Complete system freeze happening sporadically when running chromium

[Sam_]

This context is in syslog before complete system freeze, repeated a few times (attached file).
Aug 29 15:43:41 chromium-browser.desktop[5003]: [5003:5017:0829/154341.786374:ERROR:service_manager_context.cc(250)] Attempting to run unsupported native service: /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrome_renderer.service

It happens sporadic but only after the start of chromium-browser loading about 20 tabs and moving from one to another.
Complete system freeze, no console, no REISUB works.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: chromium-browser 68.0.3440.106-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-33.36-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
DRM.card0-DVI-I-1:
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 status: disconnected
 edid-base64:
 modes:
DRM.card0-HDMI-A-1:
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 status: connected
 edid-base64: AP///////wBMLUoHAAAAABUUAQOANR54Cu6Ro1RMmSYPUFS/74BxT4EAgUCBgJUAlQ+zAAEBAjqAGHE4LUBYLEUAEyshAAAeAjqA0HI4LUAQLEWAEyshAAAeAAAA/QAYSxpRFwAKICAgICAgAAAA/ABTTUZYMjQ5MEhECiAgAYoCAxzxS5MEBRQDEhAfICEiIwkHB2cDDAAQALgtAR2A0HIcFiAQLCWAEyshAACeAR2AGHEcFiBYLCUAEyshAACeAR0AclHQHiBuKFUAEyshAAAejArQkCBAMSAMQFUAEyshAAAejArQiiDgLRAQPpYAEyshAAAeAAAAAAAAAAAAzg==
 modes: 1920x1080 1920x1080 1920x1080i 1920x1080i 1920x1080 1920x1080i 1920x1080 1920x1080 1920x1080 1920x1080 1920x1080 1680x1050 1280x1024 1280x1024 1440x900 1440x900 1280x960 1280x800 1152x864 1280x720 1280x720 1280x720 1024x768 1024x768 1024x768 832x624 800x600 800x600 800x600 800x600 720x576 720x576 720x480 720x480 720x480 640x480 640x480 640x480 640x480 640x480 720x400
DRM.card0-VGA-1:
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 status: disconnected
 edid-base64:
 modes:
Date: Wed Aug 29 16:01:30 2018
Desktop-Session:
 'ubuntu'
 '/etc/xdg/xdg-ubuntu:/etc/xdg'
 '/usr/share/ubuntu:/usr/local/share:/usr/share:/var/lib/snapd/desktop:/var/lib/snapd/desktop'
DetectedPlugins:

Env:
 'None'
 'None'
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-02-05 (2397 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Alpha amd64 (20120204)
Load-Avg-1min: 2.18
Load-Processes-Running-Percent: 0.1%
MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-33-generic root=UUID=b3e26f93-613b-48e8-96d7-9c8854fe670c ro
SourcePackage: chromium-browser
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-08-14 (15 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 07/30/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 0305
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P5QLD PRO
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev X.0x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0305:bd07/30/2009:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP5QLDPRO:rvrRevX.0x:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.family: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer
modified.conffile..etc.default.chromium-browser: [deleted]
mtime.conffile..etc.chromium-browser.default: 2017-01-25T17:18:56.251795

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Does it happen if you start chromium with a new temporary profile?

Do you have extensions installed and active?

[Sam_ (and-sam)]

Thanks for taking the time, regarding q1, no, I have a second profile without starting 20 tabs and it never caused a system freeze.
Regarding q2, yes adblock plus and ip-domain-flag, but adblock is turned off anyway on this specific profile with 20 tabs open on start.
The crux is it occurs sporadic, I have this profile open five days a week at least five hours, but the system freeze occurs every two to three days.

Note bug #1655348
From the beginning I've suspected the kernel or a driver issue and over time now conclude it has to do with chromium since no other application is open when it happens and using 18.04.01

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Thanks for the feedback Sam. I updated the title of the bug because it's very unlikely that that specific error message in the logs has anything to do with the actual cause of the freeze.

[Sam_ (and-sam)]

The issue was solved from my side by switching back to firefox. Before I had complete freezes but only the browser, this problem seems to be solved.
Since not using chromium there was no machine freeze at all.

[Fabio Rotondo (fabio-rotondo)]

It happens to me too. Same problem. Related to Chrome or Chromium.

I can add that, if I use ssh to the freezed machine, SSH is active and everything works.
I tried to restart X11, even with "runlevel 3" and then "runlevel 5", but once it has frozen, the GUI never comes up again.

If I use Firefox, it never happens.
I suspect it has something to do with NVidia drivers, but I don't know how to check.

[Fabio Rotondo (fabio-rotondo)]

UPDATE: it seems just to freeze mouse and keyboard input, since I am able to see desktop notifications and other stuff going on.

UPDATE2: it does not only affect the Chromium browser, but also Electron (or similar) applications that use the same technology.

Since the system doesn't actually freeze completely, I could be able to dump information / logs.
Please, give me some command lines you want me to run on my system to further investigate.

Thanks

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Could you try if a wayland session behaves differently from an xorg one? Do you have anything printed in the journal log at the time that happens?

[Fabio Rotondo (fabio-rotondo)]

Hello,

I am using X11, as for:

fabio@fabio-office:~$ env | grep x11
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11

I don't know how to use Wayland, but I will look how to.

I will post the journal as soon as the problem appears again

[Fabio Rotondo (fabio-rotondo)]

This is the journal just before freeze. It does not seem to be referred to Chrome

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.