Stability of Linux Mint on Wyse 5070

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Can anyone recommend a program that works well to try to track down the origin of system instability?

I have a Dell Wyse 5070 with 16GB RAM, Celeron J4105, & Linux Mint that I use as my desktop PC at work. (got it up and working about 3 months ago) I work at a school, and my typical use scenario is having 3 different browsers (Firfox, Chrome and Edge) open so that I can have different logins to Google, etc. open in each. I use them so that I can do 2 factor authentication at work, and also so that I don't have to use personal phone # when texting parents. I need the different browsers to not see each other, otherwise I can't have the different Google logins simultaneously.

Every day or two, I eventually have a situation where the system bogs down completely and becomes unresponsive. Mouse pointer meanders around in a stuttering fashion for a while, and then it just won't respond at all, requiring a forced shutdown and power off period. Most of the time, with the 3 different browsers open, cpu usage is about 20%, and memory usage is 25% to 35%. However, there have been some times that I've seen cpu usage up near 100%.

Is it possible that this thing might just be too underpowered to have 3 different browsers open at the same time? The cpu marks rating (about 2,800) is about twice that of the AMD based thin client I was using until a few months ago, and I thought that this one would work a lot better, since it is about twice as powerful, and several years newer.

I am about to the point where I've been thinking about reformatting and reinstalling everything, just in case something is corrupted, but was wondering if there is anything else that perhaps I should be trying first. Thanks for any suggestions!

System:
Kernel: 6.14.0-37-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0 clocksource: tsc
Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.41 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 with: xfce4-panel
tools: light-locker vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 22.2 Zara
base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Dell product: Wyse 5070 Thin Client v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
Chassis: type: 3 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Dell model: 01Y1CJ v: A00 serial: <superuser required> part-nu: 080C
uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell v: 1.1.4 date: 12/06/2018
CPU:
Info: quad core model: Intel Celeron J4105 bits: 64 type: MCP smt: <unsupported>
arch: Goldmont Plus rev: 1 cache: L1: 224 KiB L2: 4 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 2396 min/max: 800/2500 cores: 1: 2396 2: 2396 3: 2396 4: 2396 bogomips: 11980
Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel GeminiLake [UHD Graphics 600] vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5
ports: active: DP-1 empty: DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3185
class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0
driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0
screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x1024 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 338x270mm (13.31x10.63") s-diag: 433mm (17.03")
Monitor-1: DP-1 model: Dell E173FP serial: <filter> res: 1280x1024 hz: 60 dpi: 96
size: 338x270mm (13.31x10.63") diag: 433mm (17") modes: max: 1280x1024 min: 720x400
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris device: 1 drv: swrast gbm:
drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris x11: drv: iris inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.0.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 glx-v: 1.4
direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 600 (GLK 2) device-ID: 8086:3185
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Celeron/Pentium Silver Processor High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:3198 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.14.0-37-generic status: kernel-api
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
Device-1: Intel Gemini Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 00:0c.0
chip-ID: 8086:31dc class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp0s12f0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Dell RTL8111/8168/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-3: Realtek RTL8814AU 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wireless Adapter driver: N/A type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-1.3:7 chip-ID: 0bda:8813 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-9:5 chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.1 lmp-v: 10 sub-v: 100
hci-v: 10 rev: 100 class-ID: 7c0104
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 491.62 GiB used: 20.24 GiB (4.1%)
ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: hA8aP size: 14.68 GiB type: Removable tech: SSD serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 0x8
ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Timetec model: 35TTM8SSATA-512G size: 476.94 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1A0 scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 467.89 GiB used: 20.23 GiB (4.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 9 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Hub-2: 1-1:2 info: Realtek RTS5411 Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
chip-ID: 0bda:5411 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 1-1.1:4 info: Logitech Keyboard K120 type: keyboard,HID driver: hid-generic,usbhid
interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 1.5 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 90mA chip-ID: 046d:c31c class-ID: 0300
Device-2: 1-1.2:6 info: Logitech Mouse type: mouse driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1
rev: 2.0 speed: 1.5 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 046d:c077 class-ID: 0301
Device-3: 1-1.3:7 info: Realtek RTL8814AU 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wireless Adapter type: WiFi
driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 500mA chip-ID: 0bda:8813
class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
Hub-3: 1-6:3 info: Realtek 2-Port USB 2.0 Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
chip-ID: 0bda:5415 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 1-9:5 info: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) type: bluetooth
driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0aaa
class-ID: e001
Hub-4: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 7 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
class-ID: 0900
Hub-5: 2-1:2 info: Realtek Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 0bda:0411
class-ID: 0900
Hub-6: 2-6:3 info: Realtek 2-Port USB 3.0 Hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1
chip-ID: 0bda:0415 class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Repos:
Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2104
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] https: //dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-edge.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] https: //packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge/ stable main
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com zara main upstream import backport
2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.44 GiB used: 5.64 GiB (36.5%)
Processes: 277 Power: uptime: 2h 19m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep wakeups: 0
hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5) default: graphical
Compilers: gcc: 13.3.0 Client: Unknown python3.12 client inxi: 3.3.34

