Linux Mint 13 XFCE constantly freezes [SOLVED]

[mephisto]

Hi all, I'm relatively new to the Linux experience, moving on from Windows... and determined to... so ... please be patient

I had my share of newbie problems and managed to fix them (dual boot mainly, thanks to yann for the help)
and now I'm a bit baffled and stuck not knowing what to do.

All of a sudden I'm having these totally random freezes, I think it might be related to an update from yesterday.
Is there any way to find out what exactly got updated, is there a log file or something somewhere,
and how can I eventually revert to the previous version of whatever got updated?

Also is there a good update guide available around here, so I can choose a conservative update plan?
Only fix what needs to be fixed for example. I have to keep this machine running
as I depend on it for way too much to experiment with unnecessary things that can cause stabilty issues like this.

Been running fine for several weeks, had a very rare freeze, but now it's rendering my machine almost useless.
Have to do a hard reboot and if I'm lucky 10 seconds later it happens again!

Happens in Opera, my main work horse, but also in GIMP... heck.. even the desktop has crashed on me!
Sometimes it seems the mouse (scroll?) is causing it, sometimes it happens when I want to open a menu.
Doesn't seem to be related to anything in particular (not audio related or something as I saw in some other posts).

I'm using Linux Mint 13 XFCE 64 Bit.

System: Host: mephisto-MINT Kernel: 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Xfce 4.10.0 Distro: Linux Mint 13 Maya
Machine: Mobo: N/A model: K8NF4G-SATA2 version: 1.00 Bios: American Megatrends version: P1.20 date: 09/20/2005
CPU: Single core AMD Sempron 3000+ (-UP-) cache: 128 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3) clocked at 1000.00 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA G92 [GeForce 8800 GT]
X.Org: 1.11.3 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: nouveau,vesa,fbdev) Resolution: 1920x1080@50.0hz
GLX Renderer: GeForce 8800 GT/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 295.40
Audio: Card-1: NVIDIA MCP51 AC97 Audio Controller driver: snd_intel8x0 Sound: ALSA ver: 1.0.24
Card-2: Logitech Webcam C210 driver: USB Audio
Network: Card: NVIDIA MCP51 Ethernet Controller driver: forcedeth
IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:13:8f:56:48:8b
Drives: HDD Total Size: 360.1GB (22.1% used) 1: /dev/sda SAMSUNG_HD160JJ 160.0GB
2: /dev/sdb SAMSUNG_SP2004C 200.0GB
Partition: ID: / size: 20G used: 6.1G (33%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 4.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 81C
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 135 Uptime: 52 min Memory: 424.2/2003.2MB Client: Shell inxi: 1.7.33

All help will be appreciated. If you need any more info about my system just ask.

Thanks

[teilnehmer]

I don't know very much about fixing this, but for me (on a previous version) freezes went away when I added the boot parameter "nomodeset" to GRUB.

I really have no idea if this is the same problem I had, and I cannot explain to you what exactly it does (roughly: it has something to do with the kernel trying to access the graphics card, which is stopped by this parameter), but it's so easy to try out that I dare recommend it.

Just hold Shift on start-up and edit the GRUB line for your boot, and see what happens. Any changes you do there are only for the next boot, so you can't break things. If it works, you'll need to edit GRUB for a permanent change.

Good luck, I hope this helps!

[mephisto]

I don't know very much about fixing this, but for me (on a previous version) freezes went away when I added the boot parameter "nomodeset" to GRUB.

I really have no idea if this is the same problem I had, and I cannot explain to you what exactly it does (roughly: it has something to do with the kernel trying to access the graphics card, which is stopped by this parameter), but it's so easy to try out that I dare recommend it.

Just hold Shift on start-up and edit the GRUB line for your boot, and see what happens. Any changes you do there are only for the next boot, so you can't break things. If it works, you'll need to edit GRUB for a permanent change.

Good luck, I hope this helps!

Thanks teilnehmer I'll try that.

But you remind me of something I didn't mention, and that might be connected, I changed the GRUB config (etc/default/grub) last night, to have the boot up select screen in a lower resolution.
I just removed the comment # and left it at GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480 and did a grub-update.
Is it possible that this is causing/affecting this issue? Instead of an update/upgrade?

[mephisto]

Solved - well I hope so at least, been fine for three days now - so.. knock on wood - by upgrading the kernel using
How To Install Linux Kernel 3.4.4 In Ubuntu 12.04/Linux Mint 13
http://www.upubuntu.com/2012/06/how-to- ... 44-in.html

If you're game you might even use the very latest

How To Install Linux Kernel 3.5.4 On Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/11.10/Linux Mint 13
http://www.upubuntu.com/2012/09/how-to- ... 54-on.html

After I upgraded the kernel, I had to reinstall the (old) nvida driver [Settings -> Additional Drivers menu], and I had to run xfwm4 and save the xfwm4 session [Settings -> Session and Startup menu] to make sure the windows manager works properly.
For the rest it all worked like a charm, fortunately for a noob like me.. and I bookmarked upubuntu.. as a very useful site, nice and helpful guy too by the way.