Ubuntu freezes. Which logs can I check out?

Question

So my computer has lately started freezing completely when I run some programs that, in the past, would work great.

What I am unsure about however, is what logs that are available to me that could help me track down the issue after a reboot?

Thanks

First run said software in the Terminal, and see what it throws, — Uri Herrera, Jan 06 '12 at 08:02

score 34 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 06 '12 at 08:06

34

check

/var/log/syslog

If you are running gnome, then you can check the logs using "gnome-system-log" tool, type

gnome-system-log

in the run dialog.

and check the syslog in the left hand side.

if you want to check the log using terminal,

then do,

tail -f /var/log/syslog

answered Jan 06 '12 at 08:06

Rajesh Pantula

2

Check the dates of the syslog* files in /var/log, my particular hang occurred on a Friday night and had been renamed and compressed as syslog.2.gz by Monday. Log was full of cntlm events, which to me means I once again left my browser with dozens of tabs opened. Thus reminding me once more that one day I need to learn how to enable the out of memory killer in Ubuntu. – TheHairyOne Mar 26 '18 at 18:26
1

What do I look for in `/var/log/syslog`? Any keywords? – Anna May 26 '22 at 20:09
1

`gnome-system-log` opens up `/var/log/syslog`, `/var/log/auth.log`, and `/var/log/dpkg.log`. So, what is the difference between these 3 logs and which should we look at, and when and why? – Gabriel Staples Dec 20 '22 at 21:25

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 06 '12 at 09:06

If the whole machine is locking up, off the top of my head, these are the likely causes:

Overheating. You don't need logs to determine this, but fingers :)
GPU lockup. Is it an OpenGL (3D) application, and you don't normally run those? While locked up you should be able to ssh into it from another machine.
Thrashing. Does the hard drive light go on steadily when it locks up? Something is using too much RAM.
Other hardware problem. Run a memtest and/or another OS...

this seams to happen to my mining rig sometimes ... so GPU lockup ... :( — azote, Apr 13 '17 at 14:42

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 06 '12 at 10:32

"my computer has lately started freezing completely when I run some programs"

What are those programs? The answer to your question is heavily depend on those "some programs" Anyway, check

/var/log/syslog

/var/log/kern.log Optionally you can use dmesg command to view kernel messages to check if something is wrong during boot process.

3 Answers3