diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index 9bb3ab077c..74a68f4f68 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -24,11 +24,14 @@
   * CMake fix for finding STB include directory (#2145).
 
   * Add normalization support for CF binding (#2136).
-  
+
   * Add Mish activation function (#2158).
 
   * Add GELU activation function (#2183).
 
+  * Better error handling of eigendecompositions and Cholesky decompositions
+    (#2088, #1840).
+
 ### mlpack 3.2.2
 ###### 2019-11-26
   * Add `valid` and `same` padding option in `Convolution` and `Atrous
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/boost_backport/collections_load_imp.hpp b/src/mlpack/core/boost_backport/collections_load_imp.hpp
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/boost_backport/collections_save_imp.hpp b/src/mlpack/core/boost_backport/collections_save_imp.hpp
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/boost_backport/vector.hpp b/src/mlpack/core/boost_backport/vector.hpp
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/dists/gaussian_distribution.cpp b/src/mlpack/core/dists/gaussian_distribution.cpp
index b112a7c3c9..812b9d6dd7 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/core/dists/gaussian_distribution.cpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/core/dists/gaussian_distribution.cpp
@@ -39,8 +39,11 @@ void GaussianDistribution::Covariance(arma::mat&& covariance)
 void GaussianDistribution::FactorCovariance()
 {
   // On Armadillo < 4.500, the "lower" option isn't available.
-  covLower = arma::chol(covariance, "lower");
 
+  if (!arma::chol(covLower, covariance, "lower"))
+  {
+    Log::Fatal << "Cholesky decomposition failed." << std::endl;
+  }
   // Comment from rcurtin:
   //
   // I think the use of the word "interpret" in the Armadillo documentation
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/math/lin_alg.cpp b/src/mlpack/core/math/lin_alg.cpp
index 822625a59b..48919ce56f 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/core/math/lin_alg.cpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/core/math/lin_alg.cpp
@@ -73,32 +73,6 @@ void mlpack::math::WhitenUsingSVD(const arma::mat& x,
   xWhitened = whiteningMatrix * x;
 }
 
-/**
- * Whitens a matrix using the eigendecomposition of the covariance matrix.
- * Whitening means the covariance matrix of the result is the identity matrix.
- */
-void mlpack::math::WhitenUsingEig(const arma::mat& x,
-                                  arma::mat& xWhitened,
-                                  arma::mat& whiteningMatrix)
-{
-  arma::mat diag, eigenvectors;
-  arma::vec eigenvalues;
-
-  // Get eigenvectors of covariance of input matrix.
-  eig_sym(eigenvalues, eigenvectors, mlpack::math::ColumnCovariance(x));
-
-  // Generate diagonal matrix using 1 / sqrt(eigenvalues) for each value.
-  VectorPower(eigenvalues, -0.5);
-  diag.zeros(eigenvalues.n_elem, eigenvalues.n_elem);
-  diag.diag() = eigenvalues;
-
-  // Our whitening matrix is diag(1 / sqrt(eigenvectors)) * eigenvalues.
-  whiteningMatrix = diag * trans(eigenvectors);
-
-  // Now apply the whitening matrix.
-  xWhitened = whiteningMatrix * x;
-}
-
 /**
  * Overwrites a dimension-N vector to a random vector on the unit sphere in R^N.
  */
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/math/lin_alg.hpp b/src/mlpack/core/math/lin_alg.hpp
index 07b9bf720d..c498920752 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/core/math/lin_alg.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/core/math/lin_alg.hpp
@@ -45,13 +45,6 @@ void WhitenUsingSVD(const arma::mat& x,
                     arma::mat& xWhitened,
                     arma::mat& whiteningMatrix);
 
-/**
- * Whitens a matrix using the eigendecomposition of the covariance matrix.
- * Whitening means the covariance matrix of the result is the identity matrix.
- */
-void WhitenUsingEig(const arma::mat& x,
-                    arma::mat& xWhitened,
-                    arma::mat& whiteningMatrix);
 
 /**
  * Overwrites a dimension-N vector to a random vector on the unit sphere in R^N.
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/ann/layer/transposed_convolution.hpp b/src/mlpack/methods/ann/layer/transposed_convolution.hpp
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/ann/layer/transposed_convolution_impl.hpp b/src/mlpack/methods/ann/layer/transposed_convolution_impl.hpp
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/eigenvalue_ratio_constraint.hpp b/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/eigenvalue_ratio_constraint.hpp
index c33888a7d5..0aa9760e74 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/eigenvalue_ratio_constraint.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/eigenvalue_ratio_constraint.hpp
@@ -64,7 +64,12 @@ class EigenvalueRatioConstraint
     // Eigendecompose the matrix.
     arma::vec eigenvalues;
     arma::mat eigenvectors;
-    arma::eig_sym(eigenvalues, eigenvectors, covariance);
+    covariance = arma::symmatu(covariance);
+    if (!arma::eig_sym(eigenvalues, eigenvectors, covariance))
+    {
+      Log::Fatal << "applying to constraint could not be accomplished."
+          << std::endl;
+    }
 
     // Change the eigenvalues to what we are forcing them to be.  There
     // shouldn't be any negative eigenvalues anyway, so it doesn't matter if we
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/gmm.cpp b/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/gmm.cpp
index 91847f0690..6286b15143 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/gmm.cpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/gmm.cpp
@@ -117,7 +117,12 @@ arma::vec GMM::Random() const
     }
   }
 
