Matlab crashes frequently on Arch Linux

My matlab 2015a crashes frequently at random on Arch Linux. This happens mostly when the IDE has become inactive for some time and then an error message box appears asking for a crash report. I have tried using an external JRE 7/8 by setting the environmental variable MATLAB_JAVA, disabling/enabling OpenGL as well as reinstallation. The issue still remains. Here is the crash report.

Configuration:
  Crash Decoding      : Disabled
  Crash Mode          : continue (default)
  Current Graphics Driver: Unknown hardware 
  Current Visual      : 0x20 (class 4, depth 24)
  Default Encoding    : UTF-8
  GNU C Library       : 2.21 stable
  Host Name           : enigma
  MATLAB Architecture : glnxa64
  MATLAB Root         : /home/eric/util/matlab
  MATLAB Version      : 8.5.0.197613 (R2015a)
  OpenGL              : hardware
  Operating System    : Linux 4.0.4-2-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri May 22 03:05:23 UTC 2015 x86_64
  Processor ID        : x86 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3, GenuineIntel
  Virtual Machine     : Java 1.8.0_45-b14 with Oracle Corporation OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM mixed mode
  Window System       : The X.Org Foundation (11701000), display :0

Fault Count: 1

Abnormal termination:
Segmentation violation

Register State (from fault):

    RAX = 0000000000000070  RBX = 00007fcf7ca1a8f0
    RCX = 000000000000000e  RDX = 0000000000000020
    RSP = 00007fcfdcc5b9c0  RBP = 00007fcfdcc5b9d0
    RSI = 00007fcf7c885f80  RDI = 00007fcf7ca1a8f0

     R8 = 00007fcfe7b4ee00   R9 = 00000000ea063f70
    R10 = 0000000000000c9a  R11 = 00007fd006b9e034
    R12 = 00007fcffb5d21e0  R13 = 0000000005e00063
    R14 = 00007fcf7c4236b0  R15 = 0000000000000000

    RIP = 00007fd01eb6052a  EFL = 0000000000010202

     CS = 0033   FS = 0000   GS = 0000

Stack Trace (from fault):
[  0] 0x00007fd01eb6052a                               /usr/lib/libX11.so.6+00324906 XSetICValues+00000250
[  1] 0x00007fcfe4b6c271 /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/libawt_xawt.so+00225905 Java_sun_awt_X11_XInputMethod_setXICFocusNative+00000145
[  2] 0x00007fcfe89d06d4                                   <unknown-module>+00000000
[  3] 0x00007fcfe89c298d                                   <unknown-module>+00000000
[  4] 0x00007fcfe89c298d                                   <unknown-module>+00000000
[  5] 0x00007fcfe89c29d2                                   <unknown-module>+00000000
[  6] 0x00007fcfe89c298d                                   <unknown-module>+00000000
[  7] 0x00007fcfe965ab50                                   <unknown-module>+00000000

[Walter Roberson]

The difficultly has the look of being in your X Xindows drivers.

Answer 1

[Sreeja Banerjee]

Hi Zilong,

From the crash dump it looks like the issue can be due to various reasons. Please try the following:

1. Are you using X11 forwarding to connect to the Linux machine? I am asking this because the stack trace shows /usr/lib/libX11.so. ... and also many unknown modules represented by unknown-module+00000000. MATLAB is not tested and qualified on X11 and it may sometimes lead to several issue. Use some other remote connection, example VNC. Do you still get the same crash?

2. Update the graphics Drivers on your Linux machine. For this go to the graphics card vendors website and check if any latest drivers are available for your configuration. You can find about your vendor by typing the following command at the Linux terminal:

% glxinfo | less

Look at the following strings: "OpenGL vendor string" , "OpenGL renderer string" and "OpenGL version string"

3. Lastly, check if there are any third party softwares running on your system that are interfering with MATLAB.

If the issue is not resolved then try to contact MATLAB technical support with the crash dump, output of the VER command and any relevant files.

[Eric]

1. I am not using X11 forwarding. 2. glxinfo gives OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation OpenGL version string: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 352.09 Btw, the graphics card uses Nvidia Optimus. 3. No 3rd party conflicts.

[Sreeja Banerjee]

Hi Zilong,

Can you try to check if you have the latest drivers from the following website?

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

If you do not have the latest drivers then update the driver and check if you are still facing the same issue.