Crazy Amount of KDE Crashing

03 Apr 2024

For a very long time KDE has been randomly crashing a lot for me. First I was just blaming myself because I was running Debian Sid.

I was to lazy to re-install stable but once Debian 12 was released I did take my time to install Debian 12. At first everything was fine for a while, but then KDE started crashing again. It was always some KDE related application that was crashing, like plasmashell, kwin_x11, Konsole, Kate, Dolphin etc.

I never had any issues running games like World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, Diablo 4 and so on. I did not have any issues using Blender, VSCode or other software either. Memtest86+ did not report any errors either.

Running my custom OpenBox “desktop environment” was working fine as well, I could use it for weeks without issues and then I went back to KDE the crashing started again.

Crash dumps and backtracing

I created a bug report over at KDE.org because it was almost always only KDE software crashing. Then I had to attach backtraces so they can see what’s happening just before the crash.

To create a backtrace for an application that already crashed and you don’t know when it is going to crash again, you can use the coredumpctl and gdb tools.

bash coredumpctl --reverse Will show you a list of stored crash dumps

TIME                           PID  UID  GID SIG     COREFILE     EXE                                 SIZE
Wed 2023-12-27 17:01:04 CET   4187 1000 1000 SIGABRT present      /usr/bin/kwin_x11                   1.0M
Wed 2023-12-27 17:01:04 CET   4167 1000 1000 SIGABRT present      /usr/bin/kwin_x11                   1.0M
Wed 2023-12-27 17:01:03 CET   4137 1000 1000 SIGABRT present      /usr/bin/kwin_x11                   1.0M
Wed 2023-12-27 17:01:03 CET   4102 1000 1000 SIGABRT present      /usr/bin/kwin_x11                   1.0M
Wed 2023-12-27 17:01:02 CET   4065 1000 1000 SIGABRT present      /usr/bin/kwin_x11                   1.0M
Wed 2023-12-27 15:12:09 CET   5350 1000 1000 SIGILL  present      /usr/bin/plasmashell               15.6M
Wed 2023-12-27 15:03:54 CET   2826 1000 1000 SIGILL  present      /usr/bin/plasmashell               15.7M
Wed 2023-12-27 14:58:32 CET   1064 1000 1000 SIGILL  present      /usr/bin/plasmashell               16.9M

You can then use the number in the PID column to create the backtrace. Once again with coredumpctl and with gdb.

bash coredumpctl gdb <PID> This will start the debugger and run the crash dump. This will generate a lot of text

$ coredumpctl gdb 4187
           PID: 4187 (kwin_x11)
           UID: 1000 (raddinox)
           GID: 1000 (raddinox)
        Signal: 6 (ABRT)
     Timestamp: Wed 2023-12-27 17:01:04 CET (1 week 2 days ago)
  Command Line: /usr/bin/kwin_x11 --replace
    Executable: /usr/bin/kwin_x11
 Control Group: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/plasma-kwin_x11.service
          Unit: user@1000.service
     User Unit: plasma-kwin_x11.service
         Slice: user-1000.slice
     Owner UID: 1000 (raddinox)
       Boot ID: 308fc48ed5524f98a63301edd55e8e77
    Machine ID: 2b85e2c6b2dd4c66aba122262341bd4a
      Hostname: Universe30
       Storage: /var/lib/systemd/coredump/core.kwin_x11.1000.308fc48ed5524f98a63301edd55e8e77.4187.1703692864000000.zst (present)
  Size on Disk: 1.0M
       Message: Process 4187 (kwin_x11) of user 1000 dumped core.
                
                Stack trace of thread 4187:
                #0  0x00007fa7460ac83c n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x8e83c)
                #1  0x00007fa74605c668 raise (libc.so.6 + 0x3e668)
                #2  0x00007fa7460444b8 abort (libc.so.6 + 0x264b8)
                #3  0x00007fa7470a00c2 _ZNK14QMessageLogger5fatalEPKcz (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0xa00c2)
                #4  0x00007fa74773f402 _ZN22QGuiApplicationPrivate25createPlatformIntegrationEv (libQt5Gui.so.5 + 0x13f402)
                #5  0x00007fa74773fa99 _ZN22QGuiApplicationPrivate21createEventDispatcherEv (libQt5Gui.so.5 + 0x13fa99)
                #6  0x00007fa74729bc05 _ZN23QCoreApplicationPrivate4initEv (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x29bc05)
                #7  0x00007fa74773fb46 _ZN22QGuiApplicationPrivate4initEv (libQt5Gui.so.5 + 0x13fb46)
                #8  0x00007fa746775b9e _ZN19QApplicationPrivate4initEv (libQt5Widgets.so.5 + 0x175b9e)
                #9  0x00007fa748c47e65 _ZN4KWin11ApplicationC2ENS0_13OperationModeERiPPc (libkwin.so.5 + 0x247e65)
                #10 0x000055e0422a4971 n/a (kwin_x11 + 0x3e971)
                #11 0x00007fa746045cd0 n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x27cd0)
                #12 0x00007fa746045d8a __libc_start_main (libc.so.6 + 0x27d8a)
                #13 0x000055e0422a6425 n/a (kwin_x11 + 0x40425)
                
