Hey folks. I’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship with Linux for over 20 years. Usually, my attempts to use it are either thwarted by issues installing, issues booting, or general problems while using it… leading to “catastrophic failure” that I can’t fix without digging into hours of research and terminal commands.
Windows 11 (even 10) are rock solid for me, even as a very heavy multitasker. No crashes. No needing to reboot, unless I’m forced to with an update, and really no issues with any hardware or software I was running.
But with Linux, I just can’t believe how unstable it is, even when I do the absolute basic things.
I’m trying to learn why this is, and how I can prevent these issues from coming up. As I said, I’m committed to using Linux now (I’m done with American software), so I’m open to suggestions.
For context, I’m using a Framework laptop, which is fully (and officially) supports Fedora and Ubuntu. Since Fedora has American ties, I’ve settled with Ubuntu.
All things work as they should: fingerprint scanner, wifi, bluetooth, screen dimming, wake up from suspend, external drives, NAS shared folders, etc. I’ve even got VirtualBox running Windows 11 for the few paid software that I need to load up from time to time.
But I’m noticing issues that seemingly pop out of nowhere on the software/os end of things.
For example, after having no issues updating software, I get this an error: “something went wrong, but we’re not sure what it is.”
Then sometimes I’ll be using Firefox, I’ll open a new tab to type in a search term or URL, and the typing will “lag”, then the address bar will flicker like it’s reloading, and it doesn’t respond well to my mouse clicks. I have to close it out, then start over for it to resolve.
Then I’ll open a different app, sometimes it might open, sometimes it won’t.
Or an app will freeze for no obvious reason, and I’ll get a popup asking to wait or quit.
Another time I left my computer while I went out for a walk, came back, and it was like I just rebooted… all my work was gone, and it was starting fresh from the login screen.
I’m trying not to overload things, and I’m doing maybe 1/5th of what I’d normally be doing when running windows. But I don’t understand why it’s so unstable.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
FWIW, I’m not keen to switch away from Ubuntu, because I do still want official support if there’s ever a problem with getting hardware to work.
UPDATE: Wow, I did not expect to get so many responses! Amazing!
Per suggestions, I ran a memtest86 for over 3 hours and it was clean.
I installed Fedora 41 and am now setting it up. Seems good so far, and elevated permissions can be authorized with biometrics! This was not something I had to. Ubuntu, so awesome there!
Any specific tips for Fedora that I should know? Obviously, no more Snap packages now! 😂
UPDATE 2: Ok, Fedora seems waaaay more stable than Ubuntu (and Mint). No strangeness like before… but not everything works as easily. For example, getting a bridged network adapter to work in virtualbox was one-click easy on Ubuntu… not so much on Fedora (still trying to get it working). And Virtualbox didn’t even run my VM without more terminal hackery.
But the OS seems usable, and I’m still setting things up.
One thing I have noticed, however. When I search for how to fix or do something, nearly all websites and forums reference Debian/Ubuntu commands, so the fragmentation there is a little annoying
But with Linux, I just can’t believe how unstable it is, even when I do the absolute basic things.
That doesn’t sound right.
Start with Linux Mint. I’ve helped Boomers use it. My dad has been using it as his daily driver for almost 5 years and he doesn’t know the difference between an OS and a Word Processor (he keeps calling LibreOffice “Linux”).
Start with Linux Mint.
On this laptop, Mint was even worse, unfortunately!
I do have it running on a miniPC hooked up to my TV, though. Very basic stuff like video streaming. :(
It runs my TV too, which is a 7-year-old Dell All-in-One touch screen that works great.
Could this be a snaps thing?
I despise snaps and left Ubuntu for that reason. I don’t remember the specifics but I think even after installing firefox with apt it somehow get’s magically switched to a snap.
I daily drive debian on a t490s and it’s rock solid. There’s just no way anyone could consider this set up unstable.
In recent years I’ve found most of my problems come from the fancy new packages. In order of reliability I find that it goes apt > .dev > AppImage > flatpak > snap
Where did you get this laptop from? Did you buy it new or used?
The reason why I ask is because it sounds like you have hardware issues.
Yep, the Firefox thing is weird. I’d run a memory test . Does this laptop do the same thing with Windows?
Also op mentions 20 years, were your other experiences like this?
You need to stop worrying about “official support.” You aren’t a business so it doesn’t matter for you. There is more support out there online for free than you realize. There’s nothing magical framework does for you that doesn’t get ported out everywhere else eventually anyway. Stop limiting yourself like that.
That being said, Ubuntu is built in Debian. Debian is an incredibly solid and stable distro. Ubuntu does do a few questionable things with it but it’s still very reliable. If you have problems with stability, it’s very unlikely Ubuntu is the problem unless you did something so incredibly stupid to it support wouldn’t help you anyway.
I have a theory. Windows can dance around memory corruption issues in ways Linux just refuses to do. Windows will misbehave in strange ways trying to make things work until it just can’t anymore. Linux is more of a binary thing. It works or it doesn’t. It’s not going to play pretend for you. It refuses. Linus has an obscene hand gesture for your hardware.
