Mint Freezes/ locks up almost completely

[hellofu]

i have been having this problem often some things seem to set it off more then others. basicly what happens is almost all interaction stops.
basic signs

• mouse still reacts to input but doesn't allow interaction (clickin/draging/scrolling)
  can jump between x servers/CLI and GUI
  Can promted a login under CLI but stalls Before asking for a password for all ClI
  Sometimes audio will continue after a lock up
  sysreq disabled promp on CLI when tried

things found to casue this

• Steam Client most of the time but not always (only has to be opening/ runing)
  most of the time when apt/ update manager has more than one request to update or install
  opera opens a new tab to download a file but not if the prompt is in the same tab
  some times when downloading the save box will also cause it to lockup like last one but very rarely does it happen this way
  some times when altering the brightness (use to be all the time after 2-3 times brightness is changed)

i have no clue what is causeing it to lock up or how to fix it and haven't found anyone else with this problem. i am using a dell laptop model# N5010 with intell graphics. the only closed driver is for the WiFi card.

[Mute Ant]

Unpredictable faults? No one else has them? Look for hardware wobblies first, like imperfect cables or power supply. Run a Memory Test all the way through at least once and for at least an hour. This exercises a lot of the other chips too. Post again with a title that lets other users identify with your problem and get all the Dell Laptop N5010 users helping. We know it's not Mint's fault, coz we are all running it without locking up.

[DrHu]

mouse still reacts to input but doesn't allow interaction (clickin/draging/scrolling

Since you are having problems, you may wish to have a terminal or a terminal monitor running showing activity (processes etc), or you can try adding the x-kill app to know-out a misbehaving application
http://www.dba-oracle.com/linux/kill_a_process.htm

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-differen ... -in-linux/
Usually I check if there is a BIOS update available and any realease notes about that BIOS fixes..

You probably came across "it works perfectly" on mint
--but if you search for Dell N5010 + Linux, you get the list pf problems (user of otherwise), fans, wifi etc..
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=linux+%2B+Pro ... Dell+N5010
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/dell.html

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/lin ... ptops/info
--possibly more Dell specific answers on associated groups on the internet.

[hellofu]

@Mute Ant
it some times would happen without me noticing a specific cause (Unpredictable faults?) NO not being able to pin down a cause doesn't mean their isn't one
no it now heat related as i also almost completely locks and simple restarting it after and it will run fine indefinitely till i turn it off or i run in to another reason to lock up
i could cause a lock up in less then 30 seconds by raising and lowering the brightness (heat issues) NO (hardware lose/cables) NO

We know it's not Mint's fault, coz we are all running it without locking up.

i know but its still a software bug/issue

on top of this i have already reinstalled the same version and the only major differences are ( haven't had the problem since i reinstalled mint)

• AVG has not been installed yet or every under this copy (unlikely but possible cause)
  Broadcom closed driver never installed (but effectively impossible to have caused the problem)
  Steam client hasn't been installed (but it would happen without it even open so probably not the cause)
  level 4 updates installed some of the time (most likely the cause)

[Mute Ant]

Yah my background is in hardware. I look for hardware faults first when a user reports a freeze or lock up.

[aybro]

Unpredictable faults? No one else has them? Look for hardware wobblies first, like imperfect cables or power supply. Run a Memory Test all the way through at least once and for at least an hour. This exercises a lot of the other chips too. Post again with a title that lets other users identify with your problem and get all the Dell Laptop N5010 users helping. We know it's not Mint's fault, coz we are all running it without locking up.

I have been having similar problems with an HP Desktop. Duo Core and yes I -686-pae it so both cores are recognized. All drivers came from the mint disc...This was with LMDE....Then I burnt a copy of mint 16 cinnamon and started to install but cannot get past the first screen without it locking up.Both mouse and keyboard are frozen...Downloaded via Torrent and did not MD5SUM...

Any ideas. Sorry to just jump in on this post but I did post a question or two a week ago and am still waiting for anyone to reply....AND I am having similar problems..

[hellofu]

i have just crashed cinnamon and it is almost a complete match except still could login to my account and run commands under CLI.

[Dimacus]

I've had simmilar problems with a two laptops and one which have not had this problem.
The problem for me was that everything seemed to freeze when i tired to use the login screen, nothing on-screen responend, execpt that i could move the mouse.
Switching to CLI worked without problems, I could log in and check if there was any 'runaway' or dead processes, there where none.
Restarting mdm had no effect, it would freeze the same way.
All the machines used the 64bit version of mint 15 with the 3.8.0-19-generic kernel. (MATE version, all of them, can't stand cinnamon)
All the computers I had that had this problem all had some flavor of the intel hd graphics adapter as the only adaptor (A lenovo x220, A HP Elitebook 8440p) while the one that didn't (Lenovo W530) is switchable between nvidia and intel.
The 32bit version of mint 13 did not have this problem on the lenovo x220 (however my W530 did suffer from http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 54&start=0 which is extremly simmilar to this problem, but i don't get the xio syslog with this problem, if you do check this out)
I did some quick research but didn't find much (syslog didn't say anything strange, and concluded the problem was with mdm and/or with the intel drivers, when it's not paired with 3rd party gfx.

Unfortunatly none of the computers still have the configuration causing this problem, since i noticed this when trying out which dist worked best on these laptops.
The W530 does not trigger this problem, no matter if i completly disable the nvidia card or just run only on the intel drivers.
I reverted back to mint 13 on the x220 and the hp is running win xp (work laptop, now running legacy prog's)

I created my account for this post, in case someone else has these problems and this helps them any.

[oborysm]

I have this problem too, still unresolved: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 27#p877807
I suspect something, (maybe the latest Flash release?) is triggering some issue in a driver that persists until power-off.

and others are having what looks like the same problem. I easily collected these titles by scanning just a few pages of recent posts...

Strange lockups new to MINT 17
Screen freezes frequently
17 much slower, than previous LTS [SOLVED- sort of]
New box, new Mint, same CPU but only half the performance?
Screen freezes frequently
Random daily freezes Mint 17

... just for starters