[SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

switching2Devuan · 2025-12-31 18:24:03

Hello everybody,

I've been using Chimaera 4.0 on a laptop for about 3.5 years now and the reason why I have hardly visited this forum to look for help was because the system has been rockstable and a dependable basis for my daily tasks.
At least until about 4-6 weeks ago.

First off the specs:
- Toshiba Satellite laptop (from 2009)
- Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU T4300 @ 2.10GHz
- Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
- 4 GB RAM
- 500 GB HD
- DE is LXDE
- Dual-boot setup (Devuan Chimaera and Win 7)

Starting around mid november, I experienced irregular complete freezings of the whole system without a chance of recovering.
Sound playback would be repeated with the last second in an infinite loop and the keyboard would not react whatsoever, which left me unable to drop to a terminal to see what was going on.
The only solution to this is pressing the power button for a few seconds.

The first time this happened, I was playing a game over WINE.
After this freeze had happened a few times I thought that it had to do with WINE.
But then it also happened while playing another game natively and also when I was just watching a video with vlc.
So I figured that it could have to do with the integrated graphics chipset until it also happened when I was just listening to music with audacious.
Otherwise the system is stable and solid as always and will run many hours a day without hiccup.

OOM does not seem to be an issue as I've had those freezes with as little as 600 MB of RAM being used and well over 2 GB of free RAM.
Lockups/freezes when playing a game or listening to music are very irregular and can occur anywhere between a few minutes to well over an hour. Sometimes I can play for 1,5 hours and nothing freezes at all.

The funny thing is that I have done all of the now suspected activities within the last 3+ years without any problem.
As I update my system from time to time, it could theoretically be that some program/library was updated that's been causing problems on my system.

What I have done so far:
- After being frozen, I let the system run for more than an hour to see if it might recover --> no change though
- I ran Memtest to check for faulty memory --> no errors after 2+ hours and 2 complete passes
- I monitored cpu-temperatures on the desktop --> freezes occured even at a very low 43 °C (temperatures close to 60 °C when running Memtest were not a problem)

My question now is what else I should look into to find the cause of this erratic system behavior.
If someone wants to take a look at some log, I will be happy to provide it.

Any support is appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

kapqa · 2025-12-31 18:30:53

one good thing about those older laptop is that often the CPUs are socketed;

if you happen to open the laptop for inspection, you could wish for a faster CPU;

have upgraded several laptop, also one running Chimaera (fujitsu) , that one from a dual-core to a quad-core cpu;
it had howeever already a tast T9900 cpu installed;

the T4300 is probably a bit lame (please dont take it personally) for 2026,

you could check your specs and see if it would accept the highest rated CPU it once shipped with (maybe it could be T7500 or simiilar)

best wishes.

switching2Devuan · 2025-12-31 18:42:11

the T4300 is probably a bit lame (please dont take it personally) for 2026,

No worries.

I could look into upgrading the cpu of course (although the speed is sufficient for what I am using this laptop for) but I just have the feeling that a different cpu won't solve the current problem.

Last edited by switching2Devuan (2025-12-31 18:44:35)

greenjeans · 2025-12-31 20:29:42

Can you narrow down when this started with respect to package upgrades (if any)?

If you haven't updated recently and the problems just started out of the blue, then I suspect that's old hardware giving up the ghost slowly.

I have a 2005 lappy, old Athlon chip and 1 gb of ram that i've nursed along for quite a few years, but it started doing something similar and then just got worse until one day it simply would not power up.

rbit · 2025-12-31 20:31:44

My first suspicion was possible overheaing, and I would recommend blowing out any buildup of dust from the vents, but you seem to have ruled that out already with temperature monitoring.

Next, following this line...

switching2Devuan wrote:

As I update my system from time to time, it could theoretically be that some program/library was updated that's been causing problems on my system.

check your /var/log/apt/history.log and see if there was anything added/updated around the time the issue started.

greenjeans · 2025-12-31 20:45:18

Check your other thread OP, this may be related to: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo … ug=1123750

It's the same kernel that's giving you problems, just manifests differently maybe.

switching2Devuan · 2025-12-31 21:42:43

Can you narrow down when this started with respect to package upgrades (if any)?

