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[linux 6.16.x] Random hard freezes on Dell Latitude E6430 (Intel HD 4000, GNOME Wayland) — cursor moves, Caps Lock blinks

Description:

After upgrading from 6.15.9 to 6.16.x, the system intermittently hard-freezes immediately upon use.
The mouse cursor still moves, but all other input/output is dead: keyboard has no effect, screen stops updating (e.g., mid-page-switch), mouse clicks do nothing, and there’s no visible disk or Wi-Fi activity. The Caps Lock LED often blinks after the freeze. Only a hard power-off recovers.

This does not occur on 6.15.9. I can use 6.15.9 for long sessions without issues.
On 6.16.x, freezes happen immediately upon upgrade. Another similar Ivy Bridge system I administer runs 6.16.x fine, so this may be platform-specific.

Suspect area: Intel i915 on Ivy Bridge (HD 4000) under Wayland, potentially triggered by display activity (page switches, link clicks, video playback).

Additional info:

  • package version(s):

    • Affected: linux 6.16.0.arch1-1, linux 6.16.1.arch1-1
    • Working: linux 6.15.9.arch1-1
    • GNOME 48 (Wayland session)
    • Firefox 141.0.3
    • Firmware/BIOS: Dell Latitude E6430 A24

  • hardware:

    • Dell Latitude E6430
    • Intel® Core™ i7-3740QM (Ivy Bridge)
    • Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2) — i915
    • 12 GiB RAM
    • 500 GB SSD

  • environment:

    • OS: Arch Linux (rolling)
    • Windowing system: Wayland (GNOME)

  • observed behavior details:

    • Freeze occurs when switching pages to Firefox or interacting with Firefox; sometimes during video playback, sometimes on page switch or link click. Not while idle.
    • When the cursor is visible (not hidden by fullscreen video), it always continues to move.
    • Keyboard is unresponsive; often Caps Lock LED blinks. Requires hard power-off.
    • Another similar Ivy Bridge laptop with HD 4000 + GNOME/Wayland does not reproduce on 6.16.x.

  • config and/or log files:

    • I will attach the following from the affected system after the next freeze:
      • journalctl -b -1 -k (previous boot, kernel messages)
      • dmesg from a clean boot on 6.16.x and on 6.15.9
      • uname -a, lsmod | grep i915, modinfo i915 | head -n1
      • /proc/cmdline
    • Optional diagnostic boot parameters (if requested): drm.debug=0x1e log_buf_len=4M

  • link to upstream bug report, if any:

    • N/A yet — will file upstream under DRM/Intel if requested and cross-link.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Boot Arch Linux with linux 6.16.0.arch1-1 or 6.16.1.arch1-1.
  2. Log in to GNOME (Wayland).
  3. Launch Firefox (141.0.3) and browse normally. Freeze is seen when:
    • Switching pages to Firefox, or
    • Interacting with Firefox (link click, page navigation), sometimes during video playback
  4. System randomly freezes: cursor still moves; keyboard dead; Caps Lock often blinks; requires hard power-off.

Expected: No freezes (as with 6.15.9.arch1-1).
Actual: Random hard freeze with movable cursor on 6.16.x only.

Regr

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