Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

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Telinome

Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Telinome »

Linux Mint was my first foray into GNU/Linux, and I fell in love with the Cinnamon desktop. Unfortunately, on my work/office computer, it's giving me headaches.

We just purchased a new (refurbished) computer for the office to replace the 13-year-old desktop I had brought from home that struggled to even run Puppy Linux. I installed a fresh copy of Linux Mint 17.2 on the new computer and did all of the recommended updates. However, I am experiencing something I don't experience on my laptop running Linux Mint or my home desktop running a different OS (Trisquel) with the Cinnamon DE. Basically, the display locks up, or freezes... I'm not sure which.

I know that the system hasn't fully locked up. If I have music playing in the background, it keeps going, and even moves on to the next track like it's supposed to. The mouse moves, but can't interact with anything. I can CTRL + ALT + F1 and F8 into and out of the DE with no trouble. But everything else is frozen. I can't interact with windows, the menu, buttons, toolbars, nothing. The only way to solve it is a hard reboot.

Over the past few weeks, I've tried to nail down when this happens, and it seems to happen most often or exclusively when I'm browsing Facebook in Firefox. As this doesn't happen on my laptop, which also runs 17.2, I don't know what's different.

I have tried killing Cinnamon, Firefox and MDM when I go to the command line interface, but nothing has a positive effect. I can sometimes kill the right thing to bring me back to the graphical login, but when I log back in, I get a black screen, can no longer get to the command line interface, and have to hard reboot anyway.

While I can handle the other problems with Cinnamon (panel notification icons being the wrong size, the Pidgin tray icon problem still existing all these years later, the non-existent Pithos integration), having to reboot my computer multiple times a day is getting frustrating.


Computer Information:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: pastor-office Kernel: 3.16.0-38-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) 
           Desktop: Cinnamon 2.6.13  Distro: Linux Mint 17.2 Rafaela
Machine:   System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Compaq 8000 Elite SFF PC
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 3646h Bios: Hewlett-Packard version: 786G7 v01.02 date: 10/22/2009
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 Duo CPU E8400 (-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 11969.2 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 2992.290 MHz 2: 2992.290 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1440x900@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Q45/Q43 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.16.0-38-generic
Network:   Card: Intel 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e ver: 2.3.2-k port: 1100 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 250.1GB (3.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD2500AAJS size: 250.1GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 19G used: 5.4G (32%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 3.74GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 33.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 156 Uptime: 56 min Memory: 802.3/3848.6MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4 
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.11) inxi: 1.9.17
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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Pjotr »

It's not a very modern machine.... I would try Mate or even Xfce.
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Telinome

Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Telinome »

It's not the most modern machine, no. But, it is at least as modern as the secretary's computer (I made sure to get a computer as good as hers in specs), and I have Mint 17.2 on her computer as a backup and don't experience the same freezes. And on this (my) computer, nothing ever chugs or runs slowly--in fact, everything runs really well! Except for the freezes. My laptop is also 10 years old and has no trouble with Cinnamon, either.
klrman

Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by klrman »

Have you tried the 3.19.0-31 kernel? It fixed all my freezes.
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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Laurent85 »

Random freezes might indicate an hardware issue. You should run the Memory test available from the Grub menu upon boot. Hold down the shift key if Grub loader menu does not appear.
Image
Telinome

Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Telinome »

I'll upgrade the kernel (I'm currently running the 3.16.0-38 kernel) and do a memory test, and see if that helps.
klrman

Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by klrman »

3.16 kernel was my problem too so I'd bet if you installed 3.19.0-31 your freezes will be gone. I was convinced I had a hardware
issue, but it was not, just the kernel.
MST

Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by MST »

klrman wrote:3.16 kernel was my problem too so I'd bet if you installed 3.19.0-31 your freezes will be gone. I was convinced I had a hardware
issue, but it was not, just the kernel.
Still new to linux here but,the 3.16.0-38 kernel has been around for awhile why wouldn't they officially update if it's a problem?
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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Pjotr »

MST wrote:Still new to linux here but,the 3.16.0-38 kernel has been around for awhile why wouldn't they officially update if it's a problem?
It all depends on the hardware. For hardware up to a certain age, that kernel is just fine. Not so for very modern hardware....

Reason: the drivers are part of the kernel. For very modern hardware, you obviously need very new drivers.
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Telinome

Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Telinome »

The memory test showed now errors, and I upgraded the kernel. So far today, I haven't had any crashes, but I'll continue to give it a rigorous testing over the next week to see if my problem really has been solved. Thanks for all the help so far, and I'll report back!
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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by austin.texas »

Telinome wrote: I can CTRL + ALT + F1 and F8 into and out of the DE with no trouble. But everything else is frozen. I can't interact with windows, the menu, buttons, toolbars, nothing. The only way to solve it is a hard reboot.

I have tried killing Cinnamon, Firefox and MDM when I go to the command line interface, but nothing has a positive effect.
Good advice so far. But I would like to mention that you should be doing a REISUB reboot instead of a hard reboot. It is safer.
Hold down the Alt and SysRq (Print Screen) keys, and enter r e i s u b
On some computers it has to be Shift-Alt and SysRq.
Pause after each key to give the computer time to compute. (particularly after e, i, and s.)

Technical details:
r = unRaw (take control of keyboard back from X),
e = tErminate (send SIGTERM to all processes, allowing them to terminate gracefully),
i = kIll (send SIGKILL to all processes, forcing them to terminate immediately),
s = Sync (flush data to disk),
u = Unmount (remount all filesystems read-only),
b = reBoot.