With the hint from "rbit", I searched the logs. As the freezes started occuring sometime by the end of november, I only looked for entries that occured in november (starting november 1st):

Start-Date: 2025-11-01  12:51:04
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Upgrade: xserver-xorg-core:amd64 (2:1.20.11-1+deb11u16, 2:1.20.11-1+deb11u17), python-pip-whl:amd64 (20.3.4-4+deb11u1, 20.3.4>
End-Date: 2025-11-01  12:51:53

Start-Date: 2025-11-04  12:51:18
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Upgrade: gimp-data:amd64 (2.10.22-4+deb11u3, 2.10.22-4+deb11u4), libdcmtk15:amd64 (3.6.5-1+deb11u4, 3.6.5-1+deb11u5), gimp:amd64 (2.10.22-4+deb11u3, 2.10.22-4+deb11u4), libgimp2.0:amd64 (2.10.22-4+deb11u3, 2.10.22-4+deb11u4)
End-Date: 2025-11-04  12:52:00

Start-Date: 2025-11-05  19:27:50
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Upgrade: bind9-host:amd64 (1:9.16.50-1~deb11u3, 1:9.16.50-1~deb11u4), bind9-dnsutils:amd64 (1:9.16.50-1~deb11u3, 1:9.16.50-1~deb11u4), bind9-libs:amd64 (1:9.16.50-1~deb11u3, 1:9.16.50-1~deb11u4)
End-Date: 2025-11-05  19:28:06

Start-Date: 2025-11-05  20:39:39
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Install: vectoroids:amd64 (1.1.0-15+b1)
End-Date: 2025-11-05  20:39:46

Start-Date: 2025-11-05  20:43:09
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Install: torus-trooper-data:amd64 (0.22.dfsg1-12, automatic), libbulletml0v5:amd64 (0.0.6-7, automatic), torus-trooper:amd64 (0.22.dfsg1-12+b1), libgphobos1:amd64 (10.2.1-6, automatic)
End-Date: 2025-11-05  20:43:15

Start-Date: 2025-11-14  18:24:25
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Upgrade: libarchive13:amd64 (3.4.3-2+deb11u2, 3.4.3-2+deb11u3), firefox-esr-l10n-de:amd64 (140.4.0esr-1~deb11u1, 140.5.0esr-1~deb11u1), firefox-esr:amd64 (140.4.0esr-1~deb11u1, 140.5.0esr-1~deb11u1)
End-Date: 2025-11-14  18:25:00

Start-Date: 2025-11-18  17:34:05
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Upgrade: gstreamer1.0-gl:amd64 (1.18.4-2+deb11u3, 1.18.4-2+deb11u4), thunderbird:amd64 (1:140.4.0esr-1~deb11u1, 1:140.5.0esr-1~deb11u1), libgstreamer-gl1.0-0:amd64 (1.18.4-2+deb11u3, 1.18.4-2+deb11u4), gstreamer1.0-alsa:amd64 (1.18.4-2+deb11u3, 1.18.4-2+deb11u4), gir1.2-gst-plugins-base-1.0:amd64 (1.18.4-2+deb11u3, 1.18.4-2+deb11u4), gstreamer1.0-x:amd64 (1.18.4-2+deb11u3, 1.18.4-2+deb11u4), gstreamer1.0-plugins-base:amd64 (1.18.4-2+deb11u3, 1.18.4-2+deb11u4), libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0:amd64 (1.18.4-2+deb11u3, 1.18.4-2+deb11u4), libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0:i386 (1.18.4-2+deb11u3, 1.18.4-2+deb11u4)
End-Date: 2025-11-18  17:34:56

Start-Date: 2025-11-23  11:53:44
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Upgrade: gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0:amd64 (2.48.5-1~deb11u1, 2.50.1-1~deb11u1), gir1.2-webkit2-4.0:amd64 (2.48.5-1~deb11u1, 2.50.1-1~deb11u1), libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18:amd64 (2.48.5-1~deb11u1, 2.50.1-1~deb11u1), libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37:amd64 (2.48.5-1~deb11u1, 2.50.1-1~deb11u1)
End-Date: 2025-11-23  11:54:06

Start-Date: 2025-11-23  21:44:17
Requested-By: mt (1074)
End-Date: 2025-11-23  21:44:18

Start-Date: 2025-11-23  21:44:45
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Remove: python3-pyparsing:amd64 (2.4.7-1), python3-packaging:amd64 (20.9-2), python3-gpg:amd64 (1.14.0-1+b2), torbrowser-launcher:amd64 (0.3.3-6)
End-Date: 2025-11-23  21:45:05

Start-Date: 2025-11-23  22:34:01
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Install: python3-pyparsing:amd64 (2.4.7-1, automatic), python3-packaging:amd64 (20.9-2, automatic), python3-gpg:amd64 (1.14.0-1+b2, automatic), torbrowser-launcher:amd64 (0.3.3-6)
End-Date: 2025-11-23  22:34:11

