Solved graphical session hangs/freezes randomly (Thinkpad T14s)

Hi,

so Ive just installed FreeBSD 15.1 on a used Thinkpad T14s, installed KDE and added a few /boot/loader.conf entries to correct issues in I've found in dmesg, but otherwise its a vanilla install. I noticed the graphical session would hang occasionally when using firefox or librewolf when playing a video, I fixed this with a loader.conf entry as it was a hdac0 error in dmesg.

I thought this resolved my hang issues but it didn't , so I switched to using x11 instead of wayland. But still I have the occasional hang albeit a lot less.

The last hang I was playing music via youtube, downloading libreoffice with pkg and I had dolphin file manager open, that was it. I switched to another TTY to check the log.

Code:
Oct 29 17:57:22 freebsd-pad pkg[6456]: libreoffice-26.8.0.3_2 installed
Oct 29 17:57:23 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 9:1:85dfffff, in kwin_x11 [100355]
Oct 29 17:57:23 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] Resetting rcs0 for preemption time out
Oct 29 17:57:23 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] kwin_x11[100355] context reset due to GPU hang
Oct 29 17:57:24 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 9:1:85d7ffff, in MainThread [101030]
Oct 29 17:57:24 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] Resetting rcs0 for preemption time out
Oct 29 17:57:24 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] Xorg[101030] context reset due to GPU hang
Oct 29 17:57:27 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 9:1:87f8bffb, in MainThread [101030]
Oct 29 17:57:27 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] Resetting rcs0 for preemption time out
Oct 29 17:57:27 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] MainThread[101030] context reset due to GPU hang
Oct 29 17:57:28 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 9:1:85dffffb, in QSGRenderThread [101340]
Oct 29 17:57:28 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] Resetting rcs0 for preemption time out
Oct 29 17:57:28 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] QSGRenderThread[101340] context reset due to GPU hang
Oct 29 17:57:29 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 9:1:85dfafff, in QSGRenderThread [101360]
Oct 29 17:57:29 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] Resetting rcs0 for preemption time out
Oct 29 17:57:29 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] QSGRenderThread[101360] context reset due to GPU hang
Oct 29 17:57:30 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 9:1:85d7ffff, in MainThread [101030]
Oct 29 17:57:30 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] Resetting rcs0 for preemption time out
Oct 29 17:57:30 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] MainThread[101030] context reset due to GPU hang
Oct 29 17:57:35 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 9:1:85d7bfff, in Renderer [102489]
Oct 29 17:57:35 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] Resetting rcs0 for preemption time out
Oct 29 17:57:35 freebsd-pad kernel: drmn0: [drm] Renderer[102489] context reset due to GPU hang

this was the last errors before I had to reboot.

I did notice in htop that /usr/local/bin/kwin_x11 was at 99% cpu usage also.