                Stack trace of thread 4188:
                #0  0x00007fa746120f6f __poll (libc.so.6 + 0x102f6f)
                #1  0x00007fa744f6c2b6 n/a (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0xb82b6)
                #2  0x00007fa744f0c162 g_main_context_iteration (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x58162)
                #3  0x00007fa7472eaf7c _ZN20QEventDispatcherGlib13processEventsE6QFlagsIN10QEventLoop17ProcessEventsFlagEE (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x2eaf7c)
                #4  0x00007fa74729ae74 _ZN10QEventLoop4execE6QFlagsINS_17ProcessEventsFlagEE (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x29ae74)
                #5  0x00007fa7470f74f6 _ZN7QThread4execEv (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0xf74f6)
                #6  0x00007fa746d4fa9a n/a (libQt5DBus.so.5 + 0x18a9a)
                #7  0x00007fa7470f371a n/a (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0xf371a)
                #8  0x00007fa7460aa9eb n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x8c9eb)
                #9  0x00007fa74612e7cc n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x1107cc)
                ELF object binary architecture: AMD x86-64

GNU gdb (GDB) 13.2
Copyright (C) 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
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This GDB was configured as "x86_64-pc-linux-gnu".
Type "show configuration" for configuration details.
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>.
Find the GDB manual and other documentation resources online at:
    <http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/documentation/>.

For help, type "help".
Type "apropos word" to search for commands related to "word"...
Reading symbols from /usr/bin/kwin_x11...

This GDB supports auto-downloading debuginfo from the following URLs:
  <https://debuginfod.archlinux.org>
Enable debuginfod for this session? (y or [n]) 

I will hit y to download the debug info, and it will start processing

Enable debuginfod for this session? (y or [n]) y
Debuginfod has been enabled.
To make this setting permanent, add 'set debuginfod enabled on' to .gdbinit.
Downloading separate debug info for /usr/bin/kwin_x11
Reading symbols from /home/raddinox/.cache/debuginfod_client/19ccb831e35e298149ae64fe8f4a31f44490d44e/debuginfo...
Downloading executable for /usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1.13.0

--Type <RET> for more, q to quit, c to continue without paging--

when the screen fills up it will halt with the message above, I usually hit c and enter to continue without paging. Because I will copy everything over to the bug report anyway.

Now it will download all debug stuff it needs, it will take some time.

--Type <RET> for more, q to quit, c to continue without paging--c

warning: Can't open file /usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1.13.0 during file-backed mapping note processing
[New LWP 4187]
[New LWP 4188]
Downloading executable for /usr/lib/libQt5Gui.so.5
                                                                                                              
warning: Build-id of /usr/lib/libQt5Gui.so.5 does not match core file.
Downloading executable for /usr/lib/libQt5Core.so.5
                                                                                                              
warning: Build-id of /usr/lib/libQt5Core.so.5 does not match core file.
Downloading executable for /usr/lib/libQt5Widgets.so.5
                                                                                                              
warning: Build-id of /usr/lib/libQt5Widgets.so.5 does not match core file.

warning: .dynamic section for "/usr/lib/libssl.so.3" is not at the expected address (wrong library or version mismatch?)
Downloading executable for /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.3
                                                                                                              
warning: Build-id of /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.3 does not match core file.

warning: .dynamic section for "/usr/lib/libcrypto.so.3" is not at the expected address (wrong library or version mismatch?)

warning: .dynamic section for "/usr/lib/liblz4.so.1" is not at the expected address (wrong library or version mismatch?)

warning: .dynamic section for "/usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3" is not at the expected address (wrong library or version mismatch?)