Start-Date: 2025-11-29  12:15:19
Requested-By: mt (1074)
Upgrade: cups-filters:amd64 (1.28.7-1+deb11u3, 1.28.7-1+deb11u4), libsnmp-base:amd64 (5.9+dfsg-4+deb11u1, 5.9+dfsg-4+deb11u2), libsnmp40:amd64 (5.9+dfsg-4+deb11u1, 5.9+dfsg-4+deb11u2), libqt5core5a:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), qt5-gtk-platformtheme:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), libqt5network5:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), libfontembed1:amd64 (1.28.7-1+deb11u3, 1.28.7-1+deb11u4), libwbclient0:amd64 (2:4.13.13+dfsg-1~deb11u6, 2:4.13.13+dfsg-1~deb11u7), libssh-gcrypt-4:amd64 (0.9.8-0+deb11u1, 0.9.8-0+deb11u2), libqt5dbus5:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), libsmbclient:amd64 (2:4.13.13+dfsg-1~deb11u6, 2:4.13.13+dfsg-1~deb11u7), libqt5test5:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), libqt5widgets5:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), cups-filters-core-drivers:amd64 (1.28.7-1+deb11u3, 1.28.7-1+deb11u4), libqt5gui5:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), libqt5printsupport5:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), libqt5xml5:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), libqt5opengl5:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), libqt5sql5:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), cups-browsed:amd64 (1.28.7-1+deb11u3, 1.28.7-1+deb11u4), libsdl2-2.0-0:amd64 (2.0.14+dfsg2-3+deb11u1, 2.0.14+dfsg2-3+deb11u2), libsdl2-2.0-0:i386 (2.0.14+dfsg2-3+deb11u1, 2.0.14+dfsg2-3+deb11u2), samba-libs:amd64 (2:4.13.13+dfsg-1~deb11u6, 2:4.13.13+dfsg-1~deb11u7), libqt5sql5-sqlite:amd64 (5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u1, 5.15.2+dfsg-9+deb11u2), libcupsfilters1:amd64 (1.28.7-1+deb11u3, 1.28.7-1+deb11u4)
End-Date: 2025-11-29  12:17:05

Except for the manual installation of 2 games that i wanted to try out, everything else was installed via "aptitude update" and "aptitude upgrade".

...then I suspect that's old hardware giving up the ghost slowly

While I cannot completely exclude this possibility, I dare to say that it's neither cpu nor RAM-related, as the system has been running for many hours now without any hitch. But then again, I haven't run any games nor watched any videos or listened to music.

...and I would recommend blowing out any buildup of dust from the vents

That's another thing that I have done about 3 weeks ago.
In one way it is a good thing that this apparently was not the cause (...hoping that the issue is software-related).

It's the same kernel that's giving you problems, just manifests differently maybe.

I really DO wish it was the kernel. Because that would be very easy to solve.
But the issues started well before the installation of that kernel (which never showed up on the boot menu anyway).

kapqa · 2025-12-31 21:42:55

you still could check if on the windows 7 side you have similar problems;

on myz fujutsu am practically stuck with w7 (next to linux) since with w10 it would immediatelz crash thanks to a buggy nvidia-card or driver issues; on windows 7 it is quite rock-stable only would shutdown if would tax the nvidia-graphics heavy heavily which i don't , but with win10 it would crash immedtaley.

EDIT: ah sorry, crosspost, the laptop in question is still running devuan 3.0, not devuan 4.0; (thanks to nvidia-driver issues).

Last edited by kapqa (2025-12-31 21:46:08)

switching2Devuan · 2026-01-01 10:55:45

you still could check if on the windows 7 side you have similar problems

Already had the same thought a while ago but never did it so far.
Have used Win 7 only for 4 applications and since I managed to run 3 via WINE and one natively, I haven't used Windows at all for at least 2 years now.
But I will do that over the next few days, starting today.
Will report back on that in a few days.

Meanwhile, without playing a game, my system has been running smooth as always (yesterday 15 hours straight).

Last edited by switching2Devuan (2026-01-01 10:57:09)

Altoid · 2026-01-01 16:32:16

Hello:

... without playing a game, my system has been running smooth as always ...

Maybe "the proof is in the pudding"?

TL;DR:
Your box runs as well as it always has when there is no game software involved.
That being so, you may want to consider that there must be something going on with the combination [game/hardware].

Could be some game [*.conf] issue, game/hardware incompatiblity or just flaky programming*.
Not unheard of, shit happens all the time.

