Indescribable: Desktop Enviroment dies and everything unmounts, but the cursor persists

isaac0clarke · September 4, 2026, 2:53pm

My head hurts so I am gonna be dry and unelegant.

Updated today while multitasking.

Whatever, it’s normal.

Pc freezes while updating (at the Kernel moment? Foggy mind, hours passed) with browser and Steam doing their things, then I get a black screen with the cursor still there, functioning.

tl;dr I went back and forward trying different fixes and facing different errors, among which a Kernel Panic, “can’t boot, safe mode, writing error in /-/-/file” and more I couldn’t even understand.

I even did this:

iclarke@RTX-2070-livingroom:~$ rpm -q kernel-core
kernel-core-7.1.10-200.fc44.x86_64
kernel-core-7.1.12-200.fc44.x86_64
kernel-core-7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64
iclarke@RTX-2070-livingroom:~$ sudo dnf remove kernel-core-kernel-core-7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64 kernel-odules-kernel-core-7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64
[sudo] password for iclarke:
No packages to remove for argument: kernel-core-kernel-core-7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64
No packages to remove for argument: kernel-odules-kernel-core-7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64

Nothing to do.
iclarke@RTX-2070-livingroom:~$ sudo dnf reinstall kernel-core-7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Package                                         Arch         Version                                          Repository                     Size
Reinstalling:
 kernel-core                                    x86_64       0:7.1.13-200.fc44                                updates                   101.2 MiB
   replacing kernel-core                        x86_64       0:7.1.13-200.fc44                                updates                   101.2 MiB

Transaction Summary:
 Reinstalling:       1 package
 Replacing:          1 package

Total size of inbound packages is 21 MiB. Need to download 21 MiB.
After this operation, 0 B extra will be used (install 101 MiB, remove 101 MiB).
Is this ok [y/N]: y
[1/1] kernel-core-0:7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64                                                               100% |   7.7 MiB/s |  20.7 MiB |  00m03s
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1/1] Total                                                                                              100% |   6.4 MiB/s |  20.7 MiB |  00m03s
Running transaction
[1/4] Verify package files                                                                               100% |  19.0   B/s |   1.0   B |  00m00s
[2/4] Prepare transaction                                                                                100% |   4.0   B/s |   2.0   B |  00m00s
[3/4] Reinstalling kernel-core-0:7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64                                                  100% |  63.2 MiB/s |  30.7 MiB |  00m00s
[4/4] Removing kernel-core-0:7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64                                                      100% |   0.0   B/s |  17.0   B |  00m40s
Complete!

It seems that sudo dnf reinstall kernel-core wasn’t enough (I tried a couple of things, without blindly “accepting/allowing” stuff I didn’t know what it would do) so I tried what you saw above.
Since the problem doesn’t seem to be fixed I don’t think it was enough…

I tried booting into W10 and it just works. Now I rebooted and I am in Kernel 7.1.13.200 .
I am writing this (which gets actively saved in my Drafts) while NOT letting Steam power on and do its things.

I am both lucky this is not my main PC and extremely unlucky that I get at least an average of a problem a month with my machines…

The easiest way to “solve” anything is to “JuSt ReInStAlL tHe OS”,

which DOES work if “the files get corrupted”, but:

It’s annoying to set up the PC once more again and again.
The problem can come back, and you 'd not know how to ACTUALLY solve it.
If it’s a Hardware problem reinstalling is just a waste of time.^[1]
AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL! Many, NO! THE VAST MAJORITY OF HUMANITY does NOT have backups of their data, AND even less have Install USBs ready at hand

When the error comes this is what happens:

Some windows stay functioning, like System Monitor, Steam, Firefox, and the Konsole.
The mouse works, with the cursor showing, and the keyboard can input characters.
They barely work, many immediately stop working.
Trying to run reboot in an open console says something like “/-/-/ not found” or “doesn’t exist”, WHICH I BELIEVE implies that "even / got unmounted.

Trying to alt-tab gives a quick crash message, 3 sentences tall but each no longer than 20 words, all 3 similar; and then the PC restarts.

I want to run magic konsole commands which diagnose my PC autonomously and automatically without needing to stay there punching in copy/pasted codes all day.

I not only want to fix this for myself because this is a frustrating event, but also for others which may have the same problem, so diagnosing the problem properly to understand how to solve it is the correct praxis.