these are the entries in /boot/loader.conf I added

Code:
compat.linuxkpi.i915_disable_power_well="0"
dev.rtsx.0.inversion=1

dmesg

Code:
---<<BOOT>>---
Copyright (c) 1992-2025 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
    The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE-p6 releng/15.1-n283643-95719d8a895b GENERIC amd64
FreeBSD clang version 19.1.7 (https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project.git llvmorg-19.1.7-0-gcd708029e0b2)
VT(efifb): resolution 1920x1080
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8265U CPU @ 1.60GHz (1800.00-MHz K8-class CPU)
  Origin="GenuineIntel"  Id=0x806ec  Family=0x6  Model=0x8e  Stepping=12
  Features=0xbfebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE>
  Features2=0x7ffafbbf<SSE3,PCLMULQDQ,DTES64,MON,DS_CPL,VMX,EST,TM2,SSSE3,SDBG,FMA,CX16,xTPR,PDCM,PCID,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,x2APIC,MOVBE,POPCNT,TSCDLT,AESNI,XSAVE,OSXSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND>
  AMD Features=0x2c100800<SYSCALL,NX,Page1GB,RDTSCP,LM>
  AMD Features2=0x121<LAHF,ABM,Prefetch>
  Structured Extended Features=0x29c67af<FSGSBASE,TSCADJ,SGX,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,NFPUSG,MPX,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,PROCTRACE>
  Structured Extended Features3=0xbc000600<MCUOPT,MD_CLEAR,IBPB,STIBP,L1DFL,ARCH_CAP,SSBD>
  XSAVE Features=0xf<XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XINUSE,XSAVES>
  IA32_ARCH_CAPS=0xa0a0c2b<RDCL_NO,IBRS_ALL,SKIP_L1DFL_VME,MDS_NO>
  VT-x: (disabled in BIOS) PAT,HLT,MTF,PAUSE,EPT,UG,VPID
  TSC: P-state invariant, performance statistics
real memory  = 8589934592 (8192 MB)
avail memory = 7960510464 (7591 MB)
Event timer "LAPIC" quality 600
ACPI APIC Table: <LENOVO TP-N2J  >
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 8 CPUs
FreeBSD/SMP: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s) x 2 hardware threads
random: registering fast source Intel Secure Key Seed
random: fast provider: "Intel Secure Key Seed"
random: unblocking device.
ioapic0 <Version 2.0> irqs 0-119
Launching APs: 1 4 6 2 3 7 5
random: entropy device external interface
kbd1 at kbdmux0
efirtc0: <EFI Realtime Clock>
efirtc0: registered as a time-of-day clock, resolution 1.000000s
smbios0: <System Management BIOS> at iomem 0x8ddf5000-0x8ddf5017
smbios0: Entry point: v3 (64-bit), Version: 3.1
aesni0: <AES-CBC,AES-CCM,AES-GCM,AES-ICM,AES-XTS>
acpi0: <LENOVO TP-N2J>
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure creating named object [\134_SB.PCI0.RP07.BRST], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20250807/dswload2-480)
ACPI Error: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20250807/psobject-372)
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure creating named object [\134_SB.PCI0.RP07.RSTX], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20250807/dswload2-480)
ACPI Error: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20250807/psobject-372)
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure creating named object [\134_SB.PCI0.RP07.RSTG], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20250807/dswload2-480)
ACPI Error: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20250807/psobject-372)
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure creating named object [\134_SB.PCI0.RP07.PXSX.L850], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20250807/dswload2-480)
ACPI Error: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20250807/psobject-372)
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure creating named object [\134_SB.PCI0.RP07.PXSX._RST], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20250807/dswload2-480)
ACPI Error: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20250807/psobject-372)
acpi_ec0: <Embedded Controller: GPE 0x16, ECDT> port 0x62,0x66 on acpi0
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
hpet0: <High Precision Event Timer> iomem 0xfed00000-0xfed003ff on acpi0
Timecounter "HPET" frequency 24000000 Hz quality 950
Event timer "HPET" frequency 24000000 Hz quality 550
atrtc0: <AT realtime clock> port 0x70-0x77 irq 8 on acpi0
atrtc0: Warning: Couldn't map I/O.
atrtc0: registered as a time-of-day clock, resolution 1.000000s
Event timer "RTC" frequency 32768 Hz quality 0
