Experiencing KERNEL PANIC (full system freeze) frequently while watching videos on YouTube

[Karthik_6954]

Kernel Panic While Watching YouTube on Brave (Zorin OS 17.3)

Hi everyone,

For quite some time now, I’ve been experiencing kernel panics (complete system freeze) while watching YouTube on the Brave browser. When the issue occurs:

• The entire system becomes unresponsive.
• Audio (through bluetooth) still worlks.
• I’m unable to switch to TTY3 or any other TTY.
• As a last resort, I use Alt + SysRq + B to force a reboot.

What I've Tried So Far

I’ve done some digging on my own (via Google and ChatGPT), and based on the information I found, this might be related to the graphics driver on my system. I've attached:

• All relevant system logs
• System information
• The response I got from ChatGPT

Additional Observations

• This issue only seems to happen during extended YouTube playback (around 30 minutes or more).
• I’ve also noticed WebGL crashes while playing Geo-FS, which could be related.

LOGS:

dell@dell-Inspiron-5558:~$ journalctl -b -1

Jul 09 17:47:31 dell-Inspiron-5558 kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Resetting rcs0 for stopped heartbeat on rcs0
Jul 09 17:47:31 dell-Inspiron-5558 kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] gnome-shell[1383] context reset due to GPU hang
Jul 09 17:47:56 dell-Inspiron-5558 gnome-shell[6353]: [0709/174756.121336:ERROR:third_party/crashpad/crashpad/util/linux/scoped_ptrace_attach.cc:27] ptrace: Operation not >
Jul 09 17:47:56 dell-Inspiron-5558 gnome-shell[6371]: [398:197:0709/174756.152641:ERROR:gpu/ipc/client/command_buffer_proxy_impl.cc:291] GPU state invalid after WaitForTok>
Jul 09 17:47:56 dell-Inspiron-5558 gnome-shell[5574]: [2:2:0709/174756.572662:ERROR:../src/content/browser/gpu/gpu_process_host.cc:957] GPU process exited unexpectedly: ex>
Jul 09 17:47:58 dell-Inspiron-5558 gnome-shell[19494]: MESA-INTEL: warning: Haswell Vulkan support is incomplete
Jul 09 17:47:59 dell-Inspiron-5558 gnome-shell[19494]: libva error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/intel-vaapi-driver/iHD_drv_video.so init failed
Jul 09 17:47:59 dell-Inspiron-5558 gnome-shell[19494]: [1006:1006:0709/174759.775098:ERROR:ui/gl/gl_surface_presentation_helper.cc:260] GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable() fai>
Jul 09 17:47:59 dell-Inspiron-5558 gnome-shell[19494]: [1006:1006:0709/174759.880143:ERROR:ui/gl/gl_surface_presentation_helper.cc:260] GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable() fai>
Jul 09 17:48:00 dell-Inspiron-5558 gnome-shell[19494]: [1006:1006:0709/174800.324903:ERROR:ui/gl/gl_surface_presentation_helper.cc:260] GetVSyncParametersIfAvailable() fai>
Jul 09 17:48:20 dell-Inspiron-5558 systemd-logind[625]: Lid closed.
Jul 09 17:48:20 dell-Inspiron-5558 systemd-logind[625]: Suspending...

System Info

CHATGPT RESPONSE:

What This Means

• These lines show that your Intel integrated GPU (driver: i915) experienced a hardware hang (freeze). Specifically:
• The GPU stopped responding during rendering work handled by gnome-shell, the core UI shell for GNOME.
• The kernel attempted a "heartbeat reset" of the GPU (essentially a soft reset) to recover from the hang.
• gnome-shell's rendering context was forcibly reset due to the GPU hang.
  This is almost always related to GPU driver instability, often triggered by hardware-accelerated graphics (like video playback or WebGL content).

Likely Cause

• Since it only happens after extended YouTube viewing and also with WebGL content, the issue likely stems from:
• i915 driver instability
• Possible hardware acceleration bugs in Brave or your browser's GPU process
• An older or unstable kernel / Mesa version

Even though ChatGPT says it is driver related issue, I don't know how to fix it.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

Edit 1 : Fixed markdown and added another image

[Ponce-De-Leon]

Because you have an Intel Graphics and Your System runs in Wayland, I would suggest first to switch to X11/Xorg.

