[SOLVED: faulty mouse] Random freezes: dual DE system, Mint xfce 19.1

[[rua]]

Hi!

My system is Mint xfce 19.1 on a HP 8570p laptop, 8 GB ram.

I've been experiencing many random freezes requiring hard restarts and I'm starting to wonder if it relates to my installing Mate alongside xfce. I can't remember when they started except it's been for a few months and I've kept no log of changes to the system.

1. Is this likely? I realize that having multiple DEs is a dicey move. The last time I did this, years ago, I'd had no problems, so I thinking myself lucky I thought I'd give it a try again!
2. Can I uninstall Mate without damage to my system to try resolving the problem? Or is the whole thing now a tangled bird's nest? I actually prefer Mate: am I best to make a clean Mate installation as against uninstalling xfce? (Please please save me a bunch of nuisance and say no, all will be well. ) I can live with xfce if it's less trouble.

I have data backups but because I can be an impulsive, careless, and fearless idiot, I made no system snapshot before I installed mate.

I want to investigate possible OS and software problems before considering hardware ones. I understand random freezes can be symptomatic of a faulty SSD for instance, and I don't want to buy a new one if I can help it.

Thanks!

[Pjotr]

Please generate an overview of your system like this:
- Launch a terminal window (this is how to launch a terminal window);
- make the terminal window full screen, to avoid chopped lines;
- Copy/paste this command into the terminal:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

(if you type: the letter F is a capital letter)

Press Enter.

Copy/paste the output in your next message.

[[rua]]

Thanks, Pjotr.

System:
Host: dailydipper Kernel: 4.15.0-47-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
v: 7.3.0 Desktop: MATE 1.20.1 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP EliteBook 8570p
v: A1029D1103 serial: <filter>
Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 17A7 v: KBC Version 42.32 serial: <filter>
BIOS: Hewlett-Packard v: 68ICF Ver. F.31 date: 09/24/2012
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 45.1 Wh condition: 46.6/46.6 Wh (100%)
model: Hewlett-Packard Primary status: Unknown
CPU:
Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-3360M bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 L2 cache: 3072 KiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 22350
Speed: 1197 MHz min/max: 1200/3500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1197 2: 1197
3: 1197 4: 1198
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
resolution: 1600x900~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ivybridge Mobile v: 4.2 Mesa 18.2.8
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio
vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0
Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.15.0-47-generic
Network:
Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: 4040 bus ID: 00:19.0
IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
port: 4060 bus ID: 24:00.0
IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: enp0s20u2c4i2 state: up speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 358.09 GiB (76.9%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WDS500G2B0A-00SM50
size: 465.76 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 19.10 GiB used: 11.63 GiB (60.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
ID-2: /home size: 431.22 GiB used: 346.45 GiB (80.3%) fs: ext4
dev: /dev/sda3
ID-3: swap-1 size: 8.01 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda1
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C mobo: 0.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 195 Uptime: 2h 43m Memory: 7.66 GiB used: 1.78 GiB (23.3%)
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.19
inxi: 3.0.27

[[rua]]

An update.

Things got really bad yesterday, in xfce as well as Mate; even when I tried a live disc. Couldn't open apps or close open ones; constant freezes; could only do hard shutdowns. Since it seemed to be related to mouse clicks, I tried unplugging the wireless mouse and using the touchpad alone.

And all was well again! A day later, it's still good.

Replacing the mouse's battery has made no difference, nor pulling hairs from inside it (some from my cat and a very long one of mine ), so the mouse (a maybe two year old Logitech M185) is destined for the rubbish bin.

So happy it wasn't my system or SSD. I'm going to call this solved.