I have been running Arch for awhile with no major speedbumps…until this weekend.

I usually run updates every few weeks to once a month or so. Ran an update on Saturday, and somehow my system locks up. I bite the bullet and reboot after awhile, start cleaning up the partial upgrade mess (yay chroot) etc.

Things keep getting weird though. The system isn’t very stable, so I keep digging, trying to figure out what I broke. I start to notice intensive r/w operations (unfortunately including pacman queries) cause problems.

“It can’t be hardware,” I think, focused on the software effects I am seeing. “I must not be able to hack it with Arch.”

I start thinking about finding a compromise between Debian and Arch as I continue tinkering. Finally I’m put out of my misery as my SSD gives up the ghost.

It WAS the goddamn hardware!