I want you to get a copy of memtest86+ and boot it off a flash drive. Then just let it beat the shit out of your CPU and ram for a couple hours.
Framework laptops are generally Intel. Intel hasn’t been making the best stuff over the past few years. It’s possible your cpu might be affected by a flaw Intel tried to cover up for a while. If it has it, nothing in earth will ever make that chip reliable. It’s not fixable. It will only get worse with time no matter what OS you use.
Yeah, this was my first thought: test your hardware.
Frameworks have all AMD options too, just a heads up. I have one and it runs great!
They do indeed! And if I had a framework that’s exactly what I would buy unless they had an ARM offering.
Somewhat obvious tips to get a more stable experience:
- Use a distribution that favour stability over being on the bleeding edge. Like Debian stable, or another distribution that maintain LTS releases,
- Install software from the distribution’s official package repositories. Avoid third party packages and repos as much as possible. If you really need a third party repo, verify it’s compatible with your specific distro and has reputation for being well maintained,
- When you do see a problem, take time to troubleshoot and if necessary make a bug report with necessary information for developers to identify the problem, so there’s a better chance to see it fixed.
- If you use Linux in a professional settings, there is paid support available out there, in some cases this get you priority for bug fixes.
Good advice, also Fedora’s “atomic” distros are both bleeding edge and extremely stable!
Atomic distro sounds like an interesting way to avoid breakage due to admin/user mistakes, so it’s a good suggestion. But it doesn’t help much with bugs in new software releases.
So the best choice depends on what exactly caused instability in OP’s case.
You need to start with Linux mint. The errors you are mentioning are common in ubuntu, crashes happen and popup all the time on my ubuntu installations too. But never on Mint. Mint is based on the stable version of ubuntu, that it has long term support and it’s regularly getting updates to make it even more stable and secure. So please start with Mint, or Debian 12 (although Mint is better for new users).
this! and whilst i don’t know the hardware support for new framework models on mint, i recon it’s pretty good.
Something is awfully weird here, because Linux literally runs the worlds infrastructure for the internet. It is not unstable by any stretch of the imagination. Something you’re doing between all distros has got to be the culprit - something you do differently than other people.
OP is a newbie and is externalizing his lack of knowledge.
A 747 would seem like a death trap if a toddler were given control but there, as here, it isn’t the plane that’s the problem.
Coming from Windows, Linux (especially when only talking about GUI environments) seems to not tell you anything about your problems. Eventually you learn how to find the relevant logs and the problems seem less arbitrary.
I installed Arch on my daily driver because I wanted a challenge.
It’s too dependable, even when updating every other day and installing a bunch of nonsense from the AUR. Where’s my challenge?Or hardware issues (i still have night sweats over wifi on laptops even though that has been better for decades now).
Server infrastructure does not run X Servers / GUI
I’ll likely be downvoted for this, but if you’re committed to Linux, you might want to reconsider using Ubuntu (or Fedora for that matter). Ubuntu has a well-earned reputation for trying to make things “easy” by obfuscating what it’s doing from the user (hence that useless error message). They’re also a corporate distro, so their motivations are for their profit rather than your needs (wait 'til you had about Snap).
A good starting distro is Debian (known for stable, albeit older) software. It’s a community Free software project and the 2nd-oldest Linux distro that’s still running as well as the basis for a massive number of other distros (including Ubuntu). The installer is straightforward and easy too.
Or if you’re feeling ambitious, I’d recommend Arch or Gentoo. These distros walk you through the install from a very “bare metal” perspective with excellent documentation. Your first install is a slog, but you learn a great deal about the OS in the process, ensuring that you have more intimate knowledge when something goes wrong.
I do appreciate the reply. I’ll check with Framework to see how well Debian is supported. I might just go that route. I don’t need anything fancy or cutting edge, but I do need stability.
FWIW Debian isn’t a non profit. Debian is not a legal entity period. It receives funds via the Software in the Public Interests, which also holds the copyrights, but the project itself just is. It’s probably the world largest, longest running, self organized affiliation group.
Also debian testing is a fine rolling release. maybe sometimes a bit slow on security updates, but for a workstation that isn’t exposed to the internet, and using flatpaks for browser it’s mostly a non issue. That can also be mitigated by installing security updates from Sid. And secure-testing release take care of the most critical issues as well. If you avoid the couple’s weeks right before and after the freeze, it’s generally stable enough.
Sorry, I was on mobile so I over-simplified 'cause digging up the details on Wikipedia wasn’t so easy while also juggling my kid :-) I’ll try to amend the original post.
The latest arch with archinstaler is actually very straight forward from boot to full desktop install. It just does not have a gui for installation. Very ligh, minimum packages by default but works great.
