Installed LMDE 4 but Cinnamon menu texts disappear after while with screensaver on

[LarsG]

Since I have had big trouble with Linux Mint 20,

Initramfs unpacking failed
viewtopic.php?f=90&t=329386&p=1878758#p1878758

I therefore thought the LMDE 4 to be more stable, but after I installed it a few days ago, it starts to give me problem directly.

If I left the computer logged in but with the screensaver on, it will loose the menu texts after a while like over night. Only the icons could be seen. The as I see, I need to logout and in again to get the menu texts back.

Would appreciate any comments on that.

TIA
//Lars

[antikythera]

Not encountered this myself. Have you updated since installing? Please also post the requisite inxi output so we can see what kernel modules and any proprietary stuff you may be running.

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inxi -Fxmz

[LarsG]

I do have updated with many updates shortly after the install.

The inxi output you can se below:

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System:    Host: monster-nzxt-2 Kernel: 4.19.0-11-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7 
           Distro: LMDE 4 Debbie base: Debian 10.2 buster 
Machine:   Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME Z390-A v: Rev 1.xx serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1502 
           date: 02/21/2020 
Memory:    RAM: total: 31.26 GiB used: 3.40 GiB (10.9%) 
           Array-1: capacity: 64 GiB slots: 4 EC: None max module size: 16 GiB note: est. 
           Device-1: ChannelA-DIMM1 size: No Module Installed 
           Device-2: ChannelA-DIMM2 size: 16 GiB speed: 2133 MT/s type: DDR4 
           Device-3: ChannelB-DIMM1 size: No Module Installed 
           Device-4: ChannelB-DIMM2 size: 16 GiB speed: 2133 MT/s type: DDR4 
CPU:       Topology: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-8700 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 12.0 MiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 76608 
           Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 
           9: 800 10: 802 11: 801 12: 802 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 630 vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           Display: server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 3840x2160~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2) v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-11-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: efa0 bus ID: 00:1f.6 
           IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 10.47 TiB used: 2.35 TiB (22.5%) 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 PRO 512GB size: 476.94 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD80EFAX-68KNBN0 size: 7.28 TiB temp: 37 C 
           ID-3: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Western Digital model: WD30EZRX-00MMMB0 size: 2.73 TiB 
RAID:      Hardware-1: Intel SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 bus ID: 00:17.0 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 460.11 GiB used: 8.58 GiB (1.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 
           ID-2: /home size: 5.57 TiB used: 537.62 GiB (9.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 8.20 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 27.8 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Info:      Processes: 265 Uptime: 16h 38m Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 inxi: 3.0.32

Thanks

[antikythera]

That looks okay, nothing stands out there. Are you using the standard Mint-Y Cinnamon theme or something custom you've downloaded and applied?

Also, when you installed LMDE4 did you keep the /home partition to preserve your documents and files from Mint 20?

Any pre-existing configuration files within the hidden files contained in your /home from Mint 20 may potentially cause some random issues like this.

[LarsG]

Yes I use the standard theme.

I didn't reused the /home partition. All data was backed to a 3TB external drive (ext4) where I preserved all ownership and permissions using "cp -rp" command. I also partitoned the 8 TB drive into a 6TB and 2TB partitions.

6TB partiition för /home
2TB partition för timeshift

Today, I have only so far copied back data from Documents and Downloads folder from my 3 TB external drive to the /home partition, when discovering the menu text problem.

I use encrypted home partition.

Should I install "Mate", and see if it will work better? Could I reinstall Cinnanmon when logged in at Mate desktop?

Thanks

[antikythera]

Try something first as it may be compositor related with relation to your Intel GPU generation. In System Settings open Effects and toggle all the switches to the off position. Then carry on using the system as you have been and leave it over night tonight as normal. See what happens.

[LarsG]

Okey... I have toggle the switches to off. Let you know tomorrow.

Thanks alot

[LarsG]

Update:

The change of settings yesterday seem to have solved the problem so far.

antikythera said:

Try something first as it may be compositor related with relation to your Intel GPU generation

. I don't understand what that could be. Anything you could clarify?

Many Thanks
//Lars

[LarsG]

I'm sorry to say, but this thursday morning, the menu text problem is back again.

[antikythera]

Okay, try this then - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/in ... nd/resume)

To clarify my comment about your generation of Intel graphics, not all their processors actually contain the same GPU architecture. They revise it occasionally, so something that affects your hardware when 3D accelerated composition is running doesn't always manifest on earlier or even newer hardware.

What a compositor is - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compositi ... ow_manager

[LarsG]

Okay, try this then - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/in ... /resume%29)

Well, in LMDE 4 I have no, /etc/environment folder, only a /etc/environment.d folder with two files,

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ls -la /etc/environment.d
totalt 24
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096 mar 13  2020 .
drwxr-xr-x 150 root root 12288 okt 23 08:51 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    57 feb  9  2019 90atk-adaptor.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    19 feb  9  2019 90qt-a11y.conf

When the menu texts disapperar, would it be possible to find any information about that in any logfile to be able to really find whats going on here?

Instead of trying anything above, I tried to install Mate desktop, and it worked over night but suddenly this morning it freezes all windows on screen. Could not do anythng. Had to force a reboot.

Since it seems to be problem with the GPU drivers or on the onboard chipset (Intel), would it be recommended to add an other graphics board with well known reputation instead of trying to wait for any new Linux driver to the onboard chipset of my ASUS motherboard? If so, any recommendation would be appreciated.

Thanks,

[antikythera]

/etc/environment is a file not a folder and it should be there. If there is nothing in it, that doesn't matter. Just add the line to it and save the changes.

If you do really want to add a gpu, I would go for an AMD RX550 because you clearly aren't into games if you have been using Intel HD 620 graphics alone. The RX550 has minimal power draw so can run off the PCI-E slot power, so no cable to route from the PSU. They are also supported by the opensource amdgpu driver.

[LarsG]

I found the /etc/environment file and added the settings.

I should wait see if this will be enough to let the menu text to be okey. If not I maybe go for your suggestion. A quick search for RX550, I found a ASUS PH-RX550-4G card with max resolution of 5120x2880, but with no info about frequency. My 27" Dell monitor can handle 4K at 60Hz. Hopefully the RX550 can supply that.

Thanks

[BrianI]

I found the /etc/environment file and added the settings.

I should wait see if this will be enough to let the menu text to be okey. If not I maybe go for your suggestion. A quick search for RX550, I found a ASUS PH-RX550-4G card with max resolution of 5120x2880, but with no info about frequency. My 27" Dell monitor can handle 4K at 60Hz. Hopefully the RX550 can supply that.

Thanks

The RX500 does support 4K @ 60Hz, according to the specs: https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/radeon-rx-550

"Connectivity
DisplayPort 1.4 HDR Dual Link DVI Yes HDMI™ 4K60 Support
"

It's an AMD RX580 I have in my system, certainly a lot easier to install compared to Nvidia, as the kernel supports the GPU out of the box, no additional drivers to be installed (unless you wish to use OpenCL accleration, then you need to install the AMDGPU-Pro driver)