ubuntu (perhaps its the gnome desktop) freezes every few seconds saying wait or force quit window then unfreezes, this still happens after reboot

[David White]

The windows for a number of apps e.g. Firefox or libreoffice etc freeze momentarily and displays a message saying either click to wait or click to force click the app which is not responding. After waiting a few seconds the app becomes responsive again and again repeats in minutes. Rebooting, updating and upgrading doesn't help. I check online and the bug reports to see if others had the same problem.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04
Package: gnome-shell 42.9-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.2.0-26.26~22.04.1-generic 6.2.13
Uname: Linux 6.2.0-26-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu82.5
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sun Aug 27 10:10:49 2023
DisplayManager: gdm3
InstallationDate: Installed on 2022-05-23 (461 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS "Jammy Jellyfish" - Release amd64 (20220419)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 42.9-0ubuntu4
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

These are application bugs so please choose a single app you'd like this bug to be about.

[David White (davidwwhite)]

@Daniel: thanks. I updated the selection.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

ubuntu-gnome is not an app. Please choose an app like Firefox or Libreoffice for this bug to be about.

[David White (davidwwhite)]

@Daniel: thanks, but the problem is not about a single app. The same thing happens in FireFox, Libre Office and just about all the apps I use. Its like the entire system freezes to do some update then it unfreezes a few seconds later and continues whatever it was doing. The same message appears - You xxx app is not responding. Click force quit or continue waiting. Two icons appear for force quit and wait.

[David White (davidwwhite)]

I just have the problem reproduced again. The exact message is "Text Editor" is not responding. You may choose to wait a short while for it to continue or force quit the application to quit entirely.

[David White (davidwwhite)]

Here is the output of lshw, if that helps. I deleted the serial number.

[David White (davidwwhite)]

hplaptop
    description: Notebook
    product: HP Laptop 15-da0xxx (5CP14UA#ABA)
    vendor: HP
    version: Type1ProductConfigId
    serial: (deleted)
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: smbios-3.0.0 dmi-3.0.0 smp vsyscall32
    configuration: administrator_password=enabled boot=normal chassis=notebook family=103C_5335KV HP Notebook sku=5CP14UA#ABA uuid=19a721c0-1eba-e811-a4c3-f43909ea9b35
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: 84A6
       vendor: HP
       physical id: 0
       version: 80.50
       serial: PHQNFB2MYBCQCS
       slot: Type2 - Board Chassis Location
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: Insyde
          physical id: 0
          version: F.36
          date: 02/03/2021
          size: 128KiB
          capacity: 6MiB
          capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect edd int13floppynec int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int9keyboard int10video acpi usb biosbootspecification uefi
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 4
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: 6.142.9
          serial: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
          slot: U3E1
          size: 3100MHz
          capacity: 4005MHz
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 100MHz
          capabilities: lm fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp x86-64 constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp fsgsbase tsc_adjust sgx bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp md_clear flush_l1d arch_capabilities cpufreq
          configuration: cores=2 enabledcores=2 microcode=244 threads=4
        *-cache:0
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: 5
             slot: L1 Cache
             size: 128KiB
             capacity: 128KiB
             capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
             configuration: level=1
        *-cache:1
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: 6
             slot: L2 Cache
             size: 512KiB
             capacity: 512KiB
             capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
             configuration: level=2
        *-cache:2
             description: L3 cache
             physical id: 7
             slot: L3 Cache
             size: 3MiB
             capacity: 3MiB
             capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
             configuration: level=3
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 27
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 16GiB
        *-bank:0
             description...

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

If the problem affects many apps then there may be a hardware or kernel problem. So next time it happens please run:

  journalctl -b0 > journal.txt

and attach the resulting text file here. But the "wait or force quit window" is usually a sign of a poorly written application. It is a feature of gnome-shell to tell you about it, not a bug in gnome-shell.

[David White (davidwwhite)]

OK thanks. Here is the text file after running
journalctl -b0 > journal.txt

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

I don't see anything broken with the kernel or hardware, so that's good. Seems like this is just the combination of inefficient software running off a potentially slow mechanical Seagate hard disk. That last part is not a bug, just an explanation for why some people wouldn't experience similar problems. So I think we're back to "please choose a single app you'd like this bug to be about".

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please also run:

  ps -e -o pid,rss,cmd --sort=-rss > top-memory-users.txt

and attach the resulting text file here.

[David White (davidwwhite)]

OK thanks. I have both a 500GB SSD and a 2TB Seagate hard drive in the computer. Ubuntu is running on the Seagate hard drive.

[David White (davidwwhite)]

Here is the output from ps. I had a number of firefox windows open at the time I ran the command.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Alright, assigned to Firefox. It looks like each Firefox tab is occupying around 100MB of memory although the largest one is 600MB. So please consider closing tabs to get some system performance back.

[David White (davidwwhite)]

Thanks. I work with a lot of windows open but I took your advice a closed a few to improve performance

[David White (davidwwhite)]

Thanks. I work with a lot of windows open but I took your advice a closed a few to improve response