My PC has been unreliable all weekend. Filesystems started switching to read-only, so I reinstalled the operating system, moving from CachyOS to Fedora. The problem continued until I installed the system on a different drive, which made me suspect the original SSD is failing. Now applications are also crashing at random. Browsers such as Chromium, Firefox, and LibreWolf are affected most often, but Discord and some Steam games have crashed too. Sometimes only browser tabs close, while other times the entire application exits. What hardware or software checks should I run to identify the cause?
3 Answers
Faulty RAM can also cause apparently random crashes across browsers, games, and other applications. Boot a Memtest86+ test and let it run for several passes, ideally overnight. Any reported errors point to a memory, motherboard-slot, or memory-settings problem.
A filesystem becoming read-only usually means the kernel detected a storage problem, so the original SSD is a strong suspect. Check the drive's SMART data with a tool such as GSmartControl, and make sure your swap file or partition is not still located on the failing drive. Back up anything important before doing more testing.
Run the affected programs from a terminal so their crash output is visible. You can also watch the kernel log with `sudo dmesg -w` while reproducing the issue. Messages mentioning I/O errors, filesystem failures, GPU resets, or memory faults should help narrow it down. Since the crashes are inconsistent, the terminal may not print anything every time.
I tried launching them from a terminal, but there is no consistent error message. Sometimes only individual tabs crash, and other times the whole application closes.