~$ inxi -Fzxx
System:
  Kernel: 7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 16.2.1
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.7.4 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_wayland dm: N/A
    Distro: Fedora Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME B450-PLUS v: Rev X.0x
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU Firmware: UEFI
    vendor: American Megatrends v: 3211 date: 08/10/2021
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+
    rev: 0 cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 3 MiB L3: 32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1738 min/max: 561/4654 boost: enabled cores: 1: 1738
    2: 1738 3: 1738 4: 1738 5: 1738 6: 1738 7: 1738 8: 1738 9: 1738 10: 1738
    11: 1738 12: 1738 bogomips: 88795
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a
    ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA TU106 [GeForce RTX 2070] vendor: ZOTAC driver: nvidia
    v: 610.57.04 arch: Turing pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
    active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DVI-D-1 bus-ID: 08:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1f02
  Display: wayland server: Xwayland v: 24.1.13 compositor: kwin_wayland
    driver: gpu: nv_platform,nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 model: Panasonic Panasonic-TV res: 3840x2160 hz: 60
    dpi: 104 diag: 1084mm (42.7")
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2 drv: swrast
    gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland: drv: nvidia x11:
    drv: nvidia inactive: device-1
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.6 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 610.57.04
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070/PCIe/SSE2
    display-ID: :0.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.341 surfaces: N/A device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    driver: nvidia device-ID: 10de:1f02 device: 1 type: cpu
    driver: mesa llvmpipe device-ID: 10005:0000
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
    wl: wayland-info x11: xdriinfo, xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio vendor: ZOTAC
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 08:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f9
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0a:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487
  API: ALSA v: k7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.6.8 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: ASUSTeK RTL8111H driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.38 TiB used: 862.08 GiB (61.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37240G size: 223.57 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Integral Memory model: V Series SATA SSD 250GB
    size: 232.89 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Toshiba model: HDWK105 size: 465.76 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
  ID-4: /dev/sdd model: SSD 512GB size: 476.94 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    serial: <filter>
  ID-5: /dev/sde vendor: Generic model: Flash Disk size: 15.23 GiB type: USB
    rev: 2.0 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 58.55 GiB used: 42.01 GiB (71.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4
  ID-2: /boot size: 1.9 GiB used: 841.7 MiB (43.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 20 MiB (3.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    dev: /dev/zram0
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 3.83 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -1 dev: /dev/sda2
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 56.8 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.52 GiB used: 3.81 GiB (24.6%)
  Processes: 422 Power: uptime: 2m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 259
    default: graphical
  Packages: pm: rpm pkgs: N/A note: see --rpm pm: flatpak pkgs: 19
    Compilers: gcc: 16.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.3.9 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.41

Now I am gonna press send on the message, then start Steam to see if this happens again.

FOR NOW it seems that STEAM ALONE bombs the whole OS, so first I’m gonna try to play some 4K video, validate install files with the Heroic Game Launcher, maybe do something else, and THEN run Steam.

I ran memtest86+ for some minutes and it doesn’t seem the RAM is damaged, but I don’t have the time nor health to run a complete test for 15 minutes straight, that can wait. ↩︎

ankursinha · September 4, 2026, 3:07pm

Could you look at the journal to see if there’s anything we can use?

isaac0clarke · September 4, 2026, 4:23pm

Thank you, but my head is exploding, and I somewhat remember this command starting off basically from “when the OS was installed”.

Could you give me the exact command to make the console “print” a journal of the last 24 hours, please? I can’t figure it out on my own.

chillzone · September 4, 2026, 4:28pm

Maybe this:

journalctl --since "24 hours ago"

## or for just errors

journalctl -p err --since "24 hours ago"

Not sure if @ankursinha wanted anything different but this will provide a good start.

isaac0clarke · September 4, 2026, 8:34pm

I tried journalctl -p err --since "24 hours ago" and the result was “the unfortunately long page”.^[1]

I managed to scroll its entirety, then “save as”.

Here, I won’t keep it up forever, but for now this is the best I can do^[2]:

The soonest I will be able to test the PC again is in no less than 24 hours.
Cya then m8s.

Some time ago I had to do something similar.

P.S.A. 2026-04-20 about Nvidia Drivers Ask Fedora

:~$ journalctl --since -1d -u akmods Apr 19 16:21:57 fedora systemd[1]: Starting akmods.service - Builds and install new kmods from akmod packages... Apr 19 16:21:58 fedora akmods[749]: Checking kmods exist for 6.19.12-200.fc43.x86_64 [ OK ] Apr 19 16:21:58 fedora systemd[1]: Finished akmods.service - Builds and install new kmods from akmod packages. Apr 19 17:59:26 DESKTOP-L9HGLLK systemd[1]: akmods.service: Deactivated successfully. Apr 19 17:59:26 DESKTOP-L9HGLLK systemd[1]: Stopped akmods.…