attimer0: <AT timer> port 0x40-0x43,0x50-0x53 irq 0 on acpi0
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
Event timer "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 100
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 900
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x1808-0x180b on acpi0
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
vgapci0: <VGA-compatible display> port 0x2000-0x203f mem 0xb0000000-0xb0ffffff,0xa0000000-0xafffffff irq 16 at device 2.0 on pci0
vgapci0: Boot video device
xhci0: <XHCI (generic) USB 3.0 controller> mem 0xb2820000-0xb282ffff at device 20.0 on pci0
xhci0: 32 bytes context size, 64-bit DMA
xhci0: xECP capabilities <PROTO,PROTO,VEND(c0),LEGACY,VEND(c6),VEND(c7),VEND(c2),DEBUG,VEND(c3),VEND(c4),VEND(c5),VEND(c8),VEND(c9),VEND(ca),VEND(cb)>
usbus0 on xhci0
usbus0: 5.0Gbps Super Speed USB v3.0
pci0: <memory, RAM> at device 20.2 (no driver attached)
pci0: <network> at device 20.3 (no driver attached)
pci0: <simple comms> at device 22.0 (no driver attached)
ahci0: <AHCI SATA controller> port 0x2080-0x2087,0x2088-0x208b,0x2060-0x207f mem 0xb2842000-0xb2843fff,0xb284b000-0xb284b0ff,0xb284a000-0xb284a7ff at device 23.0 on pci0
ahci0: AHCI v1.31 with 1 6Gbps ports, Port Multiplier not supported
ahcich2: <AHCI channel> at channel 2 on ahci0
pcib1: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 28.0 on pci0
pci1: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib1
pci1: <unknown> at device 0.0 (no driver attached)
pcib2: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 28.4 on pci0
pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib2
pcib3: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 0.0 on pci2
pci3: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib3
pcib4: <PCI-PCI bridge> at device 0.0 on pci3
pci4: <PCI bus> on pcib4
pcib5: <PCI-PCI bridge> at device 1.0 on pci3
pcib6: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 2.0 on pci3
pci5: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib6
xhci1: <Intel Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt 3 USB controller> mem 0xb2500000-0xb250ffff at device 0.0 on pci5
xhci1: 32 bytes context size, 64-bit DMA
xhci1: xECP capabilities <PROTO,VEND(c0),LEGACY,VEND(c6),VEND(c7),VEND(c2),DEBUG,VEND(c3),VEND(c4),VEND(c5),VEND(c8),VEND(c9),PROTO,VEND(ca)>
usbus1 on xhci1
usbus1: 5.0Gbps Super Speed USB v3.0
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
hdac0: <Intel Cannon Lake HDA Controller> mem 0xb283c000-0xb283ffff,0xb1a00000-0xb1afffff at device 31.3 on pci0
pci0: <serial bus> at device 31.5 (no driver attached)
em0: <Intel(R) I219-V CNP(6)> mem 0xb2800000-0xb281ffff at device 31.6 on pci0
em0: EEPROM V0.5-3
em0: Using 1024 TX descriptors and 1024 RX descriptors
em0: Using an MSI interrupt
em0: Ethernet address: 98:fa:9b:f7:fd:b5
em0: netmap queues/slots: TX 1/1024, RX 1/1024
acpi_button0: <Sleep Button> on acpi0
acpi_lid0: <Control Method Lid Switch> on acpi0
acpi_tz0: <Thermal Zone> on acpi0
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> port 0x60,0x64 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
WARNING: Device "psm" is Giant locked and may be deleted before FreeBSD 16.0.
psm0: model Elantech Touchpad, device ID 0
acpi_syscontainer0: <System Container> on acpi0
acpi_acad0: <AC Adapter> on acpi0
battery0: <ACPI Control Method Battery> on acpi0
hwpstate_intel0: <Intel Speed Shift> on cpu0
cpufreq0: <CPU frequency control> on cpu0
hwpstate_intel1: <Intel Speed Shift> on cpu1
cpufreq1: <CPU frequency control> on cpu1
hwpstate_intel2: <Intel Speed Shift> on cpu2
cpufreq2: <CPU frequency control> on cpu2
hwpstate_intel3: <Intel Speed Shift> on cpu3
cpufreq3: <CPU frequency control> on cpu3
hwpstate_intel4: <Intel Speed Shift> on cpu4
cpufreq4: <CPU frequency control> on cpu4
hwpstate_intel5: <Intel Speed Shift> on cpu5
cpufreq5: <CPU frequency control> on cpu5
hwpstate_intel6: <Intel Speed Shift> on cpu6
cpufreq6: <CPU frequency control> on cpu6
hwpstate_intel7: <Intel Speed Shift> on cpu7
cpufreq7: <CPU frequency control> on cpu7
Timecounter "TSC" frequency 1800001044 Hz quality 1000
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
ZFS filesystem version: 5
ZFS storage pool version: features support (5000)
hdacc0: <Realtek ALC257 HDA CODEC> at cad 0 on hdac0
hdaa0: <Realtek ALC257 Audio Function Group> at nid 1 on hdacc0
