also, perhaps malware is a possibility? once you said
chrome and other backport repositories i'm not sure i'd
Of course it crosses ones mind, but from backport I used ONLY nvidia, then back to nouveau when the video card wasn't recognized.
Chrome as malware facilitator, yes, it could be, but I doubt this strange thing would happen. Lets try to focus on other possible explanations before assuming that. But I'll run some sort of scanner just to be 100% sure, thanks.
We need to keep in mind what happened if we are to solve the puzzle. I don't know if there would be, for example, a LOG referring kernel panic at some level.
Maybe somehow there is a EXT4 table of inodes that got lost? I'm not sure how that would be. Is there anyone more familiar with the implementation of linux, or we are just users guessing?
Reporting back the HD test, after the seagate destructive test, I can safely rule out that the HD is in perfect condition.
I also installed a new grub menu (memtest86+) and I'll let it running tonight. Tomorrow I'll post the results.
After HD and RAM, I would go to intel chip. It baffles me that nowadays, every now and then, there is a new microcode update. Intel really did a job on all of us.
Also, maybe systemd has some services that could do something like that. Not sure. I used a new partition to install Devuan today. The dual boot is set. Both distros are running ok, no problems at all, not signs of nothing. Just a empty /home. This is really something new for me. I'm in this list since emails were sent by paper, and I never saw that, even once.
My best,
Beco.
PS. Just to remind us how strange it is: stay 5 seconds wondering: