Any operating system can crash, including Ubuntu. If you are using Linux and have a problem, here are some reasons and solutions to help you avoid the crash.
If Ubuntu freezes, try restarting your system first. Sometimes a cold boot may be required. Turn off your computer and then turn it back on. Restarting your computer resolves many problems such as out of memory, application crashes, and browser freezes.
Write down what you did just before the computer crashed. If this always happens when using a particular app, search for it to see if there are any updates or known issues. Some applications are known to crash sometimes, such as Audacity and OpenShot Video Editor.
To resolve application issues, restart, repair, or reboot the software. Or notify the people who created it.
Firefox updates also caused Linux to freeze. You may need to avoid using Firefox until it fixes the problem.
If the issue is not app related, you may be out of hard drive space or a hardware issue.
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This article discusses the following ways to diagnose and recover from a failure:
- Free up hard drive space.
- Memory check.
- Hardware failures
- Intermittent hardware problems
- Recovering from an X server failure
- Booting Linux from another source
- To see how much free space you have on your hard drive, click the Start button, then Accessories, and then Disks.
- To see how much free hard drive space is available, click the Start button, then Extensions , Then Disk .
- Empty Trash
- Remove .ISO downloads
- Remove old kernels you no longer need
- Remove games and apps you don’t use.
- Use a system cleaner
- Clean your APT cache regularly
- Keep your system up to date
- Start by turning on or restarting the system.
- Bring up the GRUB menu by holding Shift on your keyboard.
- Start or restart your system.
- Bring up the GRUB menu by pressing the Shift key on the keyboard.
- Use the arrow keys to find the Ubuntu label memtest86 +.
- After pressing the enter key, the memory test will automatically start. You will see a blue screen during the test.
- The test will not complete until you press the exit key. Let the test pass at least one complete pass. If your problem is very intermittent, let the dough run longer.
- Overheating due to slow or missing fans.
- Hard disk failure.
- Poor power supply
- Faulty motherboard or processor
- Problems with the video card
- Sensors
- Use a keyboard shortcut to restart the X server.
- Switch virtual consoles.
- Kill the X server over the network using SSH.
- Use the Magic SysRq key.
How to free up hard drive space
Ubuntu does not have the disk cleanup and built-in defragmentation tools that Windows does. So what can you do to free up disk space?
The last point above may seem counterintuitive. Linux updates free up space, unlike Windows updates, which take up more space.
Out of memory
Low Memory
If you are using Ubuntu and your system crashes randomly, you may be running out of memory. Running out of memory can be caused by opening more applications or data files than will fit in the memory you have installed.
If this is the problem, do not open so many at one time and do not increase the amount of memory on your computer.
Another cause of insufficient memory is RAM failure. Run a memory test to determine if your RAM is corrupted.
How to perform a memory test
How to run a memory test
If the test finds any errors, you need to replace one of the RAM cards.
Other Hardware Failures
If your computer shuts down and won’t turn on at all (no lights and no beeps), first make sure there is power to the outlet. The most likely reason for the presence of voltage at the outlet is a poor power supply.
If it tries to turn on and then turns off again within 30 seconds, you may have a slow or stationary fan. Or the sensor that determines the fan speed may fail.
Other components that can cause your computer to crash:
You can also check your hard drive for failures yourself. A certain number of errors are allowed. Even newer hard drives already have errors.
If you know how to do the repair yourself, replace the faulty component. If not, contact a computer technician to repair your machine.
Intermittent Hardware Issues
The most common causes of sporadic problems are crashes due to memory overheating and hard drive errors.
If testing does not find a faulty component, you may have to replace them one at a time until you find the problem.
Recover from X Server Downtime
Linux systems provide several methods for disaster recovery. The easiest way is to reboot. But there are other methods:
Run Linux from another source
What if your computer turns on but refuses to boot Linux? You may have a bad hard drive or damaged operating system files.
If you made an Ubuntu Live CD or USB, you can boot from a different operating system.
This must be done in advance. Or you are performing a Live download on another computer.
For detailed instructions, see Tools to Create a Linux USB Bootable Drive or How to Create Your Own Linux Live CD Bootable CD.
Many factors can cause your system to crash. There is no one solution. In the worst case, if none of the above suggestions work, you may need a new computer or a good computer technician.
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