Pop!_OS (Linux) @lemmy.world thatsTheCatch @lemmy.nz 3mo ago

Pop_OS! help: system frequently freezes when updating

Whenever I update a package or the system via the Pop! Shop, or downloading a game or updates from Steam, my desktop constantly freezes and hangs. It works perfectly fine otherwise.

I was wondering whether this was common behaviour. It's a bit frustrating because it means I have to pick my moments to update to be when I can go do something else for a while and come back.

If I'm on a Discord call and am doing an update or downloading a game on steam, the freezes mean that my friends can't hear me and I can't hear them.

I've tried Googling it but haven't found anyone with this specific issue yet.

I run a medium-power gaming desktop rig.

Any advice on how to fix or improve this?

Update:

Here are my hardware specs. Sorry for not including them earlier; I was at work when I posted this.

Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. X570S GAMING X
RAM: 32 GiB
CPU: AMD® Ryzen 9 5900x 12-core processor × 24
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

11 comments

During my time of Pop!_OS I never had that experience; it might be worth checking the system logs to figure out if something unusual is afoot! An event that coincides with an incoming update.
What are your hardware specs? Do you have anything installed via dkms?

What happens if you update via sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade?
- Thanks for your reply. Here are my specs and I've added them to the post:
  
  Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. X570S GAMING X
  
  RAM: 32 GiB
  
  CPU: AMD® Ryzen 9 5900x 12-core processor × 24
  
  GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
  
  I'm not sure what dkms is but I just Googled it and it looks like it's related to AMD, is that right? I have an NVIDIA GPU so it might not be relevant.
  
  I ran sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade like you suggested and then tried updating some components while doing something in my browser. It seems promising so far, thanks! I'll need to do more updates to know for sure though
  
  I've got very similar specs to this and the Pop Shop still runs like garbage. Have you tried installing the Cosmic store? It's what they built for the upcoming Cosmic DE but you can grab it from the Pop Shop as a replacement. It is infinitely more responsive.
  
  dkms is Dynamic Kernel Module Support. It's a tool to install kernel modules that aren't in your normal repos. One of the drawbacks is that it rebuilds those modules every time you do an update; it takes some time, and it can sometimes appear like the update process hangs.
  
  Since you use an Nvidia GPU, I wonder if it's some kind of Wayland bug, and using the CLI removes that part of the equation...? Either way, glad it's working better. Maybe if it happens again, apt will give some kind of indication why, and you can pursue that (which was the main reason I suggested it).
What happens when you update flatpak on the command line? The pop shop sucks but it's just a flatpak UI at the end of the day.
I run Pop and haven't run into this, but it sounds like it's freezing when under heavy network load. Are you wired or wireless? Can you pull up the system monitor before updating a package and see if anything is maxing out? Network, CPU, RAM, drives?

11 comments