warning: .dynamic section for "/usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0" is not at the expected address (wrong library or version mismatch?)
Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libxcb-xkb.so.1
Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libxkbcommon-x11.so.0                                            
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Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libproxy.so.1                                                    
Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libssl.so.3                                                      
Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.3                                                   
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Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libxcb-util.so.1                                                 
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Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3                                                     
Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3                                                 
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Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libnghttp2.so.14                                                 
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Downloading separate debug info for /usr/lib/libuuid.so.1                                                     
Downloading separate debug info for system-supplied DSO at 0x7ffe4c8f4000                                     
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]                                                                 
Using host libthread_db library "/usr/lib/libthread_db.so.1".
Core was generated by `/usr/bin/kwin_x11 --replace'.
Program terminated with signal SIGABRT, Aborted.
#0  __pthread_kill_implementation (threadid=<optimized out>, signo=signo@entry=6, no_tid=no_tid@entry=0)
    at pthread_kill.c:44
Downloading source file /usr/src/debug/glibc/glibc/nptl/pthread_kill.c
44            return INTERNAL_SYSCALL_ERROR_P (ret) ? INTERNAL_SYSCALL_ERRNO (ret) : 0;                       
[Current thread is 1 (Thread 0x7fa74174e8c0 (LWP 4187))]
(gdb) 

Now when it’s done at the (gdb) prompt you can type bt and hit enter this will generate the actual back trace. I have noticed that this will eat A LOT of ram, sometimes more than 15Gb.

and this is the actual back trace for my crash.

(gdb) bt
#0  __pthread_kill_implementation (threadid=<optimized out>, signo=signo@entry=6, no_tid=no_tid@entry=0)
    at pthread_kill.c:44
#1  0x00007fa7460ac8a3 in __pthread_kill_internal (signo=6, threadid=<optimized out>) at pthread_kill.c:78
#2  0x00007fa74605c668 in __GI_raise (sig=sig@entry=6) at ../sysdeps/posix/raise.c:26
#3  0x00007fa7460444b8 in __GI_abort () at abort.c:79
#4  0x00007fa7470a00c2 in QAnimationGroup::QAnimationGroup(QObject*)
    (this=<optimized out>, parent=0x7ffe4c8e7c38, this=<optimized out>, parent=<optimized out>)
    at animation/qabstractanimation.cpp:1042
#5  0x00007ffe4c8e7b50 in  ()
#6  0x00007ffe4c8e7a90 in  ()
#7  0x9285d7bf4019d000 in  ()
#8  0x00007fa7461f6ac0 in main_arena () at /usr/lib/libc.so.6
#9  0x0000000000000000 in  ()
(gdb) 

But this was a very short back trace. Usually they will be longer and more information and you will have to answer the “pagination” question like before.

My first quest in search for a solution

After I had installed Debian 12 for a more stable experience, I actually did have a more stable experience. But after a while the crashing was back. At first I thought it was because of libvirt, because the crashing increased A LOT after I installed libvirt and started playing with my virtual machines.

Disabling libvirt did not help, what about new GPU?

Well disabling libvirt did not help. So I thought it was my GPU because the crashing felt graphics related, even though gaming worked fine. It may have some small hint of me just wanting a reason to buy a new GPU.

So I did buy a new Radeon RX7700XT, so new that I had to manually install the GPU firmware to get it to work on Debian 12.

New graphics card did not help, try ArchLinux

Well the new GPU did not help anything, well at least not for the crashing issues. My next thought was to clean out my home folder, just in case there was some issues with my KDE settings I have had since running Debian Sid back when Debian 12 was Sid.

But just cleaning out my home folder was a bit boring, so I did a fresh install of Archlinux with a new clean home folder. And the crashing did not stop.. but it was a bit different. Some times applications (mostly konsole and dolphin) just failed to start because a .so file could not be loaded.

Hardware issues

So now I’m back into thinking it’s a hardware issue. But what hardware? CPU,RAM,Motherboard,SSD?

CPU, because it maybe reading data from ram wrong sometimes. RAM, because it maybe fail to store data correct sometimes. SSD, because it maybe is broken and store data wrong, but then it would always fail and a reboot can’t fix that. Motherboard, because it’s the part connecting CPU,RAM and SSD.

Starting with RAM

I have not replaced my RAM yet, but I have removed one stick. So now I’m running with only 16Gb of RAM and my computer have not had any issues at all, for 3-4 days since I removed one stick of ram.

So the other stick of RAM is broken! Not so fast, I have actually swapped them and have been running 3-4 days on each stick of RAM without issues.

I have tried with both sticks of RAM in the “wrong” slots so they will not enable dual-channel but still be 32Gb of RAM. But that did not work.

I have now been running with only 1 stick of 16Gb RAM, for about ~3 month without crashing issues. I was going to buy new RAM but I can’t find any RAM to buy that are on the QVL list for my motherboard. I don’t really want to spend the money on new RAM if I’m not sure it will work.

My hardware

  • AMD Ryzen 9 3900x
  • Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 32Gb 3200Mhz (CMK32GX4M2E3200C16)