It MUST be made easier for end users to do this stuff… ↩︎
I can’t upload files here, I can’t write it down because it’s too many characters, and by using “paste online” or whatever the link dies in 3 days, so that’s useless… ↩︎

chillzone · September 4, 2026, 8:57pm

The short version:

nvidia-gpu 0000:08:00.3: i2c timeout error e0000000
Sep 04 16:26:29 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ucsi_ccg 0-0008: i2c_transfer failed -110
Sep 04 16:26:29 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ucsi_ccg 0-0008: ucsi_ccg_init failed - -110
Sep 04 16:26:29 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ucsi_ccg 0-0008: probe with driver ucsi_ccg failed with error -110
Sep 04 16:26:48 RTX-2070-livingroom kwin_wayland[1634]: Applying output configuration failed!
Sep 04 16:26:51 RTX-2070-livingroom kded6[2232]: Couldn't find QML Decoration  ""
Sep 04 16:26:58 RTX-2070-livingroom org_kde_powerdevil[2307]: [  2307] Error(s) opening ddc devices
Sep 04 16:26:58 RTX-2070-livingroom org_kde_powerdevil[2307]: [  2307] Error EACCES(-13): Permission denied opening /dev/i2c-0

(/usr/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0x1729)
                                                            #14 0x00007f90270ea879 _dl_catch_error (/usr/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 + 0x1879)
                                                            #15 0x00007f9026a75bb3 _dlerror_run (libc.so.6 + 0x6ebb3)

Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/20:10:80:91:74/00:00:02:00:00/40 tag 2 ncq dma 16384 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/b8:18:10:a1:53/1f:00:02:00:00/40 tag 3 ncq dma 4157440 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/48:20:c8:c0:53/00:00:02:00:00/40 tag 4 ncq dma 36864 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/20:40:80:2d:74/00:00:02:00:00/40 tag 8 ncq dma 16384 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/20:58:80:e7:b5/00:00:02:00:00/40 tag 11 ncq dma 16384 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/08:60:f0:bf:77/00:00:1b:00:00/40 tag 12 ncq dma 4096 in
                                                     res 40/00:01:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/20:68:00:34:75/00:00:02:00:00/40 tag 13 ncq dma 16384 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/08:70:f0:c7:52/00:00:00:00:00/40 tag 14 ncq dma 4096 in
                                                     res 40/00:01:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/08:78:08:c0:77/00:00:1b:00:00/40 tag 15 ncq dma 4096 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/08:80:f0:c7:12/00:00:00:00:00/40 tag 16 ncq dma 4096 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/10:88:10:c1:53/08:00:02:00:00/40 tag 17 ncq dma 1056768 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/e8:90:20:c9:53/02:00:02:00:00/40 tag 18 ncq dma 380928 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/e0:98:08:cc:53/09:00:02:00:00/40 tag 19 ncq dma 1294336 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/20:a0:60:61:74/00:00:02:00:00/40 tag 20 ncq dma 16384 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/20:a8:80:96:74/00:00:02:00:00/40 tag 21 ncq dma 16384 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/20:b0:00:1b:75/00:00:02:00:00/40 tag 22 ncq dma 16384 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: failed command: READ FPDMA QUEUED
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: cmd 60/20:b8:40:1b:75/00:00:02:00:00/40 tag 23 ncq dma 16384 in
                                                     res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x50 (ATA bus error)
Sep 04 22:12:07 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 39035152 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 168 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 39043272 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 45475712 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 460832752 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 5425136 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 460832776 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 1230832 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 39043344 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 168 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 39045408 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 90 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:11 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: I/O error, dev sda, sector 39046152 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 137 prio class 2
Sep 04 22:12:12 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: 
Sep 04 22:12:12 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: nvidia-gpu 0000:08:00.3: i2c timeout error e0000000
Sep 04 22:12:12 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ucsi_ccg 0-0008: i2c_transfer failed -110
Sep 04 22:12:12 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ucsi_ccg 0-0008: ucsi_ccg_init failed - -110
Sep 04 22:12:12 RTX-2070-livingroom kernel: ucsi_ccg 0-0008: probe with driver ucsi_ccg failed with error -110
Sep 04 22:12:31 RTX-2070-livingroom kded6[2266]: Couldn't find QML Decoration  ""
Sep 04 22:12:37 RTX-2070-livingroom org_kde_powerdevil[2345]: [  2345] Error(s) opening ddc devices
Sep 04 22:12:37 RTX-2070-livingroom org_kde_powerdevil[2345]: [  2345] Error EACCES(-13): Permission denied opening /dev/i2c-0

flrnd · September 4, 2026, 9:19pm

The logs looks like a link/transport failure. That could be for many reasons but I would start for the easier things to check like the SATA cable (or a lose connector). If cable is good and well plugged, you can run sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda to check drive health

anothermindbomb · September 4, 2026, 9:34pm

You can always re-route the output to a file; stick > ~/sometextfile.txt on the end of your command to spit whatever shoots up the screen directly into “sometextfile.txt” in your home directory instead.

