Random freeze with window manager

For the past four months, I have experienced random freeze-ups. Usually it happens when doing alt-tab to go to another window. If I quickly hit Ctrl+Alt+F2 I get a text-only login screen, in which case logging in and running “pkill xfwm4” stops the freeze. But sometimes it freezes so fully that Ctrl+Alt+F2 does not work, and I need to power-cycle the computer by holding down the power switch or unplugging it from the wall.

My desktop environment is XFCE. I use the nouveau driver on a basic Nvidia GT710 card. I do not run any graphics-intensive programs.

What are my options to prevent this from happening?

EDIT: Machine specs added and output of xrandr.

$ inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --width
System:
  Kernel: 5.10.70-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64
  root=UUID=541f3338-1847-42ad-8318-703b5617ec29 rw
  resume=UUID=3be5dd92-afea-42be-890a-b9785af9db43 udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.29 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.16.1 vt: 7
  dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI (MS-7C37)
  v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1.40 date: 09/10/2019
Battery:
  Message: No system battery data found. Is one present?
Memory:
  RAM: total: 15.64 GiB used: 1.89 GiB (12.1%)
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: 6-Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 2
  family: 17 (23) model-id: 71 (113) stepping: 0 microcode: 8701013 cache:
  L2: 3 MiB bogomips: 86424
  Speed: 3605 MHz min/max: N/A Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3605 2: 3591 3: 3599
  4: 3597 5: 3592 6: 3597 7: 3594 8: 3598 9: 3600 10: 3599 11: 3595 12: 3593
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm adx aes aperfmperf apic arat avic avx avx2 bmi1
  bmi2 bpext cat_l3 cdp_l3 clflush clflushopt clwb clzero cmov cmp_legacy
  constant_tsc cpb cpuid cqm cqm_llc cqm_mbm_local cqm_mbm_total cqm_occup_llc
  cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists extapic extd_apicid f16c flushbyasid
  fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr fxsr_opt ht hw_pstate ibpb ibs irperf lahf_lm lbrv lm
  mba mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor movbe msr mtrr mwaitx nonstop_tsc
  nopl npt nrip_save nx osvw overflow_recov pae pat pausefilter pclmulqdq
  pdpe1gb perfctr_core perfctr_llc perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge pni popcnt pse
  pse36 rdpid rdpru rdrand rdseed rdt_a rdtscp rep_good sep sev sev_es sha_ni
  skinit smap smca sme smep ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 stibp
  succor svm svm_lock syscall tce topoext tsc tsc_scale umip v_vmsave_vmload
  vgif vmcb_clean vme vmmcall wbnoinvd wdt xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveerptr
  xsaveopt xsaves
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
  Type: spectre_v1
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, STIBP:
  always-on, RSB filling
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GK208B [GeForce GT 710] vendor: Micro-Star MSI
  driver: nouveau v: kernel bus-ID: 2d:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:128b class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.16.1 driver:
  loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2")
  s-diag: 582mm (22.9")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 82 size: 598x336mm (23.5x13.2")
  diag: 686mm (27")
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 12.0.1 256 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 21.2.3
  compat-v: 3.1 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GK208 HDMI/DP Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 2d:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0e0f
  class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 2f:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487
  class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.70-1-MANJARO running: yes
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
  vendor: Micro-Star MSI X570-A PRO driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000
  bus-ID: 27:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp39s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168NGW [Stone Peak] driver: iwlwifi
  v: kernel bus-ID: 29:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:24fb class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp41s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
  broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 3168 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
  bus-ID: 1-4:4 chip-ID: 8087:0aa7 class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
  rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: see --recommends
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 120.41 GiB (12.9%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
  model: WDS100T2B0B-00YS70 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
  logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 00WD
  scheme: GPT
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: ASUS model: SDRW-08D1S-U rev: A202
  dev-links: cdrom
  Features: speed: 24 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes
  rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: running
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 922.42 GiB size: 906.94 GiB (98.32%)
  used: 120.41 GiB (13.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 label: N/A
  uuid: 541f3338-1847-42ad-8318-703b5617ec29
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
  used: 280 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 label: N/A
  uuid: FCDD-40C8
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
  dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3 label: N/A
  uuid: 3be5dd92-afea-42be-890a-b9785af9db43
Unmounted:
  Message: No unmounted partitions found.
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-1:2 info: Microsoft Nano Transceiver v1.0 for Bluetooth
  type: Keyboard,Mouse,HID driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 3 rev: 2.0
  speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 045e:0745 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: 1-2:3 info: Initio INIC-1610L SATA Bridge type: Mass Storage
  driver: usb-storage interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 2mA
  chip-ID: 13fd:1640 class-ID: 0805 serial: <filter>
  Device-3: 1-4:4 info: Intel Wireless-AC 3168 Bluetooth type: Bluetooth
  driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA
  chip-ID: 8087:0aa7 class-ID: e001
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 3-5:2 info: Micro Star MYSTIC LIGHT type: HID
  driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
  power: 500mA chip-ID: 1462:7c37 class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
  Hub-4: 3-6:3 info: Genesys Logic Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 05e3:0608 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-5: 4-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-6: 5-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-7: 6-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: 29.0 C gpu: nouveau temp: 40.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): fan-1: 0 fan-2: 1834 fan-3: 1036 fan-4: 903 fan-5: 0
  fan-6: 0 fan-7: 0
Info:
  Processes: 294 Uptime: 5h 53m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 249
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 12.0.1 Packages: pacman: 1262
  lib: 352 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.8 running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.08