-  return trans(chol(dists[gaussian].Covariance())) *
+  arma::mat cholDecomp;
+  if (!arma::chol(cholDecomp, dists[gaussian].Covariance()))
+  {
+    Log::Fatal << "Cholesky decomposition failed." << std::endl;
+  }
+  return trans(cholDecomp) *
       arma::randn<arma::vec>(dimensionality) + dists[gaussian].Mean();
 }
 
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/positive_definite_constraint.hpp b/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/positive_definite_constraint.hpp
index c41d38de46..2e5d33892d 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/positive_definite_constraint.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/methods/gmm/positive_definite_constraint.hpp
@@ -41,7 +41,12 @@ class PositiveDefiniteConstraint
     // eigenvalues are at least 1e-50).
     arma::vec eigval;
     arma::mat eigvec;
-    arma::eig_sym(eigval, eigvec, covariance);
+    covariance = arma::symmatu(covariance);
+    if (!arma::eig_sym(eigval, eigvec, covariance))
+    {
+      Log::Fatal << "applying to constraint could not be accomplished."
+          << std::endl;
+    }
 
     // If the matrix is not positive definite or if the condition number is
     // large, we must project it back onto the cone of positive definite
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/kernel_pca/kernel_rules/naive_method.hpp b/src/mlpack/methods/kernel_pca/kernel_rules/naive_method.hpp
index 567ab51b83..193a64a30c 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/methods/kernel_pca/kernel_rules/naive_method.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/methods/kernel_pca/kernel_rules/naive_method.hpp
@@ -73,7 +73,11 @@ class NaiveKernelRule
   kernelMatrix += arma::sum(rowMean) / kernelMatrix.n_cols;
 
   // Eigendecompose the centered kernel matrix.
-  arma::eig_sym(eigval, eigvec, kernelMatrix);
+  kernelMatrix = arma::symmatu(kernelMatrix);
+  if (!arma::eig_sym(eigval, eigvec, kernelMatrix))
+  {
+    Log::Fatal << "Failed to construct the kernel matrix." << std::endl;
+  }
 
   // Swap the eigenvalues since they are ordered backwards (we need largest to
   // smallest).
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/kernel_pca/kernel_rules/nystroem_method.hpp b/src/mlpack/methods/kernel_pca/kernel_rules/nystroem_method.hpp
index 3ee0b0aed7..cdbc0a55fc 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/methods/kernel_pca/kernel_rules/nystroem_method.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/methods/kernel_pca/kernel_rules/nystroem_method.hpp
@@ -64,7 +64,11 @@ class NystroemKernelRule
     G += arma::sum(colMean) / G.n_rows;
 
     // Eigendecompose the centered kernel matrix.
-    arma::eig_sym(eigval, eigvec, transformedData);
+    transformedData = arma::symmatu(transformedData);
+    if (!arma::eig_sym(eigval, eigvec, transformedData))
+    {
+      Log::Fatal << "Failed to construct the kernel matrix." << std::endl;
+    }
 
     // Swap the eigenvalues since they are ordered backwards (we need largest
     // to smallest).
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/reinforcement_learning/environment/double_pole_cart.hpp b/src/mlpack/methods/reinforcement_learning/environment/double_pole_cart.hpp
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/src/mlpack/tests/ann_layer_test.cpp b/src/mlpack/tests/ann_layer_test.cpp
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/src/mlpack/tests/data/test_data_3_1000.csv b/src/mlpack/tests/data/test_data_3_1000.csv
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/src/mlpack/tests/lin_alg_test.cpp b/src/mlpack/tests/lin_alg_test.cpp
index cd1f3ced85..ecccae50e7 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/tests/lin_alg_test.cpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/tests/lin_alg_test.cpp
@@ -78,37 +78,6 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(TestCenterB)
       BOOST_REQUIRE_CLOSE(tmp_out(row, col), (double) (col - 2.5) * row, 1e-5);
 }
 
-BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(TestWhitenUsingEig)
-{
-  // After whitening using eigendecomposition, the covariance of
-  // our matrix will be I (or something very close to that).
-  // We are loading a matrix from an external file... bad choice.
-  mat tmp, tmp_centered, whitened, whitening_matrix;
-
-  data::Load("trainSet.csv", tmp);
-  Center(tmp, tmp_centered);
-  WhitenUsingEig(tmp_centered, whitened, whitening_matrix);
-
-  mat newcov = mlpack::math::ColumnCovariance(whitened);
-  for (int row = 0; row < 5; row++)
-  {
-    for (int col = 0; col < 5; col++)
-    {
-      if (row == col)
-      {
-        // diagonal will be 0 in the case of any zero-valued eigenvalues
-        // (rank-deficient covariance case)
-        if (std::abs(newcov(row, col)) > 1e-10)
-          BOOST_REQUIRE_CLOSE(newcov(row, col), 1.0, 1e-10);
-      }
-      else
-      {
-        BOOST_REQUIRE_SMALL(newcov(row, col), 1e-10);
-      }
-    }
-  }
-}
-
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(TestOrthogonalize)
 {
   // Generate a random matrix; then, orthogonalize it and test if it's