In these times we work with very complete and powerful equipment that can be adapted to current demands. This is something that is extended to those that we use based on an open source system, although despite their power, this does not mean that they are infallible. That is why now we will talk about some programs that will help us detect problems in Linux .
As we mentioned, these teams, although they are of the latest generation, are not perfect, far from it, so they can give failures. This is something that, although we do not like it very much, it is common in the world of technology. It is worth mentioning that these problems that we are talking about can affect almost any component of the PC. Among the usual ones we find disk drives, or installed RAM.
Problems that we can find on a Linux PC
Serve as an example, being one of the most common failures, that with use and the passage of time, disk drives can gradually become slower. Among the most common symptoms in this sense, we can find ourselves slowly, reading errors, blockages, etc. On many occasions, these problems that we are talking about can be attributed to the fact that we have too much information stored.
These, as you can imagine, are the programs we use daily, our photos, videos, etc. Be that as it may, it is quite common for hard drives to start to fail and become damaged by use. However, before reaching a critical point, we can take certain measures, such as making backups, for example. For this, before we can use certain commands and tools that help us to know the status of the hard disk.
On the other hand, it is also interesting to know that it is important to know from time to time, the status of the installed RAM. And it is that as it happens with the computers based on a Windows system, the users of Linux must watch this component in concrete. It is worth mentioning that we can find several scenarios in which the RAM can begin to fail. This is something that, how could it be otherwise, will directly affect the performance of the team in general. That is why it is interesting to be able to know if the PC’s RAM is free of errors, something for which we are also going to help you.
Programs to see if there are problems with the RAM
This open source operating system depends to a great extent, how could it be otherwise, on the RAM memory installed in the computer. That is why it is very necessary that we have some utility or program that informs us about the status of this important component. In fact, it is precisely all of this that we will talk about next.
Memtester, check the status of the PC memory in Linux
This is a utility that is available in the repository of many of the current Linux distributions. Therefore, to get hold of this specific solution, we only have to use the following command:
sudo apt install memtester
Say that once we start it, we only have to run the program indicating the amount of memory we want to analyze. For example, to analyze 400 megabytes of it, we will have to use this command:
sudo memtester 400M
At that moment, the program itself will start to analyze the indicated memory, a process that may take several minutes. Then we can see the corresponding data on the screen.
MemTest86 +, analyze PC RAM in Linux
Another interesting alternative in this sense, to analyze the RAM memory of our Linux computer, is MemTest86 + . As we told you, here we have another interesting alternative of this same type that can also be used in Linux to test the status of the RAM memory. To begin we will tell you that in the case that we use Debian or any other derived distro such as Ubuntu, we will have to open a window with the terminal and write the following command:
sudo apt install memtest86+
On the other hand, in the case that we are using other alternatives such as CentOS or Fedora, the command to use here will be the following:
sudo yum install memtest86+
Then we will have to restart the system so that, next, in the Grub we can already find the program that we have just installed . Now we only have to run it so that at that moment the analysis of the RAM memory installed in the computer begins in case there are problems in Linux.
Check for CPU issues on Linux
Another of the sections that are usually somewhat problematic in these Linux-based computers, is everything related to the CPU or processor . This could be considered as the heart of the PC, so keeping it careful is more than important. Again we are going to help you in all this with some applications that precisely focus on this that we are commenting on.
Glances, multitude of data, including CPU, in view
In this case, we will talk about an interesting proposal that offers us a large amount of information related to our Linux team . Actually we are talking about a resource monitor that focuses on displaying a huge amount of data on the screen. How could it be otherwise, this will help us, in this case, to learn more about the state of our PC CPU. To install it we just have to use the command:
sudo apt install glances
In this way, here we will have a good amount of data related to the use of the hardware of our PC, including the CPU , RAM, network, etc. At the same time, the processes and services running at that moment are included here to see what is affecting the computer’s processor at that moment. However, some users report that this program is not as stable as we would all like.
Linux commands to check CPU status
In addition to third-party programs, in this section we can also use a series of commands integrated into the operating system itself for all this. That is why we will talk about some of them below so that you can test them directly on your computer. To say that the main advantage of these is that we save ourselves from having to install additional programs in the operating system .
- Top: shows us in real time the processes that are running at that moment and how they affect the CPU or RAM memory, among others.
- Uptime: this is an important command, since it shows us on the screen the load average or average load of the computer’s CPU.
- Htop: this command is very interesting because it shows us data such as CPU usage, running processes , or RAM memory consumption in real time.
