Kali Linux 2.0 Freezing (Except Mouse) Gnome 3.14

[NickWinston123]

Hello, recently with the release of Kali Linux on Aug 11th I have decided to do a clean reinstall and install Kali Linux 2.0 which runs on Jessie Debian using GNOME Shell 3.14.

I have seen this question asked multiple times but I can not seem to find a permanent solution. While looking for a permanent solution, I have seen others say its a ram problem or a hardware problem but even as I replace the components I continue to have the same error. I did not have this problem with Kali Linux 1.0 which ran on Wheezy so this problem is very new to me.

When my system freezes I am still able to move the mouse and perhaps notably, the cursor still updates from an arrow to a hand icon in certain locations as though it is over a link - though this does not necessarily correspond to where links are actually displayed on the screen. I have seen no response to any keyboard interaction. For a while I have decided to ignore the freezes but they happen far too frequently to be ignored, within an hour my system would freeze up to 10 - 30 times for up to 15+ seconds at a time. The only application I am using when this seems to happen is iceweasel and I cant think of anything else that could be stressing the machine.

I'm not sure what to try next / how to proceed with investigation into what might be causing the problem. Any advice will be appreciated. If any additional information would be helpful, please don't hesitate to ask.

I will include the information I have seen others ask when people ask this question.

root@Nick:~# ls -l /boot
total 25304
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   165968 Jun  3 04:08 config-4.0.0-kali1-amd64
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root     4096 Aug 12 00:23 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19665456 Aug 12 00:26 initrd.img-4.0.0-kali1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2790804 Jun  3 04:08 System.map-4.0.0-kali1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  3274048 Jun  3 04:07 vmlinuz-4.0.0-kali1-amd64

User.log Aug 12 2015 ( Wasnt any for today) was far too much to paste the whole log.

Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: (gnome-shell:1216): Gjs-WARNING **: JS ERROR: Error: can't convert this.actor.get_transformed_size(...)[0] to an integer
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: myAppIcon<.updateIconGeometry@/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/myDash.js:1364
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: wrapper@resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/lang.js:169
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: myDash<._updateAppIconsGeometry/<@/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/myDash.js:777
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: myDash<._updateAppIconsGeometry@/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/myDash.js:776
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: wrapper@resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/lang.js:169
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: myDash<._redisplay@/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/myDash.js:1070
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: wrapper@resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/lang.js:169
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: themeManager<.updateCustomTheme@/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/dockedDash.js:1566
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: wrapper@resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/lang.js:169
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: (gnome-shell:1216): Clutter-CRITICAL **: clutter_layout_manager_get_child_meta: assertion 'CLUTTER_IS_LAYOUT_MANAGER (manager)' failed
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: (gnome-shell:1216): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_set: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: (gnome-shell:1216): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_set: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Aug 12 12:50:05 Nick gnome-session[1060]: (gnome-shell:1216): St-CRITICAL **: st_widget_get_theme_node called on the widget [0x14aae1c0 ShellGenericContainer "dash"] which is not in the stage.

memtester

root@Nick:~# memtester 7gb 1
memtester version 4.3.0 (64-bit)
Copyright (C) 2001-2012 Charles Cazabon.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 (only).

pagesize is 4096
pagesizemask is 0xfffffffffffff000
want 7168MB (7516192768 bytes)
got  7168MB (7516192768 bytes), trying mlock ...locked.
Loop 1/1:
  Stuck Address       : ok         
  Random Value        : ok
  Compare XOR         : ok
  Compare SUB         : ok
  Compare MUL         : ok
  Compare DIV         : ok
  Compare OR          : ok
  Compare AND         : ok
  Sequential Increment: ok
  Solid Bits          : ok         
  Block Sequential    : ok         
  Checkerboard        : ok         
  Bit Spread          : ok         
  Bit Flip            : ok         
  Walking Ones        : ok         
  Walking Zeroes      : ok         
  8-bit Writes        : ok
  16-bit Writes       : ok

Done.

Computer Specs
Memory | 7.7 GiB
Processor | Intel® Core™ i7-2635QM CPU @ 2.00GHz × 8
Graphics | Intel® Sandybridge Mobile
Base System | Kali GNU/Linux 2.0 (sana) 64-bit
Disk | 475.4 GB

[johnsmith56]

Very similar behavior here. The freezes are always temporary, usually lasting a few seconds to tens of seconds. For me, often some UI windows continue to work (so, Icecat/weasel will freeze, but the terminal will continue to work fine)...Then, a few seconds later, everything will work again for several minutes.