That way you can produce reams of output, edit it in your editor of choice and trim out the all junk you don’t need before pasting it in here, or to a pastebin, or slapping it up on googledrive, as you did here.

isaac0clarke · September 6, 2026, 4:43am

In my case the command journalctl -p err --since "24 hours ago" gave 1 to 53 lines in the first view (thus “Test01” not being what I uploaded, since it saved only that).
For Test02 I just manually used Page Down Key to see more data.

You’re telling me that if I were to write this journalctl -p err --since "24 hours ago" > ~/sometextfile.txt I would get the same result as Test02?
(If it’s wrong, please correct the magic formula.)

isaac0clarke · September 6, 2026, 4:43am

I’ll try this asap.

isaac0clarke · September 6, 2026, 4:44am

Thank you, but tell me:

How did you figure out which were the important/relevant error messages?

py0xc3 · September 6, 2026, 8:56am

If you would do this, you would get no output (except maybe if you run it without su(do) privileges a warning that you see not the logs of other users of the system). Instead of the output with logs, only the file ~/sometextfile.txt would be created (whereas ~ will be replaced with your user directory → so the result would be something like /home/isaac/sometextfile.txt). You could then read and scroll the file, or upload the file somewhere, stuff like that

flrnd · September 6, 2026, 9:16am

From the error logs, the important part is this:

ata1.00: irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed
ata1: SError: { RecovComm HostInt PHYRdyChg PHYInt CommWake ... DevExch }

That’s not the usual “bad NAND sectors” scenario. It looks more like a link/transport failure: a failing SATA controller or port, bad/loose SATA or power cable, loose connector, SSD controller, motherboard, or PSU issue.

The later I/O error, dev sda messages may simply be the consequence of the kernel losing communication with the drive while multiple reads were in flight, rather than evidence that those particular sectors are bad.

What’s a bit suspicious, though, is that around the same time there are also I2C timeout errors involving other devices. They might be unrelated, but given the freezes, kernel panic, and different errors you’re describing, I wouldn’t immediately assume this is only an SSD failure. It could also be a symptom of another hardware or controller issue causing wider instability.

I would first try to look for other errors around the same time:

journalctl -k -b | grep -Ei 'ata|ahci|sata|aer|pcie|bus error|link.*down|link.*up|reset|timeout'

If possible, also look at the kernel log for a few minutes before and after the original failure rather than only filtering it. A PCIe/AER, controller reset, power, or other hardware error immediately preceding the ATA failure could be an important clue.

And before doing too much more troubleshooting, back up anything important from that drive if you still can.

isaac0clarke · September 6, 2026, 11:22am

Thank you for the instructions.

I wouldn’t do this, because the errors alone are thousands of lines, and honestly I don’t want to learn yet another thing to do.

Here’s what’s important:

It was all working fine up to said update with the 7.1.13.200 Kernel.
I was updating, while using Firefox and Steam (was downloading stuff, probably on another drive).
Suddenly the Black Screen + Cursor error happened, then all the rest…

I think this was just a case of an update f*****g up.
Just to prevent it on any other PC I’ve set them all to “install updates after restart”…

Golden rule, but I’m lucky this is a secondary PC without important data.
I already have different backups in different places with different devices. I’ve started 6+ years ago and it has payed a dozen times.

gnwiii · September 6, 2026, 12:28pm

Linux is has robust mechanisms to deal with online updates — processes continue to use the pre-update files marked for deletion. From decades of experience with Unix and linux, I have noticed that hardware issues often first appear during periods of intensive storage I/O such as updates. The most common failures are storage devices, but low quality cables often have contacts that lose spring tension with age. At work, bulk purchases (vendors often want orders of 1000 or more units) have suffered from bad cables or electrolytic capacitors afflicting many “identical” systems.

isaac0clarke · September 6, 2026, 2:32pm

Yeah, it could be that. Only thing I know is that this kept appending when Steam was on, updating games.

