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I've just replaced an old version of Ubuntu with Linux Mint 14 Nadia on this computer (dual boot with Windows XP, which I primarily use but want to slowly convert to using Linux).

However almost every time I use it, it ends up hanging/crashing.

The first couple of times it happened when I was editing the time/date format in Cinnamon settings.

The second couple of times (on consecutive days) I was using Firefox.

And yesterday it seemed to happen just after I left the computer and the screensaver (monitor shut off) activated.

The mouse cursor stops moving and after a few seconds disappears. There's no response to any keyboard or mouse input I've tried, except Alt+Sysrq+B to reboot.

There's been nothing in the syslog when it's happened, except at yesterday's crash when I saw this:

Feb 21 12:53:49 euroflora-System-Product-Name gnome-screensaver-dialog: pam_ecryptfs: seteuid error

Here is my inxi output:

System: Host: euroflora-System-Product-Name Kernel: 3.5.0-17-generic i686 (32 bit)
Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 14 Nadia
Machine: Mobo: ASUSTeK model: V-M3N8200 version: Rev X.0x Bios: American Megatrends version: 0303 date: 07/18/2008
CPU: Dual core AMD Athlon 7750 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm)
Clock Speeds: 1: 1350.00 MHz 2: 1350.00 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA C77 [GeForce 8200]
X.Org: 1.13.0 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: nouveau Resolution: 1280x1024@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVAA GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 9.0
Audio: Card: NVIDIA MCP72XE/MCP72P/MCP78U/MCP78S High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA ver: 1.0.25
Network: Card: NVIDIA MCP77 Ethernet driver: forcedeth
IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:23:54:39:28:57
Drives: HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (12.2% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST3500410AS size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID: / size: 23G used: 3.6G (17%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 8.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
RAID: No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0C mobo: 26.0C gpu: 65.0
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 3000 psu: 0 sys-1: 0
Info: Processes: 139 Uptime: 21 min Memory: 405.9/3911.4MB Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4

Am I right in thinking the above 'failed' shows that something isn't compatible with my video card, and could this be the cause of the problems?

Many thanks in advance.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

The machine may not be powerful enough for Cinnamon. Try the MATE flavour. You may even need to go to Mint 13 with that gear.

Thanks for the reply.

That's a drag, I thought the system requirements for Cinnamon were 512MB RAM and 1GHz CPU, so it seemed okay before I installed it.

Mate will be the answer. Rock solid. Cinnamon, which I installed yesterday again hoping things changed on a Chromebook did not and the DE crashed twice in 15 minutes. I am sticking with Mate. No crashes. Perfect.

It just froze again, and I checked the log after rebooting and see the same error 2 minutes prior to crash.

Feb 24 13:25:50 euroflora-System-Product-Name gnome-screensaver-dialog: pam_ecryptfs: seteuid error

I considered Mate before, and then saw screenshots of it with two taskbars, one at the top and one at the bottom.

But as long as it's only got one bar at the bottom like Cinnamon (and Windows), I might change and see if that fixes the issue.

thanks

In Mate, you can certainly delete any panel you do not prefer. Good luck.

Just to update, I reinstalled - this time Linux Mint 13 Maya with Mate, and for good measure didn't bother with the encrypted file system.

Have been using it every day the past week - not a single crash so far.

Many thanks!