I remember it as "Reboot Even If System Utterly Borked"
(or REISUB is just BUSIER backwards)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key

Also, try to refresh Cinnamon instead of rebooting. Alt-F2 for a command box. Enter r or cinnamon --replace (Both do the same thing.)
Alternatively, Ctrl-Alt-Backspace should take you to a command prompt, where you can enter startx
Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Linux Linx 2018
klrman

Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by klrman »

Telinome wrote:The memory test showed now errors, and I upgraded the kernel. So far today, I haven't had any crashes, but I'll continue to give it a rigorous testing over the next week to see if my problem really has been solved. Thanks for all the help so far, and I'll report back!
Sounds good so far!
Telinome

Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Telinome »

austin.texas wrote:
Telinome wrote: I can CTRL + ALT + F1 and F8 into and out of the DE with no trouble. But everything else is frozen. I can't interact with windows, the menu, buttons, toolbars, nothing. The only way to solve it is a hard reboot.

I have tried killing Cinnamon, Firefox and MDM when I go to the command line interface, but nothing has a positive effect.
Good advice so far. But I would like to mention that you should be doing a REISUB reboot instead of a hard reboot. It is safer.
Hold down the Alt and SysRq (Print Screen) keys, and enter r e i s u b
On some computers it has to be Shift-Alt and SysRq.
Pause after each key to give the computer time to compute. (particularly after e, i, and s.)

Technical details:
r = unRaw (take control of keyboard back from X),
e = tErminate (send SIGTERM to all processes, allowing them to terminate gracefully),
i = kIll (send SIGKILL to all processes, forcing them to terminate immediately),
s = Sync (flush data to disk),
u = Unmount (remount all filesystems read-only),
b = reBoot.

I remember it as "Reboot Even If System Utterly Borked"
(or REISUB is just BUSIER backwards)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key

Also, try to refresh Cinnamon instead of rebooting. Alt-F2 for a command box. Enter r or cinnamon --replace (Both do the same thing.)
Alternatively, Ctrl-Alt-Backspace should take you to a command prompt, where you can enter startx
I'll try to remember REISUB in the future. I did try both replacing Cinnamon and starting X, but neither of those worked. A reboot was my only option.

However, I'm happy to report that, so far, after upgrading to the 3.19 kernel, I haven't experienced the freezes anymore. Here's hoping that trend continues!
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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by bob12564 »

I started getting freezes only after upgrading to Mint 17.2. It affects 2 machines with different motherboards and video controllers. I noticed that it happens when I'm in any web browser and using the mouse wheel to scroll. The only common link between the 2 machines is the Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse that I use on both machines by moving the unifying receiver from one machine to the other. That made me suspicious and I tried using a wired mouse for a few days and there were no freezes (so far). I then went back to the wireless mouse and I experienced a freeze within 5 minutes.

So far my working theory is that the Logitech wireless equipment is somehow at the center of my problem. I'm a newbie with Mint and not very technically knowledgeable with Linux, but maybe this can be another clue for the more skilled users into what is behind the freeze problem.

I'm using the recommended 3.16.0-38-greneric kernal. None of my equipment is new except for the Logitech keyboard and mouse and even they are a year old.
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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Pjotr »

bob12564 wrote:None of my equipment is new except for the Logitech keyboard and mouse and even they are a year old.
I advise to update the kernel. It's probably related to the driver for the mouse and/or the keyboard.
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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by bob12564 »

Thanks for the tip. I waited for the release of 17.3 and upgraded both machines, including the kernal which is now the recommended 3.19.0-32. So far, the mouse and keyboard problems are resolved.

But, as with all things new, sometimes new problems occur. My production machine now hangs on the green "LM" log during bootup about one out of 3 times. It's an older HP desktop with onboard Intel graphics, nothing fancy. But that's a topic for a new thread. For now I have to educate myself a bit more about how to troubleshoot this. Thanks for your suggestions. At least one machine works normally now.
chemikul30

Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by chemikul30 »

bob12564.

try this to identify what's ahppening on those session graphic hangs:

In Terminal, type

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
and towards the bottom, remove 'quiet splash' and save.
Back in Terminal type

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub
This will output all the processes starting on boot hurling about on your monitor. So when you experience a latency, you can see if something is abending due to failure and we can go from there.

I get tired of the streaming text in Kali2.0, so to return your fancy Mint logo, use the steps above again but add 'quiet splash' back to it's original position in the grub file.

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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Pjotr »

Don't use "sudo gedit" but "gksudo gedit". Because running a graphical application with "sudo" might mess up file permissions in your home folder.

Otherwise: what chemikul30 says might indeed help to troubleshoot the problem. First make a backup of /etc/default/grub though, that's safer and makes restoring the old situation easier. :)
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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Cosmo. »

Removing "quiet splash" just for a diagnose can be done easier by editing the boot entry during booting:

If you don't see the grub menu after powering on, press and hold the left shift-key.
Then mark the menu entry (most likely it is the top most) press "E" and remove them. Now press F10 for booting. This change is one-time only, so no need to revert anything.
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Re: Cinnamon Lockups/Freezes

Post by Pjotr »

Cosmo. wrote:Removing "quiet splash" just for a diagnose can be done easier by editing the boot entry during booting:

If you don't see the grub menu after powering on, press and hold the left shift-key.
Then mark the menu entry (most likely it is the top most) press "E" and remove them. Now press F10 for booting. This change is one-time only, so no need to revert anything.
True, but the problem apparently doesn't happen every time.... "Only" approximately 1 out of 3 times, the OP says. So in this case, a one-time hack is perhaps a bit troublesome.
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