- Vmstat: shows the time and use of input / output elements of the importance of RAM, and the CPU installed in the computer.
- Sar: here we are going to find a performance monitoring of the use of the processor cores independently.
Check for Hard Drive or SSD Problems in Linux
And what to say that the disk drives, which are what allow us to store both the operating system as such, as well as the programs we use daily. To all this we have to add our own files that over time we create and that we store in these units. Therefore, whether it is an HDD or an SSD , taking care of these components is equally key. To know its status and the possible problems that we can find here, we can also use certain programs, as we will see below.
Smartmontools, controls SMART data from hard disk and SSD
As we have mentioned, checking the disk drives in Linux is very important so that we do not run the risk of data loss. For this, the tool called Smartmontools, an application that we can install ourselves by hand, can be very helpful. For this we only have to make use of this same command:
sudo apt install smartmontools
Next, in order to make use of it, what we have to do is open the Disk utility that we find by default in the operating system. Then we will see that this option for the analysis of the SMART data of the disk drives is already available in the menu.
From this moment on we will be able to execute it to begin with the complete diagnosis of the hard disk. First of all, the system will probably ask us for the password, before starting the process as such. It is also worth mentioning that we are offered two types of disc tests, a long one and a shorter one.
GSmartControl, check the health of your hard drives and SSD
When using this other tool that we mentioned to control the disk drives, the first thing we will do is install it on the Linux distro. For this we only have to use the command that we indicate below:
sudo apt-get install gsmartcontrol
At that moment we will be able to run the application with administrator rights , and choose the disk drive with which we want to work. At that time, a series of options and information about them are shown that can be very helpful. It is worth mentioning that here we have a total of three tests to choose from, something that directly affects the depth and duration of the analysis. So we can choose the one that interests us the most in each case.
Programs to view GPU problems
Another section of the team that under no circumstances can we ignore, is the graphic, this is where the installed GPU comes into play. A multitude of processes and actions that we carry out daily from the Linux computer depend on it. That is why, as with the rest of the installed components, we must also check this graphical aspect if we see that there are faults in the system in this regard.
GpuTest, test the PC GPU on Linux
In this case, we are talking about a very useful software solution when performing performance tests of the graphics system or GPU in Linux. For this we can use the program called GpuTest that you can download from this link . Specifically, it is a multiplatform tool also available for Linux that executes several different types of graphical tests to see the performance of the graph and thus detect possible problems with it.
To give us an idea of what we are talking about, say that this is a solution that, among others, has the well-known and popular FurMark tool.
Glxgears, find GPU problems with this program
At this point we will tell you that one of the main problems that we are going to find when the computer’s GPU fails, is the reduction in the FPS speed. Therefore, in order to get a test of the real-time FPS speed of the GPU, it is by making use of the Glxgears tool. Here we find a useful solution available to users of many of the Linux distros. Say that to install and test first-hand this software solution that we are talking about, you will have to execute this command:
sudo apt install mesa-utils
Once this command that we are commenting on has been executed, in order for the performance test to begin as such, we only have to type this other command:
glxgears
Complete suites to detect flaws in Linux
Phoronix Test Suite, the complete suite that will help us
In the event that you want to make a complete diagnosis of your computer, or of its components in Linux, this is a more than adequate solution. To begin we will tell you that it is a software solution with which you can do it from this same link .
Actually, here we talk about a solution that integrates a series of Benchmarks that will help you to analyze the state of a multitude of components on the PC. In this way, from a single window, we will obtain information about elements of the importance of the computer’s processor, GPU, RAM, disk drives, etc. In addition, as we use it, we find a series of attractive graphs that will help us measure the performance of these components at a glance.
Of course, what we must bear in mind is that this is a program that consumes, by itself, a little more system resources than other solutions previously seen. The reason for this is that this program is ostensibly more comprehensive and efficient at troubleshooting Linux.
GTKStressTesting, analyzes all PC components in a single window
Here we find another alternative that we could consider as complete suites to cover what we are looking for here. Actually we refer to GTKStressTesting, a complete solution that you can download from this link and that will be very helpful to detect problems in Linux.
In addition, we achieve all this from an intuitive as well as an attractive user interface that will show us everything we are looking for in this regard. In addition, all this will allow us to do without the terminal, a common element for this type of task, as we have seen before. Actually what the program does is a series of performance tests to measure the behavior of the components and detect problems in Linux. In turn, to locate possible problems, it can also serve as an information tool with a large amount of data shown here.