Ubuntu Version:
I have tried versions 20.04.06 LTS, 22.04.5 LTS, 24.04.2 LTS and 24.10
Desktop Environment (if applicable):
NA
Problem Description:
Ubuntu freezes on the desktop, even in live sessions on multiple versions and even another distro. This is a 4 year old Windows PC which continues to have no issues on any other software or high end games. Ubuntu is installed on a separate drive or run from a USB.
Relevant System Information:
Asus Prime X570-Pro/CSM AM4 ATX Motherboard
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen3 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD
Samsung 990 Evo 2TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe SSD (new and holds for the Ubuntu OS)
ASUS Nvidia 2080 Super
48Gb RAM
Mar 17 13:43:05 my-pc kernel: mce: [Hardware Error]: CPU 9: Machine Check: 0 Bank 5: bea0000000000108
Mar 17 13:43:05 my-pc kernel: mce: [Hardware Error]: TSC 0 ADDR 1ffffb9f55738 MISC d012000100000000 SYND 4d000000 IPID 500b000000000
Mar 17 13:43:05 my-pc kernel: mce: [Hardware Error]: PROCESSOR 2:870f10 TIME 1742182960 SOCKET 0 APIC 3 microcode 8701034```
What I’ve Tried:
Confirmed the SSD firmware is latest.
Run a full disk test using Samsung Magician on the SSD holding Ubuntu.
Run a full memory test on the RAM.
I’ve reseated the RAM and tried using each of the 2 pair by themselves so that no stick can be the cause.
I have run Ubuntu from 2 separate USB’s to ‘try’ it and in both cases with each of versions 20, 22 and 24 it froze, crashed or rebooted after a few minutes.
Tried not installing 3rd party drivers and used safe mode
While I have generally used the motherboard defaults, I also tried stepping down the CPU clock multiplier from default of 36 to 32 as well as disabling other apparent performance options.
Department of Guesswork and Intuition responding:-
Reset UEFI to default, then
Disable Secure Boot
Disable TPM and other Trust iterations (ftpm, ptt etc)
Disable ASUS Nvidia 2080 Super (preferably physically remove it)
I have done all of that and unfortunately the result is the same. And just running live ubuntu somehow corrupted my Windows install which I’ve also spent 2 hours recovering.
So
removed the video card and used onboard
disabled secure boot and all TPM I could fin
ran 24.04 LTS from a USB
It didn’t last much more than a minute before freezing on the desktop
I’m not sure what’s going on but Ubuntu is at this point only creating problems for me.
I tried lots of variations of the last link. To no avail editing the parameters and rebooting over
and over while it froze halfway through editing sometimes…
I’ve now put different RAM into it and reduced the frequency to 2400 (from standard 2666). I’m not hopeful given it must be more than 30 or 40 attempts now.
But thank you for all of your help. I can see it is a general problem for Ryzens and the X570 chipset perhaps. I’ll update this comment if the memory timing change solves it - after a day or so of use.
Edit: it just rebooted with slower RAM speed. So I think I’ve officially exhausted all of the ideas in the Universe!
Have you checked if perhaps there is too much heat paste between cooler and CPU ? It can get minimally liquid when hot and there is fine ground silver in it, so if the pressure the heat sink applies to the CPU is strong enough it might flow onto some contacts and shorten them…
I haven’t checked the CPU paste, no. But I max out the CPU in games and yet it freezes on the desktop in Ubuntu with the CPU and RAM stepped down. So it’s not a heat issue.
Use this different RAM - preferably 16GB or 32GB (rather than 48GB)
Remove the ASUS Nvidia 2080 Super card
Also remove both the internal SSDs
Try another live session
I have tried it without the video card. And separately with a different brand of RAM (just a single stick of 16Gb). And also without the Windows drive at one point - because Ubuntu seems to keep making changes that Windows deems fit to repair.
I’ve probably spent 3 days on it now. I don’t believe there is a hardware problem, but I do think Ubuntu has a problem with it. It’s probably a config issue in the bios, but I’ve tried a lot of options now there too.
I was not suggesting that you throw anything away.
I was trying to establish if the problem concerns the disk control of the internal SSDs.
If the live session does not freeze when the disks are temporarily removed, it may then give a clue to the difficulty?
Last chance saloon here.
For years I have successfully run Ubuntu 20.24 in an external SSD container, connected to mothership tower (Dell) via USB 3.0 port. Do you have an external docking container/bay handy? I use StarTech docking bay (two plugin caddies) but you can try a single SSD container.
So my suggestion is try external SSD mounting.
This wiki offered this and has some other ideas about voltages and the CPU power curve I might yet pursue when I again have the patience to waste more time…
Putting the PC to sleep always results in a reboot without it entering the sleep state.
I just tried raising the voltage of the CPU by 0.025 and then 0.05 but on stress testing it froze up for both.
For other people with similar issues here is the closest I have come to a solution. It hasn’t faulted in a while now, though I don’t assume it won’t.
The options I used were:
In the BIOS
manually offset the CPU voltage by +0.025V
set the Performance Bias to ‘NONE’
I also removed a PCIE wifi card I hadn’t been using: a TPLINK T4E, though I’m not convinced it contributed given that the stability varied with other options I tried before that.