This blows my mind, honestly. Since I moved to Linux about 8 years ago, I’ve had little to no issues. No force of nature can ever make me go back to Windows and it’s constant crashing for no reason. I run PopOS on a PC, Fedora Workstation on my laptop, my wife is also in Fedora, kids too (Nobara), and everything works. Mind you, the only device that is “made for Linux” is my laptop.
Your experience is very out of the ordinary.
Your experience is very out of the ordinary.
That gives me hope! LOL
If it is something I’m doing, then this could be remedied.
I’ve been running Linux for 20+ years as well (on-amd-off for most of that, but mostly on). Stability has almost never been an issue, only when I was fucking around and finding out lol. My biggest problem in recent years was Ubuntu never having what I wanted, and Arch always having what I needed… So I just moved to Arch and things have never been better.
This. If you’re going to fuck around with your root, be prepared to find out. Most other problems is a quick search, “oh I don’t have x dependency”, and done.
Nowadays you just need to learn how to use Timeshift and make a save point before messing with stuff. System unstable after tinkering? Time to roll back. Linux is easier and more stable than ever before.
Just stay home, literally in your system, and you’ll be fine 99% of the time.
Framework fully supports Ubuntu and has full guides on them. If you have issues, I’d suggest posting on the Framework message boards, they’re very responsive.
I don’t know the support model for Framework but they should really be able to work through these issues for such a common distro. With the various things you mentioned it doesn’t sound like bad configuration, it sounds like a hardware issue. Given that Windows is so different from Linux it may be the case that Win11 does a better job masking the issues.
Yes, I think I might need to, especially if advanced troubleshooting is needed.
I was hoping perhaps that it’s something I’m doing wrong. Clearly, this isn’t how it should be, but I’ll keep trying to get this working!
I think they have a live usb that you can boot into to see if the issues are still occurring there to try and rule out hardware. Would probably be my first go-to. If that works well, probably backup, wipe, follow the framework guide for your OS, and hopefully that does it. :)
it sounds like something underlying is wrong, so would test everything that is underlying your system.
a memtest is the easiest first check. i wouldn’t rely on the one that’s on your system since it could be bad too, but it’s still worth it give it a try since it only takes a few seconds. if it finds anything, then there’s definately something wrong with your hardware.
instead, i would rely on a usb stick with the ubuntu image you downloaded. first verify that the checksum for the ubuntu image you have on a trusted computer is the same that ubuntu has on its website. then copy it to your usb stick and then use memtest from there. if it comfirms that your ram is okay, use ubuntu’s installation tools to verify that image on the usb stick is good; google or deepseek can show you how with easy to copy/paste commands.
in your shoes, i would re-install because at his point because then there’s confidence that the base steps are verified and should be working correctly and then you can move onto othere testing strategies if you continue to experience the same behavior.
Like @wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works just said, run memory test.
What hw do you have in that laptop?
something went wrong, but we’re not sure what it is.
Check the system journal with
sudo journalctl -eWhat hw do you have in that laptop?
It’s the 11th Gen Framework 13 running:
- Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 , integrated Intel XE graphics chip
- Western Digital Black 770 2TB SSD
- 32gb ram (16GB x 2) Crucial DDR4-3200
sudo journalctl -e
This generates a lot of stuff. Anything in particular that I should post?
Look for an error in the journal as soon as the error you mentioned happens. Maybe some details get saved in the journal. Post it somewhere online like pastebin, then we can maybe tell you what to check next
Like others have said, what you are experiencing is super unusual
Errors and Warnings obviousky.
you coukd redirect the output to a file
sudo journalctl -e > log.txtand upload it sonewhere for us to checkThank you! I’m going to do a proper memtest once I’m off work, and will take it from there.
If there is a problem with memory, windows wouldn’t have worked too.
Highly doubt memory is the issue but doesn’t hurt to check
Linux has always been the way you’ve described across many different distros for me over the years.
By far the most stable for me was Fedora. I’ve been running CachyOS over the last year or so and it’s been solid.
Until today. For some reason KDE takes forever to startup now. A few apps have this problem as well.
I’ve used Linux as my main and only workstation for over twenty years, and I’ve never had an experience close to what OP describe, so no, I wouldn’t say it’s always been that way.
It’s almost like bugs and such rarely affect everyone. I can say just about the same thing about any OS. YOUR experience isn’t necessarily someone else’s.
Running a framework 16 with FedoraKDE and before that a 4gb ram 2015 toshiba satellite (in 2024) running Fedora (regular Gnome) and haven’t had one of these issues. Most issues I have had were caused by me, every now and again I run into a regular old bug in something and half the time that gets fixed pretty quick.
I wish I could help, but we just have opposite experiences unfortunately. That said, because of this I don’t think it’s “linux,” or I’d likely have at least similar experiences.
OH for a while I did have a bug where VLC would stutter playing video and nobody had a fix, so I uninstalled/reinstalled VLC and it works now. Idk, I’ve had shit like that happen on windows too though, it’s basically the software version of power cycling hardware when it acts up.
