Ubuntu crash - how to read log files

Question

A few days ago the laptop decided to close without no relevant reason. From this day on, it randomly crashes without explanation.

This is what I (correctly?) filtered from the log files on the last crash, but I don't know what it means. At the time there are several process running: many web pages on chrome and firefox, a virtualbox machine with WindowsXP and the clamscan service.

What the root cause of the problem is? Also, do you think I have to activate the apport service in order to get more infos?

/var/log/kern.log

Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.148059] wlan0: deauthenticating from f8:35:dd:77:3a:04 by local choice (reason=3)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.176190] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227383] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227386] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227387] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227389] cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227390] cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227390] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227391] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)

/var/log/syslog

Nov  4 10:53:12 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 compiz: pam_ecryptfs: seteuid error
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> sleep requested (sleeping: no  enabled: yes)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> sleeping or disabling...
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: activated -> unmanaged (reason 'sleeping') [100 10 37]
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> (wlan0): deactivating device (reason 'sleeping') [37]
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> (wlan0): canceled DHCP transaction, DHCP client pid 4656
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 avahi-daemon[1102]: Withdrawing address record for fe80::6236:ddff:fe41:415f on wlan0.
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 avahi-daemon[1102]: Leaving mDNS multicast group on interface wlan0.IPv6 with address fe80::6236:ddff:fe41:415f.
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 avahi-daemon[1102]: Interface wlan0.IPv6 no longer relevant for mDNS.
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.148059] wlan0: deauthenticating from f8:35:dd:77:3a:04 by local choice (reason=3)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 wpa_supplicant[1600]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=f8:35:dd:77:3a:04 reason=3 locally_generated=1
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 avahi-daemon[1102]: Withdrawing address record for 192.168.1.152 on wlan0.
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 avahi-daemon[1102]: Leaving mDNS multicast group on interface wlan0.IPv4 with address 192.168.1.152.
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 avahi-daemon[1102]: Interface wlan0.IPv4 no longer relevant for mDNS.
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.176190] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <warn> DNS: plugin dnsmasq update failed
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> Removing DNS information from /sbin/resolvconf
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 dnsmasq[2856]: setting upstream servers from DBus
Nov  4 09:49:27 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 whoopsie[1357]: message repeated 2 times: [ online]
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 whoopsie[1357]: offline
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227383] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227386] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227387] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227389] cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227390] cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227390] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 kernel: [ 4191.227391] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> (wlan0): cleaning up...
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> (wlan0): taking down device.
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> NetworkManager state is now ASLEEP
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> (eth1): device state change: unavailable -> unmanaged (reason 'sleeping') [20 10 37]
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> (eth1): cleaning up...
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 NetworkManager[1121]: <info> (eth1): taking down device.
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 dbus[1058]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher' (using servicehelper)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 dbus[1058]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.systemd1' (using servicehelper)
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 dbus[1058]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.systemd1'
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 dbus[1058]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher'
Nov  4 10:53:56 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 anacron[6005]: Anacron 2.3 started on 2014-11-04
Nov  4 10:53:56 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 anacron[6005]: Normal exit (0 jobs run)

---

EDIT 1

While the previous contain all the logs that I thougth was relevant to the crash (inspecting the timestamps), these are the links to the full logs

• syslog
• syslog.1
• kern.log
• kern.log.1 part1 part2
• dmesg
• dmesg.0

The crashes occurred Nov 4 10:53:56 (actually, there was another crash about an hour earlie, but I don't know the right timestamp cause I weren't near the laptop).

Strange thing: have you noticed that there is a line with a different timestamp from the previous ones? I mean this

Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 dnsmasq[2856]: setting upstream servers from DBus
Nov  4 09:49:27 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 whoopsie[1357]: message repeated 2 times: [ online]
Nov  4 10:53:55 tigerjack89-Inspiron-7720 whoopsie[1357]: offline

---

EDIT 2

Well, I tried again to run a clamscan, this time only inside my home directory. However, at some point, a core went over 98°C, so I stopped the process. I tried to run clamscan again in verbose mode to see if there was an error with specific files. At some point, a core temperature goes over 90°C, but this time the desktop goes off and then the computer stops. Also, I wasn't able to restart it for a while (until it is cooled down again I think). So, I think the problem is related with high cores temperature. Surely, clamscan freezes my laptop 3 times on 4 (and the only one it doesn't freeze it's because I manually force the process stop). For the previous crashes, maybe some process at a certain point starts to warm the cores; however, I don't know what process. FWIW, these are the log files filtered for the time of the event crash. syslog kern.log The strange pattern happened again. Any suggest?

Solution

Try:

$ sudo service whoopsie restart

If it doesn't work, search error with:

systemctl | grep -i whoopsie

cat /var/log/syslog | grep -i error (or failure)

and show us what's appears.

Or remove the whoopsie package completely:

$ sudo apt-get purge whoopsie

The whoopsie package will now be removed from the system.

Comments

[Lety]

Could you post complete content of /var/log/syslog, /var/log/kern.log and /var/log/dmesg about crash? You can add on pastebin.com and update your question with url. Usually these files are renamed during boot like /var/log/syslog.1

[tigerjack]

@Letizia sure. Do I have to post the whole logs?

[Lety]

Yes, I think that could help people who want to help you :)

[tigerjack]

@MadMike I don't know, every time the computer crashed I wasn't at the computer. Indeed, another hypotesis could be the temperature, but I don't know how to check the values (I have Psensor always running in background fwiw). Why do you think it's related to that bug?

[Lety]

Could you check if in /var/crash is present file created at boot time? I guess no and I agree with you that it would be better to enable whoopsie in order to get more information.

[tigerjack]

@Letizia no file at all (actually there is one file, but it is old and related to nvidia drivers, so I don't think it's related with my problem). Oh, I didn't know that now whoopsie manage apport. Have you read the "strange things" in my last edit related to whoopsie?

[Lety]

Yes, I saw, but I don't know why. Sometimes this kind of problem can due to intensive cpu usage, but I do not know so well syslogd to say whether this is the case.

[tigerjack]

added further infos in EDIT 2 @Letizia and all the others obvsiouly

[tigerjack]

crash continues to happen even under high (even if not extremely high) temperature. The only device without a sensor temperature is the ssd; well, there is also the video card, but it was disabled. It could be possible that the ssd is the one which heats up more than the others?

[tigerjack]

also, it seems that the hdd temperature is constantly above 60°C