I am running in fallback mode all the time now because Cinnamon keeps crashing

[James_Smith]

I don't even know where to start troubleshooting this. It was happening before the upgrade to the latest version of Mint. I thought it would stop doing it after the upgrade but it's just as bad as ever.

Usually I'm not this clueless. I have some idea where to start but in this case I don't.

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mac@mac-Alienware-15-R3:~$ inxi -Fxzd
System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-77-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.5 Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma 
  base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Alienware product: Alienware 15 R3 v: 1.9.0 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Alienware model: Alienware 15 R3 v: A00 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI [Legacy]: Alienware v: 1.9.0 date: 01/02/2020 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 2.2 Wh condition: 2.2/99.0 Wh (2%) 
  model: COMPAL PABAS0241231 status: Full 
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse B330/M330/M331 
  charge: 55% (should be ignored) status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-7700HQ bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: 9 L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 44798 
  Speed: 3608 MHz min/max: 800/3800 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3575 2: 3540 
  3: 3512 4: 3510 5: 3593 6: 3524 7: 3478 8: 3540 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 630 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP106M [GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile] driver: nvidia 
  v: 460.80 bus ID: 01:00.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: modesetting,nvidia 
  unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 1060/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 460.80 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel CM238 HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP106 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-77-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Dell 
  driver: alx v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 3c:00.0 
  IF: enp60s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Bigfoot Networks driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: d000 
  bus ID: 3d:00.0 
  IF: wlp61s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb bus ID: 1-5:4 
  IF-ID-1: tun0 state: unknown speed: 10 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 10.01 TiB used: 2.79 TiB (27.9%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WDS200T2B0B-00YS70 
  size: 1.82 TiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WDBNCE0010PNC 
  size: 931.51 GiB 
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Western Digital model: WDS200T2B0B size: 1.82 TiB 
  ID-4: /dev/sdd type: USB vendor: Western Digital 
  model: WD My Passport 25E1 size: 1.82 TiB 
  ID-5: /dev/sde type: USB vendor: Western Digital 
  model: WD My Passport 2627 size: 3.64 TiB 
  Message: No Optical or Floppy data was found. 
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 
  bus ID: 00:17.0 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.79 TiB used: 597.75 GiB (32.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 84.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 64 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 336 Uptime: 4h 53m Memory: 15.51 GiB used: 4.94 GiB (31.9%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 
  inxi: 3.0.38 

[mikeflan]

Please check your logs:
https://www.loggly.com/ultimate-guide

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journalctl -rb -1 | nc termbin.com 9999

The command prints the journal log information of the prior boot cycle in reverse order (which means whatever the problem is will be near the top) and sends it to termbin.
It will return with a url address that you should post in your next reply.

[SMG]

It was happening before the upgrade to the latest version of Mint. I thought it would stop doing it after the upgrade but it's just as bad as ever.

I've never seen release notes for Mint which indicate "fix problems you were having with the prior version", and doing an upgrade when there are problems to start with can often making troubleshooting those problems more difficult because you have now added new variables.

Do you happen to have any Timeshift snapshots of your system when it was working well?

Cinnamon session messages are written to ~/.xsession-errors. That is a hidden file in your home directory. You will want to select View > Show Hidden files in your file manager to see the messages.

Is Cinnamon crashing immediately upon boot or is it after you use it for a little while?
Approximately when did the problem start and do you recall what changes you might have made around that time?

Please check your logs:
https://www.loggly.com/ultimate-guide

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journalctl -rb -1 | nc termbin.com 9999

The command prints the journal log information of the prior boot cycle in reverse order (which means whatever the problem is will be near the top) and sends it to termbin.
It will return with a url address that you should post in your next reply.

The command you listed is appropriate when the computer crashes which is not what the OP has described. In this case, only the desktop (Cinnamon) is crashing. The rest of Mint is still running which means the reason for the crash would not be at the top of that file.