Random Plasma freezing on a fresh install

[clixclix]

Hi everybody,
a month ago I did a fresh Kubuntu 22.10 install on a brand new Thinkpad L15 Gen3, with lots of RAM and HD.

Everything seemed to be ok, but soon after I faced the following very annoying problem(s):
Once every 24-48 hours, random windows start to flicker, then the system starts to become unstable, with symptoms like: windows losing borders, unable to change app, unable to type, unable to do anything.
The only action I can do is open a tty shell (crtl+alt+2) and reboot (or restart plasma, which in any case means losing part of your job)

Other symptom: when I open a tty, I get a lot of messages like this:

snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1f.3: Too many BDL entries; buffer=4194304, period=131072

I didn't find anything useful on the web, except someone saying it could be related to using an external monitor attached (I always use an external monitor together with the laptop monitor)

I cannot believe that a Laptop with official Ubuntu certification crashes with Kubuntu.
Any ideas on how to fix this?
Thanks in advance for any hint.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Hi clixclix!

Which CPU and GPU does your Thinkpad L15 Gen3 have?

Talking about external (second and/or third) monitors - this has sometimes been a weakness of Plasma so far.
But: Perhaps you have the possibility to try if Plasma 5.27 solves your problem (if the external monitor is the cause)? The KDE guys and girls rewrote the code for multiple monitors in Plasma 5.27 and it seems that this has solved 98,37% of the multi-monitor related problems. You can install it with the Kubuntu Backports in Kubuntu 22.10 (https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-ppa/+...filter=kinetic).
Or see: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...untu-backports

-> But install ppa-purge first to be sure, so you can revert to the previous state by removing the Kubuntu Backports PPA and everything you installed from there if something goes wrong/it doesn't work.

Perhaps this has nothing to do with your external monitor, though, but with some strange problems with snd_hda_intel …

[GreyGeek]

Your snd-hda_intel is a kernel module. Does your sound work alright? If not you may have to revert back to kernel 5.19.0.32 until the latest kernel gets patched.
The flickering screen problem is more than likely related to what's driving your GPU. What is the make and model of your GPU?
You can check which GPU drivers were selected by using the ubuntu-drivers command in Konsole.

sudo ubuntu-drivers
...
Usage: ubuntu-drivers [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

Options:
--gpgpu gpgpu drivers
--free-only Only consider free packages
--package-list PATH Create file with list of installed packages (in install
mode)
--no-oem Do not include OEM enablement packages (these enable an
external archive) [default: False]
-h, --help Show this message and exit.

Commands:
autoinstall Deprecated, please use "install" instead
debug Print all available information and debug data about drivers.
devices Show all devices which need drivers, and which packages...
install Install a driver [driver[:version][,driver[:version]]]
list Show all driver packages which apply to the current system.
list-oem Show all OEM enablement packages which apply to this system

sudo ubuntu-drivers devices
will list your device drivers.

The KDE menu --> System --> Info Center will display your graphics gpu.

[clixclix]

Thank you for your replies.
Here is the info I can get from KDE menù --> System --> Info center:
CPU: 12 x 12th Gen Intel Core it-1255U
GPU: Mesa Intel Graphics
Kernel Version: 5.19.0-38-generic (64 bit)
KDE Plasma version: 5.25.5

Other info: sound is ok, microphone is ok, camera is ok, and every other device seems ok.

BTW, if I type "sudo ubuntu-drivers devices" I get... nothing!

Someone suggested me to just reinstall the more stable Kubuntu 22.04 - What do you think about this option?

Thanks again

[arsivci]

If I were you, I'd try 23.04 beta first, without installing and see how it performs. 23.04 has a 6.2 kernel, newer mesa and Plasma 5.27

[Schwarzer Kater]

In most cases I would prefer the latest LTS version (22.04 in this case) to the "interim" releases (like 22.10) for an office computer.
May it be simply for the fact that you will have to release-upgrade every 9 months at the latest to the next Kubuntu release, because after that those "interim" releases are not supported any longer (de facto you will have to do it every 6-7 months, e.g. 22.10 to 23.04) - compared to every 36 (or more, depending) months for an LTS release like 22.04.

