System freeze. Video driver issue?

My spare laptop has become unstable and freeze up. When this happens, nothing moves on screen. Not even the clock. Even the Caps lock LED responds to input. Last time this happened I was writing a facebook post. Only firefox and mousepad windows were open. Seems to me like the issue is the video driver. Is that correct reading of the logs? What could be done about that?

System was clean reinstalled on April 9th. For the first 4 weeks after reinstall there were no issues at all with the pc. Auto updates are switched off. Manual updates has not been performed since the reinstall as I want eliminate updates as the reason for issues experienced before the reinstall.

Log looks like this:

# journalctl --boot=-1 --priority=7 --no-pager
mai 13 13:40:22 m8440 NetworkManager[481]: <info>  [1715600422.8877] dhcp4 (wlo1): state changed new lease, address=192.168.43.211
mai 13 13:40:22 m8440 systemd[1]: Starting Network Manager Script Dispatcher Service...
mai 13 13:40:22 m8440 systemd[1]: Started Network Manager Script Dispatcher Service.
mai 13 13:40:32 m8440 systemd[1]: NetworkManager-dispatcher.service: Deactivated successfully.
mai 13 13:51:28 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: TRAP_MP_EXEC - TP 0 MP 0: 00000008 [TIMEOUT] at 07e690 warp 2, opcode f6400001 0000c781
mai 13 13:51:28 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: TRAP_MP_EXEC - TP 0 MP 1: 00000008 [TIMEOUT] at 07e690 warp 1, opcode f6400001 0000c781
mai 13 13:51:28 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: 00200000 [] ch 5 [001f780000 Renderer[3137]] subc 3 class 8597 mthd 15e0 data 00000000

[…] the above lines repeat several times pr second, until this:

mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: 00200000 [] ch 5 [001f780000 Renderer[3137]] subc 3 class 8597 mthd 15e0 data 00000000
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: INFO: task kworker/1:0H:71340 blocked for more than 245 seconds.
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel:       Tainted: P           OE      6.6.25-1-MANJARO #1
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: INFO: task kworker/u16:0:72742 blocked for more than 245 seconds.
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel:       Tainted: P           OE      6.6.25-1-MANJARO #1
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: TRAP_MP_EXEC - TP 0 MP 0: 00000008 [TIMEOUT] at 07e690 warp 2, opcode f6400001 0000c781
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: TRAP_MP_EXEC - TP 0 MP 1: 00000008 [TIMEOUT] at 07e690 warp 1, opcode f6400001 0000c781
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: 00200000 [] ch 5 [001f780000 Renderer[3137]] subc 3 class 8597 mthd 15e0 data 00000000
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: TRAP_MP_EXEC - TP 0 MP 0: 00000008 [TIMEOUT] at 07e690 warp 2, opcode f6400001 0000c781
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: TRAP_MP_EXEC - TP 0 MP 1: 00000008 [TIMEOUT] at 07e690 warp 1, opcode f6400001 0000c781
mai 13 13:56:54 m8440 kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: gr: 00200000 [] ch 5 [001f780000 Renderer[3137]] subc 3 class 8597 mthd 15e0 data 00000000

Inxi output:

# inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --width
System:
  Kernel: 6.6.25-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.6-x86_64
    root=UUID=b68a8072-f3c0-4f2e-9606-f869acbca128 rw
    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=sysrq_always_enabled=1 apparmor=1
    security=apparmor resume=UUID=dcf04137-619b-41d0-99fe-ef7e77c5534d
    udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP EliteBook 8440p v: N/A
    serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter>
  Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 172B v: KBC Version 30.35 serial: <filter>
    part-nu: VQ664EA#ABN uuid: 9c5b917a-c5dc-11df-9cd0-c2011e0d6060
    BIOS: Hewlett-Packard v: 68CCU Ver. F.60 date: 11/11/2015
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 35.7 Wh (98.3%) condition: 36.3/36.3 Wh (100.0%)
    volts: 12.2 min: 10.8 model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion
    serial: <filter> status: not charging
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 6 GiB available: 5.65 GiB used: 2.05 GiB (36.2%)
  Array-1: capacity: 8 GiB slots: 2 modules: 2 EC: None
    max-module-size: 4 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: Top-Slot 1(top) type: DDR3 detail: synchronous size: 2 GiB
    speed: 1333 MT/s volts: N/A width (bits): data: 64 total: 64
    manufacturer: Samsung part-no: M471B5673FH0-CH9 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: Top-Slot 2(under) type: DDR3 detail: synchronous size: 4 GiB
    speed: 1333 MT/s volts: N/A width (bits): data: 64 total: 64
    manufacturer: Hynix part-no: HMT351S6BFR8C-H9 serial: <filter>
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7 M 620 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Westmere
    gen: core 1 level: v2 built: 2010-11 process: Intel 32nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x25 (37) stepping: 5 microcode: 0x7
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB
    L3: 4 MiB desc: 1x4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1566 high: 2667 min/max: 1199/2667 boost: enabled
    base/boost: 2657/2666 scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil
    volts: 1.2 V ext-clock: 133 MHz cores: 1: 1199 2: 1199 3: 1199 4: 2667
    bogomips: 21288
  Flags: acpi aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_perfmon bts clflush cmov
    constant_tsc cpuid cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts est flush_l1d fpu
    fxsr ht ibpb ibrs ida lahf_lm lm mca mce mmx monitor msr mtrr nonstop_tsc
    nopl nx pae pat pbe pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pebs pge pni popcnt pse pse36 pti
    rdtscp rep_good sep smx ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 stibp syscall tm
    tm2 tsc vme xtopology xtpr
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion
  Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode;
    SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW,
    STIBP: conditional, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GT218M [NVS 3100M] vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: nouveau
    v: kernel non-free: series: 340.xx status: legacy (EOL~2019-12-xx) last:
    release: 340.108 kernel: 5.4 xorg: 1.20 arch: Tesla process: 40-80nm
    built: 2006-2013 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
    active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2,VGA-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0a6c
    class-ID: 0300 temp: 57.0 C
  Device-2: Chicony HP Webcam [2 MP Macro] driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-1.5:4
    chip-ID: 04f2:b15e class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.12 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 driver:
    X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau
    display-ID: :0.0 note: <missing: xdpyinfo/xrandr>
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x123e built: 2009 res: 1600x900
    dpi: 132 gamma: 1.2 size: 309x174mm (12.17x6.85") diag: 355mm (14")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1600x900 min: 800x600
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia nouveau platforms: device: 0 egl: 1.4
    drv: nouveau device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: egl: 1.4 drv: nouveau surfaceless:
    egl: 1.4 drv: nouveau x11: egl: 1.4 drv: nouveau inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 3.3 vendor: mesa v: 24.0.2-manjaro1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVA8 device-ID: 10de:0a6c
    memory: 494.1 MiB unified: no
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio
    vendor: Hewlett-Packard 5 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
    chip-ID: 8086:3b56 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0be3 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.6.25-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.0.3 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: e1000e v: kernel port: 6020 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:10ea
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie:
    gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 44:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:4238
    class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  IF-ID-1: brfjt state: up speed: -1 duplex: unknown mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  IF-ID-2: brlyc state: up speed: -1 duplex: unknown mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  IF-ID-3: brprt state: up speed: -1 duplex: unknown mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  IF-ID-4: dumfjt state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-5: dumlyc state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-6: dumprt state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Message: No bluetooth data found.
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Device-1: z type: zfs status: ONLINE level: linear raw: size: 193 GiB
    free: 127 GiB allocated: 66.2 GiB zfs-fs: size: 192.43 GiB free: 120.79 GiB
  Components: Online:
  1:
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: raw: 238.47 GiB usable: 430.9 GiB
    used: 88.23 GiB (20.5%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Micron model: MTFDBAK256MAG-1G1
    size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0005 scheme: GPT
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: hp model: CDDVDW TS-L633N rev: 0300
    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: 29.2 GiB size: 28.57 GiB (97.85%) used: 16.79 GiB (58.8%)
    fs: ext4 block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3 label: N/A
    uuid: b68a8072-f3c0-4f2e-9606-f869acbca128
  ID-2: /boot raw-size: 300 MiB size: 271.1 MiB (90.37%)
    used: 134.5 MiB (49.6%) fs: ext4 block-size: 1024 B dev: /dev/sda2
    maj-min: 8:2 label: N/A uuid: b888bcfa-ce5b-4d44-9be5-de9f47714adc
  ID-3: /com/common raw-size: N/A size: 166.41 GiB used: 45.62 GiB (27.4%)
    fs: zfs logical: z/common
  ID-4: /com/doc raw-size: N/A size: 122.48 GiB used: 1.69 GiB (1.4%) fs: zfs
    logical: z/doc
  ID-5: /com/pic raw-size: N/A size: 144.79 GiB used: 24 GiB (16.6%) fs: zfs
    logical: z/pic
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
    compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 15.62 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4 label: N/A
    uuid: dcf04137-619b-41d0-99fe-ef7e77c5534d
Use of uninitialized value $_ in regexp compilation at /usr/bin/inxi line 28076.
Use of uninitialized value $_ in regexp compilation at /usr/bin/inxi line 28076.
Use of uninitialized value $_ in regexp compilation at /usr/bin/inxi line 28076.
Use of uninitialized value $_ in regexp compilation at /usr/bin/inxi line 28076.
Use of uninitialized value $_ in regexp compilation at /usr/bin/inxi line 28076.
Use of uninitialized value $_ in regexp compilation at /usr/bin/inxi line 28076.
Unmounted:
  Message: No unmounted partitions found.
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 3 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-2: 1-1:2 info: Intel Integrated Rate Matching Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 8087:0020
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-1.3:3 info: Validity Sensors VFS451 Fingerprint Reader
    type: <vendor specific> driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1
    speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 138a:0007 class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: 1-1.5:4 info: Chicony HP Webcam [2 MP Macro] type: video
    driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1
    mode: 2.0 power: 98mA chip-ID: 04f2:b15e class-ID: 0e02
  Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 3 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-4: 2-1:2 info: Intel Integrated Rate Matching Hub ports: 8 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 8087:0020
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 57.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 308 Power: uptime: 1h 0m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 2.25 GiB services: upowerd,xfce4-power-manager
    Init: systemd v: 255 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1098 libs: 349 tools: pamac Compilers:
    clang: 16.0.6 gcc: 13.2.1 Shell: Bash (su) v: 5.2.26
    running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.33

Simply: GPU cannot keep up with requests: timeout. Most likely because nouveau does not clock up the gpu and run at base clock.

Disable GPU (Hardware) acceleration in Firefox. Probably that will solve it.

You can also try to install the Nvidia driver.

The Nvidia driver does no longer support this video card. I think support stopped with kernel 5.10.

I’ve disabled hardware acceleration in firefox now. We’ll see if freeze happens again.
I find it strange this was not an issue for the first 4 weeks after reinstall…