I installed Qubes OS on a 2025 Framework laptop with 16 GB of RAM and an Intel Raptor Lake processor. During the first session after a fresh installation, everything works normally. However, after shutting down and logging in again, the system becomes extremely slow and parts of the interface appear in the wrong places. After updating and rebooting, the trackpad also behaves incorrectly, causing the cursor to jump or fly off the screen. Some people suggested that 16 GB of RAM might be the problem, but I'm confused about why the first session works perfectly. What logs or hardware details should I check to identify the cause?
2 Answers
Sixteen gigabytes can make Qubes feel constrained, especially with several virtual machines running, but it normally wouldn’t explain the trackpad suddenly sending the cursor off-screen. That points more toward a graphics or input-device regression after the update, or a hardware compatibility issue. Compare the working and broken boots, note the exact Qubes release and kernel version, and test whether the problem changes when booting an older kernel from the boot menu.
Start by checking the logs from dom0, since that is the administrative domain running the desktop and hardware integration. Useful commands include `journalctl -b -1 -p warning` for the previous boot and `journalctl -b -p warning` for the current one. Also look for messages involving graphics, input devices, Xen, memory pressure, or the kernel. Qubes is based on the Xen hypervisor, so it isn’t just a conventional Linux desktop distribution; hardware support and virtualization behavior can both affect these symptoms.
Got it—I had assumed Qubes was simply a Linux distribution. I’ll start with the dom0 journal and check for graphics, trackpad, and memory-related errors.