But you machine is quite new, maybe 22.10 does work better with this new hardware anyway (and your next "stop" could be 24.04 LTS).
And there is no chance to get Plasma 5.27 for 22.04 LTS at the moment, if the new multi-monitor code of Plasma 5.27 from the Kubuntu 22.10 Backports solves your problem (or 23.04 later on when is has been released - which also ships with Plasma 5.27 - but I would never install a beta release on a production machine!).

And of course have good backups before changing your Plasma version or the main version of the operating system (just saying…)!

[Schwarzer Kater]

I totally forgot: in some other threads GreyGeek has recommended to try a Wayland session instead of X11 for problems of this kind (you can choose this at the login screen).
Perhaps give this a try, too (that said: in Plasma 5.27 a Wayland session would probably be a better experience compared to former Plasma versions due to the constant development of the Wayland code).

[clixclix]

So, I now upgraded to Plasma 5.27.3 (backported).
Everything seems to be working so far.
I'll let you know if it will crash in the next 48 hours.
If this will fail... I'll reinstall Kubuntu 22.04 from scratch.

[GreyGeek]

I totally forgot: in some other threads GreyGeek has recommended to try a Wayland session instead of X11 for problems of this kind (you can choose this at the login screen).
Perhaps give this a try, too (that said: in Plasma 5.27 a Wayland session would probably be a better experience compared to former Plasma versions due to the constant development of the Wayland code).

One can get wayland on Kubuntu 22.04 by installing plasma-workspace-wayland. However, don't expect it to show in the graphics section of the system info because the wayland-info executable is not in the repository. One can go out on Github and clone it but, unfortunately, the compile fails. However, wayland-info isn't really needed and wayland itself seemed to run fine on my HP. My test was to run Steam's Universal Sandbox^2 and it worked beautifully. Minecraft worked well also. However, one will have to tweak various desktop settings, like dark-mode on the toolbar, etc.

[clixclix]

Small update.
after the upgrade to KDE Plasma 5.27.3, it crashed after 3 days. I'd say i's getting better than before...
In general, Plasma crashes happen after monitor plug/unplug/lid close/open.
I think I'll wait for new Plasma updates.

[clixclix]

Hi folks, it's sad to say, but I had to quit KDE (at the moment).
I also tried to install from scratch Kubuntu 22.04, but after 2-3 days Plasma crashed again.
So I installed now standard Ubuntu with Gnome.
I don't like Gnome. I also found some already known annoying issues that I forgot about while using Plasma last years on another laptop.
However, Gnome doesn't freeze/crash after every 2-3 days of use.

[Schwarzer Kater]

I am sorry to hear that.

But (if you have still some nerves left) you could
either try
Kubuntu 23.04 which has been released today (kernel 6.2.x, Plasma 5.27.4, Frameworks 5.104, Gear 22.12.3, Snap installed by default and Firefox installed as a Snap, Flatpak not installed by default)
or
TUXEDO OS 2 (based on Kubuntu 22.04 and KDE neon - kernel 6.2.x, Plasma 5.27.4, Frameworks 5.105, Gear 22.12.3, Snap not installed by default and Firefox installed as a binary from their own repositories, Flatpak installed by default).
https://os.tuxedocomputers.com/ - I call it "the KDE conterpart of Pop!_OS".
or even
KDE neon (based on Ubuntu 22.04 - kernel 5.19.x, Plasma 5.27.4, Frameworks 5.105, Gear 22.12.3, Snap installed by default and Firefox installed as a binary from the Mozilla Team PPA, Flatpak installed by default).

PS: You can read in the course of Nate's weekly blog that the upcoming Plasma 5.27.5 will also contain some more fixes for crashes.

[Snowhog]

I haven’t read through everything in this thread, but one thing that might be causing your Plasma crashes is faulty RAM. Do you keep your PC on all the time?

[arsivci]

Kubuntu 23.04 solved my problems. I did try 22.04 Gnome along the way but found it too buggy for my taste. 20.04.6 was fine if you can tolerate Gnome (not that it's bad, but simply years behind compared to KDE.

[clixclix]

Good news. Kubuntu 23.04 didn't crash after 72 hours of continuous work on my Lenovo L15.
Before that, I also tried KDE Neon. It didn't crash, but I didn't fully like it.