 

[lxskllr]

I don't know. It would be helpful to know exactly what processes were hammering the system. Something you might want to try is using firefox with container tabs. It isn't something I really use, but it segregates the sessions so they don't see each other, and you can have multiple logins to a single service. It may or may not help your issue, but in any case, I think it's a more elegant setup than having multiple browsers.

edit:

How to use Firefox containers | Firefox Help

This article explains how to use Firefox containers with the Multi-Account Containers extension, to organize your online activities.

support.mozilla.org

 

[Ken g6]

3 different browsers on 16GB RAM could be an issue. Do you have a swap partition or file? Have you tried zswap? (I haven't, but it might help.)

Are you monitoring your system, temperatures, RAM, disk access, etc? I use gkrellm graphically and top at the command line, but there seem to be many system monitors, and you might like another one or two better.

 

[Thazdude]

That atom chip is never going to be snappy, but I imagine you're running out of memory and hitting swap with that amount of ram and your workload. The 16GB is also being shared with the integrated video.

 

[Thazdude]

Using one browser with sandboxes like suggested is going to use much less memory vs 3 totally different browsers (only the differences between the processes are stored in memory after the initial copy). I'm imagining that the machine is writing to your swap on the dramless ssd and everything is grinding to a halt (ssds without dram can be slower than hard drives for random IO heavy workloads).

 

[Thazdude]

The machine will hold 32GB of ram, so I'd personally double the ram if you can't simplify your software workload to one browser.

 

[Thazdude]

I've run linux and windows off a low end no dram ssd before and it was super slow; put a second hand "samsung 850 evo" in it and it was a night and day difference.

Edit: had to break up my post because the spam filter was flagging it.

 

[mikeymikec]

Firefox has about : performance which can tell you which tabs are hammering Firefox, I don't know if that helps.

(no space between about colon performance, forum is smileyfying it)

 

[Zepp]

for what it's worth here is chatgpt's assessment of your issue:

]Running XFCE + no swap at all on a low-power CPU is very likely the core of your freezes.


This isn’t about running out of RAM — it’s about what happens when memory pressure spikes suddenly, which browsers do all the time.

---

Why “no swap” causes hard lockups (even with 16 GB RAM)​

When Linux has no swap and a big app suddenly asks for memory (hello, Chromium + Google):

• The kernel has nowhere to move inactive pages
• Memory reclaim gets stuck
• I/O and GPU waits pile up
• Result = stuttering mouse → total freeze → forced power-off

This exact behavior is classic “no swap on desktop Linux.”


On servers it’s fine. On desktops? 🚫

---

The fix (simple, safe, fast)​

You don’t need to repartition. Just add a swapfile."

 

[mikeymikec]

The OP seems to mention a swap file?

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I went ahead and ran the Dell diagnostics on system, ssd and RAM, and everything seems peachy. I also uninstalled and then reinstalled all 3 of the browsers, just in case something was corrupted.

I don't know anything about a swap file in Mint. I have past experience in DOS and Windows, and have been using the Linux machine for basic things, but have not customized it at all, other than installing a couple of programs.

I'm wondering if part of this might be all of the ads that come up on websites. Any easy way to block that?

It sounds like it would use less system resources/memory if I was able to use a single browser program, rather than 3. How does a person make it so that the logins and such on each tab don't see the others?

 

[daveybrat]

I went ahead and ran the Dell diagnostics on system, ssd and RAM, and everything seems peachy. I also uninstalled and then reinstalled all 3 of the browsers, just in case something was corrupted.