Best,

A.

* Except for the manual installation of 2 games that i wanted to try out ...

Last edited by Altoid (2026-01-01 16:37:55)

switching2Devuan · 2026-01-01 23:35:34

* Except for the manual installation of 2 games that i wanted to try out ...

These were two other games that are very small in size and which I manually installed via aptitude in order to see what they were about.
The "games" during which the freezes occured were 3-D-shooters of which one was configured to be used with Wine and the other one extracted in a folder and run natively under Linux.

you may want to consider that there must be something going on with the combination [game/hardware].

That would be the first thing for me to consider, had the two games not been running for well over a year without any problems.

Also, system freezes have occured as well when watching videos with vlc or listening to music with audacious.
What those three scenarios have in common is sound.
But the freezes are rather irregular as I can also listen to music and nothing freezes at all (uptime today is 11+ hours without any incident).
Aside from that, I never had any problems with activities involving other programs.

Will now check playing the games over Win 7 just to confirm that it hopefully is not hardware-related.

switching2Devuan · 2026-01-02 19:43:21

Although I hadn't marked this topic as [SOLVED] yet, it is solved now.
From my perspective in the least preferable way, unfortunately.

I just booted Win 7 and tried to watch a video. Vlc started and a few seconds later, I found myself staring at the grub boot menu again.
Rebooted and tried to start a 3D-shooter. Same result. Also in a third try with a flight simulator.
In each case the whole system crashed in an instant and the machine rebooted.

I hate to confirm it but it indeed looks like a problem with the integrated graphics chipset.

At least under Devuan, I can still watch videos and play a game with 3-D graphics, knowing that the system might or might not freeze.

So the problem is not related to Devuan or any software.

Thanks for all the input in this thread.

GlennW · 2026-01-02 23:05:36

Thank you for letting us know the outcome of your problem.

I hope it goes well, my laptop just died a few weeks ago after a long and eventful life.

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn · 2026-01-03 21:33:37

failing hdd/ssd?

switching2Devuan · 2026-01-03 23:25:53

failing hdd/ssd?

I would almost say "impossible" but I choose "highly unlikely", since the system (as already described in earlier posts) is running smooth and stable with many different programs for many, many hours UNTIL I start a game that uses 3-D-graphics.
Even then, I sometimes am able to play for an hour until the whole system freezes with the last 1 second of sound running in an infinite loop.
Upon rebooting and starting the same game again, it may happen after a few minutes. Same with another game.
But not limited to that, as I have also experienced this system freeze while watching a video or even just listening to music (I haven't experienced the latter two in quite a while though).

Last edited by switching2Devuan (2026-01-03 23:42:43)

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn · 2026-01-04 15:29:56

have had a few laptops in the past that developed bga(ball grid array) failures and there isn't a good way to "proof/quality-control" other than to just build them and let the customers/users shake them out. if i recall correctly the brands were apple, compaq, hp, and toshiba(don't quote my recall on those though).

https://www.pcbmaster.com/news/solving-bga-soldering-problems.html

as long as it isn't your daily driver you can always take it apart and work on it at your leisure

it has definitely exceeded its designed-life-expectancy at this point

good luck and have fun!

switching2Devuan · 2026-01-04 21:27:17

Thanks for your input.
Although it would not be good news if bga failures were the cause of my laptop's problem as it is my machine for daily work.
As long as it works (apart from 3-D games) I will not take it apart and mess with it, until I switch to another laptop altogether.

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn · 2026-01-05 05:32:54

at least one of those bga failures was on a daily driver and even though i had backup equipment it was still a disappointment and a disruption to my workflow and productivity. keep us posted.

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#1 2025-12-31 18:24:03

[SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#2 2025-12-31 18:30:53

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#3 2025-12-31 18:42:11

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#4 2025-12-31 20:29:42

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#5 2025-12-31 20:31:44

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#6 2025-12-31 20:45:18

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#7 2025-12-31 21:42:43

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#8 2025-12-31 21:42:55

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#9 2026-01-01 10:55:45

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#10 2026-01-01 16:32:16

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#11 2026-01-01 23:35:34

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#12 2026-01-02 19:43:21

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#13 2026-01-02 23:05:36

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#14 2026-01-03 21:33:37

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#15 2026-01-03 23:25:53

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#16 2026-01-04 15:29:56

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#17 2026-01-04 21:27:17

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

#18 2026-01-05 05:32:54

Re: [SOLVED] Chimaera started freezing completely under certain occasions

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