$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
DVI-D-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 598mm x 336mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+  74.97    59.96    50.00    59.94    59.93  
   1920x1080i    60.00    50.00    59.94  
   1680x1050     59.95    59.88  
   1400x1050     74.76    59.98  
   1600x900      59.95    60.00    59.82  
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1400x900      59.96    59.88  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1440x810      59.97  
   1368x768      59.88    59.85  
   1280x800      59.99    59.97    59.81    59.91  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1280x720      60.00    59.99    59.86    60.00    50.00    59.94    59.74  
   1024x768      75.05    60.04    75.03    70.07    60.00  
   960x720       75.00    60.00  
   928x696       75.00    60.05  
   896x672       75.05    60.01  
   1024x576      59.95    59.96    59.90    59.82  
   960x600       59.93    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   960x540       59.96    59.99    59.63    59.82  
   800x600       75.00    70.00    65.00    60.00    72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   840x525       60.01    59.88  
   864x486       59.92    59.57  
   720x576       50.00  
   700x525       74.76    59.98  
   800x450       59.95    59.82  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x512       75.02    60.02  
   700x450       59.96    59.88  
   640x480       60.00    75.00    72.81    75.00    60.00    59.94  
   720x405       59.51    58.99  
   720x400       70.08  
   684x384       59.88    59.85  
   640x400       59.88    59.98  
   576x432       75.00  
   640x360       59.86    59.83    59.84    59.32  
   512x384       75.03    70.07    60.00  
   512x288       60.00    59.92  
   416x312       74.66  
   480x270       59.63    59.82  
   400x300       72.19    75.12    60.32    56.34  
   432x243       59.92    59.57  
   320x240       72.81    75.00    60.05  
   360x202       59.51    59.13  
   320x180       59.84    59.32  
VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

You should probably start with some information:

If I have to guess, then I would say it relates to the compositor which is responsible for the effects. It uses the GPU for this and somehow the screen gets blocked, if it was too fast and the gpu did not keep up with the frequency of the screen and there you get a freezed screen.

I guess it is because the GPU does not clock up on demand, since nouveau always stays at the base clock.

  1. Disable the effects in XFCE.
  2. Disable PageFlip. That have to be done in a new xorg config file. It will reduce the use of the GPU, but instead a little higher CPU usage.
  3. Install the nvidia drivers. GT 710 should be still supported on the newest drivers: Configure Graphics Cards - Manjaro

Thank you for your solution. I cannot definitively say if what you guessed was correct, but I went through “Window Manager Tweaks” and experimented with the settings based on your recommendation. I unchecked the box saying “Show window preview instead of icon while cycling”. I tried disabling the compositor itself but that was too big a change so I enabled it again. I was going to wait a day on the new setting before trying the PageFlip technique and the driver switch. The only thing I really disabled was to show the window preview while cycling windows using alt-tab.

As it turns out, I have not had freeze-ups today, which is very good. I have accepted your answer as a solution. Thank you!

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