System locking up.

[jam7755]

Hello,
I have a system running Debian Buster and it intermittently locks up on me. I have to hit the power switch and re-boot the system in order to get working again. I have not noticed any patterns with this so it does not appear to be related to any particular software. This system also runs Windows 10 and it never does this so I don't think it is a hardware issue. Any input will be helpful. Here are my system specs.

Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix X370-F Gaming
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7.
Memory: Corsair DDR4 - 16GB total.
Video card: NVIDIA Corporation GP107GL High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Is that one of the new ROG models with the 5000 series Ryzen processors? "Ryzen 7" is pretty meaningless because it covers all five generations but buster's stock kernel is probably too old for the fourth & fifth generation versions.

See the Frequently Asked Questions thread in the HowTo section for a way to upgrade the kernel but that might not be enough. You could try Debian bullseye, it's frozen now and will be released as Debian 11 soon.

EDIT: remember to install the amd64-microcode package, the newer .deb package from sid is "safe" to install (but don't add the sid repositories).

[jam7755]

I have had this motherboard for over three years now so it is not the latest ROG model.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

So is the amd64-microcode package installed then? The stock buster version should be fine for hardware that old.

[Bulkley]

Keep in mind that freezes can be hardware related. A common culprit is the video card but any and all hardware can be suspect. The intermittent nature of these can be incredibly frustrating.

If possible use REISUB - the gentle Linux restart to shut down.