I don't know anything about a swap file in Mint. I have past experience in DOS and Windows, and have been using the Linux machine for basic things, but have not customized it at all, other than installing a couple of programs.

I'm wondering if part of this might be all of the ads that come up on websites. Any easy way to block that?

It sounds like it would use less system resources/memory if I was able to use a single browser program, rather than 3. How does a person make it so that the logins and such on each tab don't see the others?

You should install Ublock Origin Lite in all three browsers. It'll help immensely.

 

[manly]

I slightly disagree that 3 browsers means worse memory pressure. Each application has a base memory footprint, but web browsers generally consume (gobs of) RAM with usage/tabs/time. Any inefficiency of having 3 browser apps running instead of 1 is not that meaningful. OP could possibly reduce to 2 browser apps by using Private/Incognito browsing.

Firefox containers does sound interesting, so that's my TIL moment! (As described, there's no reason containers would reduce memory consumption.)

If this is an OS-level problem, then the syslog could be a useful place to start. What OP describes sounds like the OOM (out of memory) killer, except OOM killer usually stabilizes the system after processes are terminated.

Reinstalling apps or formatting and re-paving the OS are superstitions from a bygone era. Sometimes it might actually disappear the issue, but then you're left wondering what was actually wrong. It's not always easy, but troubleshooting Linux is a valuable skill if OP is interested. I realize that the vast majority of end users nowadays expect iPhoneOS standard of UX, and fussing around with weird issues certainly isn't for everyone. But we're all on a tech forum, aren't we?

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

You should install Ublock Origin Lite in all three browsers. It'll help immensely.

Is Ublock Origin Lite safe/dependable?

Right now I'm trying Firefox Multi Account Containers. After installing it, it did not work exactly as I had hoped, where every tab opened didn't see the others. For example, I already had Google Voice open in one tab, and then I wanted to open voice in another account, and it automatically had logged in with login info from the first tab. After some messing around, I think I may have finally gotten it to work like I wanted.

 

[Zepp]

Is Ublock Origin Lite safe/dependable?

it's made by the same dev as ublock origin, it's just the manifest v3 compliant version

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I just found myself wondering, does adding on these extensions to Firefox use additional cpu/RAM? So far system seems peppy, but I'm wondering if adding the Containers extension and Ublock Origin Lite extensions might use up as many resources as I could possibly be saving by not having the other 2 browsers open.

So far, I'm seeing cpu 5 to 20%, and memory 20%, which I think seems a decent amount lower than what I was seeing with 3 different browsers open.

 

[Ken g6]

for what it's worth here is chatgpt's assessment of your issue:

Contrarywise I run without a swapfile (on 64GB) because one particular app (ComfyUI) refuses to stop gobbling memory. When it, or any other process, uses all the memory, Linux freezes for several seconds, until another process kills the task using the most memory. ComfyUI being one big process that's not a huge problem; Firefox using lots of small processes maybe that's a bigger problem?

 

[manly]

Ad blockers invariably reduce system resource consumption. Unless poorly coded, the extension itself probably doesn't consume much (although in theory it does get to look at all HTML content that is fetched.)

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Ugh, the system seemed to lock up again. All I had open were single instances of Firefox and Microsoft Edge open. All of a sudden, the monitor wasn't showing anything, and then after a minute or so, the video was back. I saw that the mouse pointer was ever so slowly skipping down towards the bottom of the screen. Nothing was responsive. The mouse pointer eventually started extremely slowly skipping over towards the right side of the screen. No response from either keyboard or mouse. I eventually had to force off, power off the power strip, then power back on. It seems fine now.

Any suggestions for things to try for stability sake? I have already uninstalled and reinstalled the browsers.

 

[Zepp]

I'd recommend starting a troubleshooting session with chatgpt or grok or your preferred AI. it can guide you to find the log files, you can then paste the output and it can analyse the likely issue.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I'd recommend starting a troubleshooting session with chatgpt or grok or your preferred AI. it can guide you to find the log files, you can then paste the output and it can analyse the likely issue.

All right, I did 2 things:
1) updated mint to latest Linux Kernel, 6.14.0-37

2) edited GRUB, from .....Linux_default="quiet splash" to ........Linux_default="quiet splash intel_idle.max-cstate=1"

I'll see how things go now. I'm also going to update the motherboard bios, since I noticed it is pretty old, and there have been quite a few updates to it.