Didn't and doesn't happen under Kali 1.1 or under OSX (this is on a Macbook booting from a USB key with persistence).

[itzzmeshashi]

I am also facing the same issue.Is it some kind of software problem??
Someone please respond to this issue.

[NickWinston123]

Very similar behavior here. The freezes are always temporary, usually lasting a few seconds to tens of seconds. For me, often some UI windows continue to work (so, Icecat/weasel will freeze, but the terminal will continue to work fine)...Then, a few seconds later, everything will work again for several minutes.

Didn't and doesn't happen under Kali 1.1 or under OSX (this is on a Macbook booting from a USB key with persistence).

It has gotten to a point for me where I am going to do a clean reinstall.

What I think happen to me was that when I was installing Kali Linux 2.0, I accidentally partitioned over my Mac hard drive and was possibly the reason for hardware resources that it couldn't find during Kali Linux 2.0 installation.

I plan to reinstall Mavericks on a my 500gb portion of my mac mini and then reinstall kali linux on the other 500gb.


I will you keep you up to date.

If this does not fix the problem then it is indeed a software issue and I will still be very displeased.

The only way I am justifying this now is the quote "Linux is only free if your time is worthless" - Jamie Zawinski

Very displeased.

[johnsmith56]

It has gotten to a point for me where I am going to do a clean reinstall.
[...]
The only way I am justifying this now is the quote "Linux is only free if your time is worthless" - Jamie Zawinski

Very displeased.

It's a .0 release - this is par for the course. I just want to make sure the bugs get logged.

[Tankr32]

I too am having this problem. i tried to do a fresh install and i still had the same problem.

[Dan3000]

Same here. Used as LiveUSB, without installation. Releases before 2.0 did not have the issue.

Hardware:
- Asus eeePC R101 netbook (1.6GHz Intel Atom N450 (dual core, 64bit), 2GB RAM)

Software (both used as LiveUSB, showing the same issue; used as downloaded - not updated, not persistent; placed on USB using YUMI under Windows):
- kali-linux-2.0-i386.iso (sha1: 6e5e6390b9d2f6a54bc980f50d6312d9c77bf30b)
- kali-linux-2.0-amd64.iso (sha1: aaeb89a78f155377282f81a785aa1b38ee5f8ba0)

There is a bug report pointing to this thread here: https://bugs.kali.org/view.php?id=2546

[blackace306]

Hey guys, if it is any help at all. My system stopped freezing when I killed the process tracker-store. It is a process that I am not sure what it does. Anybody who knows, please enlighten me. However, once I killed it, the issue stopped. Has not frozen since. What I do know is that it has caused issues across the board for me on many Gnome desktops. I have not noticed the same process, or issue on KDE environments. So I am guessing it is a Gnome specific issue.

[Dan3000]

Hey guys, if it is any help at all. My system stopped freezing when I killed the process tracker-store. It is a process that I am not sure what it does. Anybody who knows, please enlighten me. However, once I killed it, the issue stopped. Has not frozen since. What I do know is that it has caused issues across the board for me on many Gnome desktops. I have not noticed the same process, or issue on KDE environments. So I am guessing it is a Gnome specific issue.

I can confirm that. On a liveUSB, I do

tracker-control -r

as part of a configuration script to kill all tracker processes. Than, after some window switching, the "tracker-store" process comes back (but not the other ones) with a freeze. Then I end it manually in the System Monitor and it stays that way, and the freezes disappear.

[g0tmi1k]

I think its due to tracker-store, which is a index service/desktop search on your machine (like Apples spotlight)
More information: https://askubuntu.com/questions/3462...-every-startup

Ive noticed it goes nuts when git cloning a large repo - such as metasploit.



Edit:
Bug ticket: https://bugs.kali.org/view.php?id=2546

[zak53]

Solved just update your gnome-shell to GNOME Shell 3.14.4,
make a backup of your kali-linux 2.0 sources.list (just rename the file), add the sources.list from debian jessie to your kali-linux 2.0 (apt-get update , apt-get upgrade ) after this remove the jessie sources.list
no more freezing.

[aGravity]

Solved just update your gnome-shell to GNOME Shell 3.14.4,
make a backup of your kali-linux 2.0 sources.list (just rename the file), add the sources.list from debian jessie to your kali-linux 2.0 (apt-get update , apt-get upgrade ) after this remove the jessie sources.list
no more freezing.