pcm0: <Realtek ALC257 (Analog 2.0+HP/2.0)> at nid 20,33 and 18 on hdaa0
pcm1: <Realtek ALC257 (Right Analog Mic)> at nid 25 on hdaa0
hdacc1: <Intel Kaby Lake HDA CODEC> at cad 2 on hdac0
hdaa1: <Intel Kaby Lake Audio Function Group> at nid 1 on hdacc1
pcm2: <Intel Kaby Lake (HDMI/DP 8ch)> at nid 3 on hdaa1
Trying to mount root from zfs:zroot/ROOT/default []...
ugen0.1: <Intel XHCI root HUB> at usbus0
uhub0 on usbus0
uhub0: <Intel XHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 3.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus0
ugen1.1: <Intel XHCI root HUB> at usbus1
uhub1 on usbus1
uhub1: <Intel XHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 3.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus1
ada0 at ahcich2 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
ada0: <HFS256G39TND-N210A 30001P10> ACS-2 ATA SATA 3.x device
ada0: Serial Number EJ8BN08611200BQ29
ada0: 600.000MB/s transfers (SATA 3.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
ada0: Command Queueing enabled
ada0: 244198MB (500118192 512 byte sectors)
uhub1: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
uhub0: 18 ports with 18 removable, self powered
Root mount waiting for: usbus0
ugen0.2: <Generic EMV Smartcard Reader> at usbus0
ugen0.3: <Logitech USB Optical Mouse> at usbus0
usbhid0 on uhub0
usbhid0: <Logitech USB Optical Mouse, class 0/0, rev 2.00/72.00, addr 2> on usbus0
hidbus0: <HID bus> on usbhid0
ugen0.4: <Azurewave Integrated Camera> at usbus0
Root mount waiting for: usbus0
ugen0.5: <vendor 0x06cb product 0x00bd> at usbus0
ugen0.6: <vendor 0x8087 product 0x0aaa> at usbus0
[drm] Got Intel graphics stolen memory base 0x9b800000, size 0x2000000
drmn0: <drmn> on vgapci0
vgapci0: child drmn0 requested pci_enable_io
vgapci0: child drmn0 requested pci_enable_io
drmn0: [drm] Found COFFEELAKE/ULT (device ID 3ea0) display version 9.00 stepping N/A
lkpi_iic0: <LinuxKPI I2C> on drmn0
iicbus0: <Philips I2C bus> on lkpi_iic0
iic0: <I2C generic I/O> on iicbus0
lkpi_iic1: <LinuxKPI I2C> on drmn0
iicbus1: <Philips I2C bus> on lkpi_iic1
iic1: <I2C generic I/O> on iicbus1
lkpi_iic2: <LinuxKPI I2C> on drmn0
iicbus2: <Philips I2C bus> on lkpi_iic2
iic2: <I2C generic I/O> on iicbus2
lkpi_iic3: <LinuxKPI I2C> on drmn0
iicbus3: <Philips I2C bus> on lkpi_iic3
iic3: <I2C generic I/O> on iicbus3
drmn0: successfully loaded firmware image 'i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_04.bin'
drmn0: [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_04.bin (v1.4)
sysctl_add_oid: can't re-use a leaf (hw.dri.debug)!
lkpi_iic4: <LinuxKPI I2C> on drm1
iicbus4: <Philips I2C bus> on lkpi_iic4
iic4: <I2C generic I/O> on iicbus4
lkpi_iic5: <LinuxKPI I2C> on drm2
iicbus5: <Philips I2C bus> on lkpi_iic5
iic5: <I2C generic I/O> on iicbus5
lkpi_iic6: <LinuxKPI I2C> on drm4
iicbus6: <Philips I2C bus> on lkpi_iic6
iic6: <I2C generic I/O> on iicbus6
[drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 for drmn0 on minor 0
VT: Replacing driver "efifb" with new "drmfb".
start FB_INFO:
height=1080 width=1920 depth=32
pbase=0xa0000000 vbase=0xfffff800a0000000
name=drmn0 id=i915drmfb flags=0x0 stride=7680
end FB_INFO
pchtherm0: <CannonLake-LP Thermal Subsystem> mem 0xb2845000-0xb2845fff at device 18.0 on pci0
iwm0: <Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless AC 9560> mem 0xb2838000-0xb283bfff at device 20.3 on pci0
iwm9000fw: could not load firmware image, error 8
iwm0: hw rev 0x310, fw ver 34.3125811985.0, address 04:ed:33:5f:dd:cc
rtsx0: <2.1g Realtek RTS522A PCIe SD Card Reader> mem 0xb2700000-0xb2700fff at device 0.0 on pci1
rtsx0: No card is detected
acpi_wmi0: <ACPI-WMI mapping> on acpi0
acpi_wmi1: <ACPI-WMI mapping> on acpi0
acpi_wmi1: Embedded MOF found
acpi_wmi2: <ACPI-WMI mapping> on acpi0
acpi_wmi2: Embedded MOF found
acpi_wmi3: <ACPI-WMI mapping> on acpi0
acpi_wmi3: Embedded MOF found
acpi_wmi4: <ACPI-WMI mapping> on acpi0
acpi_wmi4: Embedded MOF found
acpi_wmi5: <ACPI-WMI mapping> on acpi0
acpi_wmi5: Embedded MOF found
acpi_wmi6: <ACPI-WMI mapping> on acpi0
acpi_wmi6: Embedded MOF found
hms0: <Logitech USB Optical Mouse> on hidbus0
hms0: 8 buttons and [XYW] coordinates ID=0
wlan0: Ethernet address: 04:ed:33:5f:dd:cc
lo0: link state changed to UP
wlan0: link state changed to UP
Security policy loaded: MAC/ntpd (mac_ntpd)

