Ubuntu 18.04 hangs when using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird

Question

System Info:

1. Model Name: Lenovo ThinkPad 11e

2. RAM: 4G

3. Product Page: http://psref.lenovo.com/Detail/ThinkPad_11e?M=20D90020US

4. Graphics and Driver Info:

   00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display [8086:0f31] (rev 0e)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display [17aa:2224]
    Kernel driver in use: i915
    Kernel modules: i915
   

App versions:

1. Google Chrome: Version 67 in both Ubuntu version(16.04 and 18.04)

2. Mozilla Firefox: Version 60 in both Ubuntu version(16.04 and 18.04)

3. Thunderbird: Version 52 in both Ubuntu version(16.04 and 18.04)

What happens:

1. I usually browse with multiple tabs open and suddenly the mouse and keyboard freeze and and I am forced to restart with the power button. None of the shortcuts work once the system hangs.

2. This happens almost every time I use the system.

Worst to Best:

1. Google Chrome - Hangs with just 3-4 tabs of YouTube open.

2. Thunderbird - Hangs when present with lesser number of tabs (3-4) of Mozilla Firefox.

3. Mozilla Firefox - Hangs with 8+ tabs present with heavy video or image presence.

Things I have tried:

1. Re-installation

Current solution:

Got fed-up and downgraded to 16.04.4 which has been stable so far. Have been using 14.04 previously for many years with no issues.

Solution

There was a documented, since resolved GNOME problem with memory leaks in 18.04 LTS. Details on its resolution are in Bug 1763878 and 1672297. It has also been resolved in 18.10 and 19.04. 16.04 LTS uses Unity, not GNOME, and therefore does not exhibit the issue.

Comments

[user3169]

You can monitor memory usage while running. See How can I monitor the memory usage?. Oh, and what CPU and how many cores?

[user3169]

Also, are the browser versions the same in 18.04 vs. the 16.04 you say works OK?

[codepk]

Added app versions as requested. If I try 18.04 again, I will monitor memory usage and see. The CPU info is in the product page link.

[David Foerster]

Which graphics adapter does the machine in question have and which driver(s) do they use? You can find out with lspci -nnk | grep -A3 -Fe '[0300]'.

[codepk]

@DavidFoerster Added the info as requested.

[codepk]

Please share link to duplicate questions.

[David Foerster]

The link to the duplicate question is right below the title of your question.

[codepk]

@DavidFoerster Well - though the referenced question helps, it is not the same question and shouldn't be marked as duplicate to that. I raised this as a reference to help those with similar issues specifically with Ubuntu 18.04 hanging almost every time it is used with these applications, perhaps related to what K7AAY stated in one of the answers below.

[David Foerster]

@codepk: If you disagree with the duplicate closure please edit your question to clarify what you want. At the moment your "question" post doesn't even contain an actual question that we could answer, just the description of the current state of affairs. (The alternative would have been to close as "unclear" but imho the current duplicate link is better because it addresses the issue at least vaguely.)

[Aleksey Lobanov]

Same problem for Xubuntu 18.04 upgrade from 16.04 on Thinkpad X240

[K7AAY]

Resolved in 18.04, 18.10, and 19.04; see my answer below.