Nice solve zak53; it is definitely an issue with the default GNOME desktop environment as blackace306 hasn't had it in KDE & I certainly don't experience it with MATE. There are certainly going to be a lot of teething issues with Kali 2.0 (especially the 'new' network manager). I've been using the MATE desktop environment & Wicd network manager (as I did with my Kali v1.x) & have had minimal problems. I'm actually preferring Kali 2.0 with my setup as it's certainly more stable, it's faster (20% faster with aircrack-ng dictionary attacks on my netbook [no GPU]) & I get about 10% better battery life - haven't even bothered installing Powertop yet... I think Kali 2.0 is going to evolve into a great linux OS given time...

Cheers, aG

[prompt_32]

This is my vga card:
- 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV370 [Radeon X300]
And the machine i and i will refer, is a :
- P4 with 1G of ram. (cool , i know).

My issues are:
or blank screen at all when i try to run a kali dist, (or a debian 8), sometimes,
or other times,
by running the desktop-manager (gdm3, xdm, or even just startx), the gui comes up,
but keeps restarting, over and over again, no keyboard works, until stack,
so a hard boot must done !
Even when the gui starts( and then restart...), the graphics, are dirty ( black spots, small lines, and dirty cursors),
so something is not ok.

Because, of the machine above, some time before, i decide, to setup a system, for this machine exactly, if i could do,
running my nginx server, with php, and a light widow manager, cause with the (kali 1/Debian 7, and new now ), the memory isn't
enough, and the fun of the CPU go crazy. So (not say too much ...), i peek up a Debian 8, standard iso (no gui), and start play.
i test windows managers, almost all (?), i put drivers for my vga card, and i decide for 'openbox' window manager,

but the point (that links my post, to this thread, i think), was that, i must install the X server in a way, that not the full X server,
comes on my machine, because from my tests, i realize that, when this happen, video-drivers comes and installed in my system,
but ALSO this alter and my kernel, and the initramfs, and i believe for my (old) vga card, that was the GUI problem, i describe above.
Even if i unistall/purge the drivers, this makes no sense. The only way is to install the system again ....

So, (because i dont care so much about the graphics), i decide to install my packages one by one, backwards, and checking
not to install something that alter my kernel, in any way, so (as far the gui), i use this proccess ang theese packages :

tightvncserver
xtightvncviewer

xserver-xorg-video-vesa
xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
x11-xkb-utils
xfonts-100dpi
xfonts-75dpi
xfonts-scalable
x11-apps
xserver-xorg
xserver-xorg-input-all
xserver-xorg-input-evdev
xserver-xorg-input-mouse
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse
xinit

openbox
openbox-menu
obmenu
obconf
tint2

xfe
xfe-i18n
xfe-themes

menu
menu-l10n
menu-xdg

..., and it works ....

My system starts (Debian 8/nginx/php5/openbox), with 80MB of ram and stays there,
and when i run iceweasel, watch some tube videos, comes to 300-400MB. Even with qemu,
the above remains like it is, and the qemu just uses the memory i give to.


Back to the subject, and in my case i think the video drivers, cause the problems, that this thread, (and others),
tell about, and its not a kali issue, because in my case, exactly the same happened with Debia 7, and Debian 8.


Except, that i share the above, and maybe help, someone,
my point is, that it would be nice to exist, except normal/light/mini iso,
and an kali iso just without any gui,


ScreenShot-154642789.jpg

thank you, all

[g0tmi1k]

Keeping people in the loop (different bug ticket):

I'm afraid that such a bug report is not very actionable. And we already have gnome 3.16 lined up for the next release.

If anything such issues must be reported and fixed in the upstream software that does leak memory... and not here unless you can point us to a working patch that we should apply in our current version.

Source: https://bugs.kali.org/view.php?id=2588#c3884

Before anyone else asks - no ETA on the next release.

...also kernel 4.1: https://bugs.kali.org/view.php?id=2614

[keksopatolog]

Nice solve zak53; it is definitely an issue with the default GNOME desktop environment as blackace306 hasn't had it in KDE & I certainly don't experience it with MATE. There are certainly going to be a lot of teething issues with Kali 2.0 (especially the 'new' network manager). I've been using the MATE desktop environment & Wicd network manager (as I did with my Kali v1.x) & have had minimal problems. I'm actually preferring Kali 2.0 with my setup as it's certainly more stable, it's faster (20% faster with aircrack-ng dictionary attacks on my netbook [no GPU]) & I get about 10% better battery life - haven't even bothered installing Powertop yet... I think Kali 2.0 is going to evolve into a great linux OS given time...

Cheers, aG

Hi there! Thank you, this solution are very helpful!