uname

Code:
FreeBSD freebsd-pad 15.1-RELEASE-p6 FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE-p6 releng/15.1-n283643-95719d8a895b GENERIC amd64

any ideas what my issue is ? should I switch to something lighter like xfce?
 
Last edited:
I'd install drm-61-kmod (or 515 if its available; not 66, 612, or latest), and this in loader.conf:

Code:
hw.dri.poll="0"
compat.linuxkpi.drm_vblankoffdelay="-1"
hw.i915kms.modeset="1"
hw.i915kms.nuclear_pageflip="0"
hw.i915kms.fastboot="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_psr="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_psr2_sel_fetch="0"
hw.i915kms.panel_use_ssc="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_ips="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_fbc="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_dc="0"
hw.i915kms.disable_power_well="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_guc="0"
hw.i915kms.guc_log_level="0"
hw.i915kms.verbose_state_checks="0"
hw.i915kms.error_capture="0"
hw.i915kms.request_timeout_ms="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_hangcheck="0"
 
I'd install drm-61-kmod (or 515 if its available; not 66, 612, or latest), and this in loader.conf:

Code:
hw.dri.poll="0"
compat.linuxkpi.drm_vblankoffdelay="-1"
hw.i915kms.modeset="1"
hw.i915kms.nuclear_pageflip="0"
hw.i915kms.fastboot="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_psr="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_psr2_sel_fetch="0"
hw.i915kms.panel_use_ssc="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_ips="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_fbc="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_dc="0"
hw.i915kms.disable_power_well="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_guc="0"
hw.i915kms.guc_log_level="0"
hw.i915kms.verbose_state_checks="0"
hw.i915kms.error_capture="0"
hw.i915kms.request_timeout_ms="0"
hw.i915kms.enable_hangcheck="0"
I will give this a try tomorrow, I take it I should remove the current drm-kmod and build 61 or 515 from ports ?

Also can you explain why there are so many drm-kmod versions , surely latest is recommended right ?

I'll have to check out all the loader.conf entries so I understand what they are, thanks for your help with this.
 
