MX Linux Forum

UPDATE: I've changed my kernel to antiX 4.9 and so far I haven't experienced the random freeze again! :) I hope this is really the fix.

Is it safe to delete the default kernel which is 4.19 MX linux? I'll give the experimentation some more days and mark this thread as SOLVED if I don't bump into another system freeze. :) Hope this thread helps anybody who is experiencing the same issues!

Cheers MX!

In MX tools - boot options, that dropdown, you can tell the system which one to boot to by default.

onblm wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2019 7:05 am Is it safe to delete the default kernel which is 4.19 MX linux?

Yes, remove the problematic kernel. I found sometimes in some Acer's that the 4.15 kernel in addition to 4.9 gives better results than the default 4.19 kernel.

UPDATE: Finally deleted the problematic kernel which is 4.19 MX Linux. I think the my hardware does not match the said kernel.

I'm marking this thread as SOLVED and the solution in my case is to change the kernel version to 4.9 antiX kernel. Thanks!

EDITING THREAD SUBJECT.

Hi everyone

I just really wanted to mention that the default kernel also was not working for me. You may remember me as the guy with random freezes from earlier and setting a BIOS option for my Ryzen CPU helped with that. I later saw a different issue where the computer would gradually slow down over the course of a few seconds and finally freeze. Changing to the 4.20 antiX kernel seems to have done the trick for me.

My suggestion: PLEASE ditch the 4.19 default kernel for MX18.2, it is kinda trash for a lot of people it seems.

EDIT: Ironically enough the system froze when first attempting to install the new kernel. I was using MX Package installer and I have some of the messages it threw up as it was attempting to run while the system was slo-mo hanging up (took a photo of the frozen screen with my phone). I will post them here in case it helps tracking down the cause of this issue.

Warning: Unable to find an initial ram disk that I know how to handle.
Will not try to make initrd.
Error! Module version 5.2.24_Debian for vboxguest.ko
is not newer than what is already found in kernel 4.20.12-antix.1-amd64-smp (5.2.24_Debian).
You may override by specifying --force.
Error! Module version 5.2.24_Debian for vboxguest.ko
is not newer than what is already found in kernel 4.20.12-antix.1-amd64-smp (5.2.24_Debian).
You may override by specifying --force.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.20.12-antix.1-amd64-smp
cryptsetup: WARNING: failed to detect canonical device of /dev/nvme0n1p1
cryptsetup" WARNING: could not determine root device from /etc/fstab
I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/nvme0n1p2
I: (UUID=c55703b6-dfab-4733-9e9d-ee6266a175d4)
I: Set the RESUME cariable to override this.

And that was it it just froze. Not sure if these are normal error messages or if they have anything to do with the freezeup, but I haven't had any issues since upgrading the kernel to 4.20 antiX like I said earlier.

Sanji wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 10:35 pmMy suggestion: PLEASE ditch the 4.19 default kernel for MX18.2, it is kinda trash for a lot of people it seems.

So far it is you and the OP reporting problems with two machines and kernel 4.19.

I run three machines with kernel 4.19 without any problems at all.

3 > 2, kernel 4.19 will stay

In other words ... it is understandable that you are frustrated that it does not work on your machine, but please do not generalize.

Sanji wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 10:35 pm My suggestion: PLEASE ditch the 4.19 default kernel for MX18.2, it is kinda trash for a lot of people it seems.

4.19 works just fine on most computer systems. For outliers like you and me where it doesn't (in my case I had to switch to the 4.9 kernel) other kernels are made available for us. Switching the default kernel to 4.20 or newer would cause more problems for more people than leaving it at 4.19, which is a recent, stable LTS kernel with EOL in something like 2023 IIRC. Same with switching to 4.9: people with newer hardware would find that many things on their system don't work properly due to the older kernel.

You're judging by the number of people who post problems in the forum that are solved by changing kernels. You're not taking into account the hundreds of other people who aren't posting about kernel-related issues (because they don't have any.)

Hi Dennis and JM

Yes, I see your point. 4.19 is LTS until December 2020.

Do you think it would make sense to take these issues upstream to make sure these issues can get resolved in a future update to the 4.19 kernel? Would the kernel devs be interested in the sort of information I've seen on this forum. Actually while searching around I saw there were a couple of other people who had to abandon the 4.19 kernel for the same sorts of reasons (aside from me and OP).

Thanks again for your feedback.

We do have a newer 4.19.28 kernel in our test repo, the same as in Buster and stretch-backports, but not enough people have tested it over the months that it's been in there to move it to main. It should fix at least some bugs...

I see that Sid now has 4.19.37 that will probably make its way into Buster and backports, but I'll build it for the test repo.