Old Computer Hardware Revival Saga: Desktop 1 still crashes Kwin using a newer Live USB

Sigh...  this evening, I finally got to test a newer KDE Live USB on Desktop 1 (which had issues with Kubuntu 25.10)

Salient part of the initial coredump - Looks like it's in libgallium *again*...  (i.e. likely the same place as last time too), when doing a framebuffer blit in Kwin

 

Unfortunately, I am still getting crashes with this new version:
* Can now confirm it happens when trying to bring up any window

* Can also confirm that Kwin now pops up a very handy "Crash Handler" that can show the relevant coredump.

* The problem though, was that, after the first crash (from trying to open System Settings), the next dozen in quick succession (when trying to open the "Start" menu after waiting a few minutes) were happening so frequently, that I couldn't inspect if they were all crashing on the same thing.

 

Likely Causes:
* 1) The Linux driver support for that Nvidia 1080Ti Graphics Card (probably the Nouveau ones, as I haven't even been able to get far enough to install proprietary drivers) - is *still* broken, as hardly anyone uses these old cards on there (and they were apparently not well supported back in the day either)

* 2) I cannot however rule out there actually being some serious age-related hardware faults with that card. Probably the same bloody reason why I keep getting the annoying intermittent 1-2 second black screens with it.

 

Conclusion:
It's probably easiest to just replace / upgrade the GPU on that machine at this point.

 

Also on the hardware replacement list:
* New larger-capacity HDD's (+ try to fit a few more of 'em in!)

* Replace the noisy AMD Wraith Prism stock cooler

* Built-in wifi card

* Err... the CPU is slightly slower single-thread-wise, but unless the cooler replacement goes bad...😅

 

In short:

Yeah, it's looking like it almost ends up being a near complete rebuild, but in the same case...