I have updated my system yesterday, now I randomly get logged out.
1 ) Timing seems random; sometimes it occurs within 5min, sometimes after 40min.
2 ) Initially, the screen went black with log output saying:
[ TIME ] Timed out waiting for device /dev/disk/by-uuid/UUID
[DEPEND] Dependency failed for File System Check on XXX
[DEPEND] Dependency failed for MOUNT
for each fstab entry that isn’t detected despite the ‘nofail’ option, (haven’t made any changes to fstab file, and it has worked until now)
3 ) So I comment out the fstab entry of each device I am not currently using. Now the screen still randomly turns black but with no output before showing the user login page. (I guess nothing was wrong with fstab entries)
4 ) After a few iterations the screen just hangs and I can’t switch tty. This has happened twice; once it hung while logged in, and once at the login page.
I don’t understand systemd or fsck or whatever else it could be well enough to troubleshoot. Plz help
ETA
Hey all, thanks for the feedback. I have some more questions before turning the machine back on, since a lot is still unclear to me.
Some added context which could be relevant:
- After the update, yesterday, I have shutdown the computer to plug in an internal hdd that I use for backups. I rebooted the computer both times the screen froze.
- All cables are plugged in, none loose (not sure how to check a connector, though).
- I think that /, /boot, and /home are on the same partition
5 ) Sounds like fsck only runs when a device gets mounted, and there is no scheduled task to run it periodically. So the fact that it is ran means that the partition is getting mounted, which is what indicates that the drive is failing.
Since the partition containing /home never appears in the fsck output printed before the login page appears, it means that is that partition is always detected again.
Why does that partition get found and remounted each time?
The first time the screen froze, my mouse cursor still moved as expected, and the second time the screen froze the login page still appeared; does it freeze because fsck fails to fix everything when remounting, or is it that the partition is not found but some things linger in ram?
6 ) Are there any clues in some log file somewhere?
Before posting yesterday I read that boot logs don’t get saved because initramfs is read-only or something, but that dmseg could provide info. The dmseg output seemed fine but I don’t really know what red flags would be in the case of a failing drive.
7 ) I guess I should run smartctl, but is there anything else I should run or check?
Thanks again
