-around was disable with F11 the Dolphin Info Panel).

JohnW