I’ll check the machine asap, which won’t be today.
In my privacy life, I have other things to do first.

isaac0clarke · September 8, 2026, 4:40am

~$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda
smartctl 7.5 2025-04-30 r5714 [x86_64-linux-7.1.13-200.fc44.x86_64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-25, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Phison Driven SSDs
Device Model:     KINGSTON SA400S37240G
Serial Number:    50026B77850B555B
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0026b7 7850b555b
Firmware Version: SBFKP1C5
User Capacity:    240,057,409,536 bytes [240 GB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    Solid State Device
TRIM Command:     Available
Device is:        In smartctl database 7.5/6204
ATA Version is:   ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 4
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.2, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Tue Sep  8 06:35:52 2026 CEST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity
                                        was never started.
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                        without error or no self-test has ever 
                                        been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:                (65535) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x11) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                        No Auto Offline data collection support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                        command.
                                        No Offline surface scan supported.
                                        Self-test supported.
                                        No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                                        No Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                                        power-saving mode.
                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                                        General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time:        (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       304
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       389
148 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
149 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
167 Write_Protect_Mode      0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
168 SATA_Phy_Error_Count    0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
169 Bad_Block_Rate          0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       5
170 Bad_Blk_Ct_Lat/Erl      0x0000   100   100   010    Old_age   Offline      -       0/8
172 Erase_Fail_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
173 MaxAvgErase_Ct          0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       35 (Average 13)
181 Program_Fail_Count      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
182 Erase_Fail_Count        0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count   0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       251
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   032   047   000    Old_age   Always       -       32 (Min/Max 17/47)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
199 SATA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
218 CRC_Error_Count         0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
231 SSD_Life_Left           0x0000   099   099   000    Old_age   Offline      -       99
233 Flash_Writes_GiB        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3036
241 Lifetime_Writes_GiB     0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       2718
242 Lifetime_Reads_GiB      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       2618
244 Average_Erase_Count     0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       13
245 Max_Erase_Count         0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       35
246 Total_Erase_Count       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       198032

SMART Error Log not supported

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported

The above only provides legacy SMART information - try 'smartctl -x' for more

I think it’s a softwre thing.
Now I’m onna start Steam and see what happens…

isaac0clarke · September 8, 2026, 5:20am

I have started Steam. Protons updated well.
I tried running War Thunder, and it managed to get to the menu no problem.

Eventually I tried installing Space Marine 2 back again (corrupted files due to these bugs, so I uninstalled it).
^[1]

Isaac Clarke:

Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.38 TiB used: 862.08 GiB (61.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37240G size: 223.57 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Integral Memory model: V Series SATA SSD 250GB
    size: 232.89 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Toshiba model: HDWK105 size: 465.76 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
  ID-4: /dev/sdd model: SSD 512GB size: 476.94 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    serial: <filter>
  ID-5: /dev/sde vendor: Generic model: Flash Disk size: 15.23 GiB type: USB
    rev: 2.0 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 58.55 GiB used: 42.01 GiB (71.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4
  ID-2: /boot size: 1.9 GiB used: 841.7 MiB (43.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 20 MiB (3.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    dev: /dev/zram0
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 3.83 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -1 dev: /dev/sda2

In order they are:

250gb SSD Linux
250gb SSD Windows
500gb HDD
500gb SSD
16gb USB to test RAM (when I made the test here)

I tried installing Space Marine 2 on Disk 4, since it has around 108gb free and SM2 needs 80.
Not even 2 minutes later the PC gave me the familiar black screen with cursor.

As things are now I am pretty sure that if I were to reinstall Linux the error would just be gone, but:

We’d learn nothing about what happened and why.
If it were to happen again I’d just come back here, but in the future.

What do you people think?
This is a strange error, basically ALL disks unmount themselves ONLY when Steam does this!
I tried (days ago) with Heroic by verifying some games and nothing happened…

Afterwards I just came to my main PC to write this post because I don’t have the health and “conditions” to test that PC anymore; maybe I’ll be back on it this night or tomorrow. ↩︎

isaac0clarke · September 8, 2026, 9:47am

Huh… this one happened on my main PC too…

flrnd · September 8, 2026, 7:36pm

I’m not really sure about that, maybe, maybe not. Until hardware issues are ruled out, reinstalling is pretty much a hit-or-miss solution.

One thing I also don’t understand is: if this started with a kernel update, why aren’t you simply booting the previous working kernel? I’m not even convinced this is a kernel issue. A bug of this severity would likely be generating a lot more noise by now.

The fact that multiple disks become read-only/unavailable during heavy read/write activity makes me more suspicious of the underlying storage/controller/hardware path. Steam may simply be the thing that triggers the problem because it’s doing a lot of I/O.

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Indescribable: Desktop Enviroment dies and everything unmounts, but the cursor persists

The easiest way to “solve” anything is to “JuSt ReInStAlL tHe OS”,

When the error comes this is what happens:

Here’s what’s important:

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