lts 16.04 crashes frequently on acer TC-605

[David Johnston]

I recently installed ubuntu 16.04 LTS release when I did an upgrade to whingedoze 10 (to get the product key then clean install, to set up a dual boot with a linux distro).

It works reasonably, but crashes often after being left to go into sleep mode.
I tried changing the sleep/hibernate options to avoid letting it go to sleep, and that decreased the frequency with which I hit crashes under those circumstances, but has highlighted that it still crashes at other unexpected times.

I have noticed it crash when running browser games and also when playing audio and when trying to install apps, but it is intermittent. I go back to the same set of apps and they operate OK and I cant reproduce the problem. When the machine locks I do a hard shutdown by holding down the power key, and then when ubuntu starts up again usually there are bug report dialogue boxes which pop up.

I also get those dialgue boxes sometimes even after having just done normal shutdowns.
I have clicked send report on almost all of them, and it has prompted me for the root password and seems to have sent bug reports.

I want to contribute to find the problems and make the release better, but the crashes are happening so frequently it makes me wonder whether the release is just too unstable to use, or just not compatible with this hardware. Windows 10 has never crashed on this machine. Its a family machine, so my wife often uses the windows 10 install, and she hasnt had any problems with it.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: ubuntu-release-upgrader-core 1:16.04.14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-22.40-generic 4.4.8
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-22-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
CrashDB: ubuntu
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Jun 19 10:11:26 2016
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-05-28 (21 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: ubuntu-release-upgrader
Symptom: release-upgrade
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[David Johnston (davedcj)]

Seems similar to
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/1574951
(found as first case with search for Acer alone, without mentioning distro, or the words crashes, frequently, or the machine model.

I wasnt sure which package needed to be noted so picked the ubuntu-release package.
maybe should have indicated unity or compiz or something like that.

Also did searches using Acer + freeeze,
for LTS 16.04 release -
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1592442
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1578944
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1528880
similar for other releases -
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1511844
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1509723
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1509723
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/733392

and search for acer + crash
but the only one found which seemed relevant was the first one listed above -
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1592442

Based on this suggestion, I have added a line to the grub entry for my dual boot start menu -
http://askubuntu.com/questions/776069/ubuntu-16-04-freezes-during-use
(thanks to the reporter of bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1578944 for the reference)

Will keep an eye on the system and advise if the above workaround avoids the problem.
If it does, it may suggest how the underlying cause can be found and fixed so the need for the workaround can be obviated.

[David Johnston (davedcj)]

The suggestion from
http://askubuntu.com/questions/776069/ubuntu-16-04-freezes-during-use
which I found using the search mentioned in
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1578944

to add intel_idle.max_cstate=1
to the options on GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=
doesnt seem to have worked.

I applied it to the default grub option, did sudo update-grub, restarted, logged on, did a few things then went away to do some other stuff. When I resumed working on the machine, it had frozen, except for the mouse pointer, which was able to be moved around, but no click or keyboard action got any response from the system.

(the initial suggestion from the ask ubuntu answer referred to above was to replace "quiet splash" with intel_idle.max_cstate=1, but the later comment said just adding it worked for that person, so I tried adding it. I will now try replacing (i.e. removing the "quiet splash" as well as adding the above) instead and see if that works)

meanwhile, one of the items I read mentioned same mouse pointer was able to be controlled but all else frozen. Will search again for that and see if it had another solution which I can try after I check the replace referred to above.

[David Johnston (davedcj)]

One other thing - after restarting from the frozen session, I didnt get any bug report dialogues coming up. Will restart again before updating grub per prior entry and see if it asks to lodge a bug report.

[David Johnston (davedcj)]

Didnt get the bug reports after the restart. Removed the quiet and splash options from the grub_cmdline_linux_default setting, but that doesnt seem to help. Still getting occasional crashes.

Getting close to the time to switch to redhat, or another linux, I think.

saw one report saying this sort of problem ceased happening after switching from linux 4.x to linux 3.x kernal. Might try that.

Has anyone got any suggestions please ?
Is there a big backlog of bugs waiting to be triaged ?