Strange ghost image behaviour / screen corruption on the desktop

[tyebillion]

I was just using Linux Mint 18.1 which I only installed yesterday. I clicked on the show desktop icon and double clicked on a document on the desktop. Then some strange screen corruption happened, the document appeared ghost like behind the desktop, and I was unable to see it properly. Guessing that Mint had gone wrong I clicked on shutdown, and I could barely see where the shut down button was, as the dialog box was ghost like too. It was like as if the system was stuck on the show desktop preview that appears when you hover over the show desktop icon. Any idea what could cause this weird behaviour or what I can do to check it doesn't happen again?

[dan_me]

I can't help with a solution, but it sometimes happen to me too. I just log out and then log back in, then it works properly again.
But a more permanent solution would be nice.

[Hoser Rob]

First you should generate a system report with more info. Copy/paste this into terminal and copy/paste the text output here:

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inxi -Fxz

Second, have you looked at Driver Manager for available video drivers? I woudln't try drivers from anywhere else.

[tyebillion]

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$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: Dorvin Kernel: 4.4.0-72-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.2.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.2)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.1 Serena
Machine:   Mobo: MSI model: H81M-E33 (MS-7817) v: 1.0
           Bios: American Megatrends v: V6.7 date: 04/21/2015
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-4790 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 28800
           clock speeds: max: 4000 MHz 1: 3950 MHz 2: 3963 MHz 3: 3999 MHz
           4: 3964 MHz 5: 3962 MHz 6: 3992 MHz 7: 3928 MHz 8: 3998 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
           Resolution: 1600x900@59.98hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 750 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
           GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 375.39 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 NVIDIA Device 0fbc driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
           Card-3 Logitech Webcam C310 driver: USB Audio usb-ID: 003-002
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-72-generic
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (7.0% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST1000DM003 size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 901G used: 50G (6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 17.12GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C gpu: 0.0:28C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 217 Uptime: 3 min Memory: 1082.4/15991.3MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.461) inxi: 2.2.35 

Driver Manager shows two proprietary drivers in use:

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nvidia-375 version 375.39-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
intel-microcode version 3.20151106.1

[LogMan]

I am using Nvidia driver version 381.09 which fixed graphic corruption when coming out of standby.

Don't know if it will fix your problem but thought I'd mention it.

[tyebillion]

This happened to me a few more times. I noticed that if you repeatedly click icons / text in the task bar and the "show desktop" icon then Cinnamon usually recovers.