How can I detect whether an "NMI watchdog: BUG: soft lockup" is a hardware or a software issue?

## Soft Lockup dmesg reports in my laptop, since quite some time now, NMI watchdog: BUG: soft lockup *every time* I try to use updatedb or firefox. Samples of what is reported posted at https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/4536#issuecomment-280894134 . **Related questions** are - https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/303062/13011 - https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/216959/13011 - https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/282316/13011 I have also read/commented at - https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/4536 ## Question How can I detect whether it's a hardware issue or, as I think, confirm it's an issue related to the kernel/software? --- ## Details ### Linux Distribution Funtoo-Linux , a rolling distribution ### Kernels I have (at least) observed the "BUG" while using the following kernel(s) versions: pf - 4.11_p4-pf - 4.8_p8 - 4.5_p4 ck - 4.12.7-ck debian - lts-4.9.30 - 4.8.x - 4.7.8 ### Configuration I use a custom configuration to compile the kernel. It's mostly the same configuration I use(d) for long time, when there was no "soft lockup" problem or whatsoever related to a "watchdog". I can copy-paste or link the configuration file. However, two important settings I have found else to be "required" CONFIG_KALLSYMS=y CONFIG_PREEMPT_NONE=y ### ZFS I observed the "BUG" while using ZoL versions - 0.6.5.11 - 0.6.5.10 - 0.6.5.9 - 0.6.5.8 - 0.6.5.3