Xps13-2015 intermittent lockups

Support & Help Requests
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#1

I’m having issues with my XPS13 with Mate 1.16.2. The laptop freezes intermittently and will not even respond to the Alt+Prtscr + REISUB. Any help with troubleshooting this major issue is appreciated. It seems that systemd is in operation and previous Mate release (1.121) had same issue. Running on Ubuntu 16.04.4. Here is my system’s info:

System: Host: rg-XPS-13-9343 Kernel: 4.13.0-36-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
Desktop: MATE 1.16.2 Distro: Ubuntu 16.04 xenial
Machine: System: Dell (portable) product: XPS 13 9343
Mobo: Dell model: 0WF2C3 v: A00 Bios: Dell v: A13 date: 06/16/2017
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i5-5200U (-HT-MCP-) speed/max: 2194/2700 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics
Display Server: X.Org 1.19.5 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: [email protected]
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 5500 (Broadwell GT2)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8
Network: Card: Broadcom BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter driver: wl
Drives: HDD Total Size: 128.0GB (77.5% used)
Info: Processes: 205 Uptime: 1:22 Memory: 1279.2/7880.9MB
Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35

Thanks

#2

Hi @xpslinux, You might consider a test of the original 4.4 kernel. Later 16.04 ISOs install a different kernel META package to keep up with later hardware during the LTS but they are all available in the repository.

But I may not be the one to assist how to do that as I maintain kernels manually using Synaptic filters. I know there’s more user-friendly tools to manage kernels these days.

In general, I’ve found 4.4 to be most stable but mostly in virtual machines.

#3

Thank you Bill_MI. I could do a search and learn how to update the kernel, but I was wanting to learn what is actually causing the crashes. I know I used a systemd command to get a listing of the system’s processes before and I could see that the desktop had crashed but I have no idea how to proceed past that step.
I guess I have two different problems:

  1. After logging into Mate; it crashes and I have to log back in again. Sometime this happens 2 or three times and sometimes I can log right in.

  2. Sometimes after 30min or a few hours the whole system will freeze hard; the only way to bring back Mate is to push the power button. So far the system has comeback without any data loss, but I’m afraid at one point there will be data corruption.

#4

Such freezes are usually associated with system entities. This is dominated by kernel and graphics drivers but any driver can be doing it. My experience is Intel graphics is usually one of the most stable.

BUT… hardware is not off the hook by any means. It’s probably at least equal probability. The grub screen has a memory test you may want to try (memory modules have a knack of needing to have their connections cleaned and re-seated on occasion). Problems often show up immediately - the entire test can be quite long.

HTH

#5

Hmmm… This sounds oddly familiar to what was happening to my XPS 15 (9560 model). I resolved it by changing some kernel boot parameters in/etc/defaults/grub (i think, going by memory here, I’m on my phone). Try some of the ones here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_15_9560

I can try to be more specific once I’m on my laptop.

#6

@xpslinux - here, I found a previous post in which I describe what I did with my XPS 15. Keep in mind that since they are different laptops, this might not work, but it might be worth giving it a try, since I have the same issue that you describe

#7

Thanks, I will run the memory test later tonight.

#8

Thanks vkareh, a lot of good information. I will check out the Dell wiki and decide what parameters I can use on the xps13.

#9

Thanks again for the info. I was able to find a wiki for my exact model Dell xps 9343 with tons of info; hopefully, I’m on my way to getting a stable system. This could have been my problem all along. I was using openSUSE 42.3 and was having similar problems. Great! I will send feedback when I correct the problem; it could take a while, though.