I used your additions and installed drm-61-kmod from pkg, I understand this may not be ideal as I've discovered a minor update can break it, should I install from ports and make clean with each update? I'll test the new additions and hopefully the system is stable , would you still recommend using X11 over wayland ?

Thanks again for your help.
 
Hi,

so Ive just installed FreeBSD 15.1 on a used Thinkpad T14s, installed KDE and added a few /boot/loader.conf entries to correct issues in I've found in dmesg, but otherwise its a vanilla install. I noticed the graphical session would hang occasionally when using firefox or librewolf when playing a video, I fixed this with a loader.conf entry as it was a hdac0 error in dmesg.
Just a thought, have you checked whether you have hardware accel enabled in the browser? There are a number of browser settings that can be checked, there is a good description here https://mvysny.github.io/firefox-hw-acceleration/ . If the hangs are only happening while using the browser, it might be worth either enabling or disabling hardware accel to see if that makes a difference. I have definitely seen waterfox/firefox go into a tight loop and chew up 100% cpu, on both freebsd and linux, and it still happens from time to time, so the browsers themselves do have bugs (or, possibly, some interaction between the browser and wayland and kde...). When it happens the whole gui freezes, if you're lucky and catch it early you can switch to a virtual console and kill the browser process, if you're unlucky the system is locked so tightly in the loop that the keypress to switch to VC doesn't get processed. I've never found a 100% foolproof way to fix this, on either operating system. It does seem to happen more often when running the browser on kde plasma and wayland though... but that might just be "sampling error".

Do you get the same problem if you stream yt videos with mpv (or vlc) instead of watching them in the browser? You can say "mpv <url>" and it will stream the video in a window, outside of the browser. Again there are some acceleration options you can set in mpv, see https://carlosfelic.io/misc/best-mpv-config-2026/ and https://iamscum.wordpress.com/guides/videoplayback-guide/mpv-conf/ , although the defaults usually work.

Of course there may still be driver problems on that particular hardware, but it's worth looking at the browser configuration.
 
Just a thought, have you checked whether you have hardware accel enabled in the browser? There are a number of browser settings that can be checked, there is a good description here https://mvysny.github.io/firefox-hw-acceleration/ . If the hangs are only happening while using the browser, it might be worth either enabling or disabling hardware accel to see if that makes a difference. I have definitely seen waterfox/firefox go into a tight loop and chew up 100% cpu, on both freebsd and linux, and it still happens from time to time, so the browsers themselves do have bugs (or, possibly, some interaction between the browser and wayland and kde...). When it happens the whole gui freezes, if you're lucky and catch it early you can switch to a virtual console and kill the browser process, if you're unlucky the system is locked so tightly in the loop that the keypress to switch to VC doesn't get processed. I've never found a 100% foolproof way to fix this, on either operating system. It does seem to happen more often when running the browser on kde plasma and wayland though... but that might just be "sampling error".

Do you get the same problem if you stream yt videos with mpv (or vlc) instead of watching them in the browser? You can say "mpv <url>" and it will stream the video in a window, outside of the browser. Again there are some acceleration options you can set in mpv, see https://carlosfelic.io/misc/best-mpv-config-2026/ and https://iamscum.wordpress.com/guides/videoplayback-guide/mpv-conf/ , although the defaults usually work.

Of course there may still be driver problems on that particular hardware, but it's worth looking at the browser configuration.
thanks for the reply, it looks like Espionage724 recommendations seem to have worked, touch wood, I've had no freezes all morning, web browser playing videos, several tabs open, 2 terminals, one with htop runnning and dolphin file browser open. I did check and librewolf appears to be using hardware acceleration. I couldn't get mpv to play a youtube url , seems to complain

Code:
[ytdl_hook] Subprocess failed: init
[ytdl_hook] Subprocess failed: init
[ytdl_hook] Subprocess failed: init
[ytdl_hook]
[ytdl_hook] youtube-dl failed: not found or not enough permissions
Failed to recognize file format.
Exiting... (Errors when loading file)

but I'll try and tinker with that another day.

I'll test for a bit longer but I'll probably mark this as solved.

thanks everyone for your help
 
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