To do that, go to the Login Screen (not the Lock Screen). Simply reboot for that. On the Login Screen click on Your Profile so that the Password Field appears. It has to be appeared. When it is appeared, You should see in the bottom right Corner a Gear Icon. Click on it and choose the Option ''Zorin Desktop on Xorg'' and then log in and test if it works now.

[Forpli]

Disable hardware acceleration in your browser if it is enabled.

[Karthik_6954]

I have tried the above two suggestions for a week in different combinations.

Well the youtube kernel panic is fixed for now but the problem persists in WebGL related websites.

And the frequency of kernel panic has significantly gone down. Instead of kernel panic, I get logged out.

I would appreciate it if anyone guides me on how to analyse this problem and fix it from the root itself. Thanks.

[Aravisian]

Have you yet tried the grub parameter i915.enable_dc=0
It would look like "quiet splash i915.enable_dc=0"
(Do NOT use nomodeset with the above)

[HOW TO] add a grub parameter

There may be times that a user must add a specialized grub parameter in order to overcome an issue. The purpose of this guide is not to provide parameters, as that would be a case by case basis. It is to provide a guide on how to add one. To add a parameter, in a terminal (TTY, Recovery Prompt or Terminal Emulator) run: sudo nano /etc/default/grub Arrow key down to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" and place your parameter within the quotation tags. For example if you are adding th…

Don't forget to run sudo update-grub after making changes to grub.

Haswell struggles with Wayland, Gnome in general. Despite all of the corporate interests pushing Wayland with a lot of force, it is unready for daily use, pure and simple.
Switching to Xorg is the right move - I would take it further and use Lite desktop (Zorin OS Lite).

In regards to changing the driver if the i915.enable_dc=0 parameter does not resolve the issue:

Haswell and Broadwell are considered "Legacy" and the kernel versions from 5.15 and upwards (You are on 6.8) have regressions that affect those.
To change the driver, you would need to download and install a 5.10 kernel.

Here are the Four separate Download Links:
https://kernel.ubuntu.com/mainline/v5.10.239/amd64/linux-modules-5.10.239-0510239-generic_5.10.239-0510239.202506271509_amd64.deb

https://kernel.ubuntu.com/mainline/v5.10.239/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.10.239-0510239-generic_5.10.239-0510239.202506271509_amd64.deb

https://kernel.ubuntu.com/mainline/v5.10.239/amd64/linux-headers-5.10.239-0510239-generic_5.10.239-0510239.202506271509_amd64.deb

https://kernel.ubuntu.com/mainline/v5.10.239/amd64/linux-headers-5.10.239-0510239_5.10.239-0510239.202506271509_all.deb

Ensure that Secure Boot is disabled in BIOS settings, since Microsoft has not signed off on this Linux Image.
To install, download the four .deb files. In your downloads folder, if there are no other .deb packages, just launch terminal, Change Directory to downloads

cd ~/Downloads

and run to install:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

If there are other .deb packages still in your downloads folder, you can delete them if no longer needed, move them to another folder or create a folder to store them in; then run the above.
Once the 5.10 kernel is installed, you must Reboot Into that kernel and since this is an earlier version, you must enter the Grub Menu, Select Advanced Options, then select Zorin on 5.10...

If that kernel works for you, you can set it to default boot that without having to select it from grub menu:

[HOW TO] set an older kernel to default boot

You may need to use an earlier kernel than the current kernel used by Zorin. This method allows you to set the kernel that you will boot into by default. To set the new kernel to default: Boot into the kernel you wish to be Saved. Open terminal and run: sudo nano /etc/default/grub Change GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to GRUB_DEFAULT=saved Hit enter to drop down a line. Add GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true ctrl+x to exit, then the y key to say yes to save, then the enter key to save as current configuration. Ru…

[Forpli]

When you get logged out while watching videos this is because linux has a problem with power saving functions while watching videos or only playing music in background and doing nothing else. It does not recognize that system is active and turns it off (it goes into suspend or turns off
screen). You can only avoid this when you turn off the power saving function and screen saver function at power settings or enlarge the time until they will turn on.

[Karthik_6954]

I have tried the i915.enable_dc=0. The thing is, the issue is not that frequent. I will play around for a few days and let you know.

Also, As Ponce-De-Leon said earlier, I have switched from wayland to xorg. The youtube issue is gone for now.

Thanks a ton.

[Karthik_6954]

Thanks a lot sir. I have changed my settings accordingly