Hey,
I’ve been using Manjaro for maybe 2 years now. Recently, it keeps freezing and crashing. Sometimes it appears to be a kernel panic (cap lock lights stop responding, can’t get to another shell) and sometimes it’s a soft lock. If it’s a soft lock, I’ve learned I can `kill -9 /usr/bin/plasmashell-x11’ and it will at least keep me from having to hard reboot the computer.
I can’t tell if it’s kernel related (I have upgraded kernels a few times since it’s happened), but not sure what to check to see what’s causing it. I like Manjaro, but could be persuaded to try OpenSuse. However, if it’s a kernal/hardware issue, I don’t want to blow everything away and start over, I’d rather stick with my current install.
Any ideas where to start looking?
I would start with the kernel. 
Maybe trying the LTS kernel if not already in use.
It says Linux version 5.10.36-2-MANJARO from /etc/proc/version, but when I open the Manjaro GUI and it shows 5.10.42-1 and shows it as an LTS.
5.10 is indeed the LTS kernel.
Now we really need your hardware info and can you remember if there was an update prior to the problem?
Also try a system monitor to see what happens when you notice the freeze. If I see correctly you are on Plasma.
This is a Lenovo IdeaPad 330S. New-ish, not bleeding edge. It does seem to happen more if I use Alt+Tab to cycle through windows (that’s about the only thing I can tell that triggers it), but for the most part it’s random.
@vinylninja when it freezes, the only thing that redraws is title bars. So I could move that window around and see where I put it, but the contents within windows don’t update. That goes on for 5-30 seconds before it stops responding entirely. It’s a coin flip if I can make it to another console or if I have to just hold the power button down to start over.