What's Happened to LM18. Lots of problems

[Ashocka]

I'm a long term Linux user. No expert, just enough knowledge to be a happy user.

I've used LM Mate, Xfce, had issues with Cinnamon in the past. Mostly I've used LM Xfce over the last few years. My main computer finally gave out.

Recently I bought Lenovo Desktop H5050 i7 with 4 Gb Ram. I tried to install LM 18 Cinnamon on it. The main problem is that it won't install properly (no swap) and doesn't recognise external devices, such as external HDDs (both NTFX and Linux file structure). It does recognise the printer. It often won't recognise USB sticks, or any other device.

So I got this custom machine.

PLE-620257 PLE Custom Intel LGA1151 Desktop PC System 1.00
Specifications
Intel Core i3 6100 Skylake 3.7GHz 3MB Retail Box
CPU
CPU Cooler ID-COOLING Denmark Series DK-03 CPU Cooler
Gigabyte B150M D3H LGA1151 DDR4 mATX Motherboard
Memory Kingston 8GB DDR4 ValueRAM C15 2133MHz
Samsung 850 EVO Series 2.5" 7mm 250GB SSD
OS Drive
Storage Drive None
ASUS GeForce GT710 2GB DDR3 VGA DVI HDMI
Graphics Card
Card Reader Shintaro 30 in 1 3.5" OEM Internal Card Reader
Optical Drive None
Sound Card Integrated – Onboard
Case Deepcool Tesseract Black/Blue Mid Tower w/Side Window
Lighting None
Sleeved Cables None
FSP Raider Edition 450W 80PLUS Silver Power Supply

I installed LM Cinnamon 18 onto this machine. It didn't recognise the internal HDD or anything on USB other than the printer.

I installed LM Xfce instead. I got a better response, but this is random. Sometimes it boots and recognises everything, next time it boots, it doesn't recognise anything. Sometimes I have to plug and unplug things many times for the OS to detect them. All the short cuts in the file browser disappear on most reboots.

Both machines freeze a lot. The second one less frequently, often with only the file browser and a web browser open with just a few tabs. No swap on the Levono, swap partition on the current machine.

I've never had any such problems with earlier versions of LM. Are there such issues common with "Sarah"?

[amethyst_igor]

If the problem is related to kernel compatibility with Skylake, I found a thread that may be helpful.
Additionally, check this out.

[Ashocka]

Thanks,

But my problem doesn't seem to be this at all. It's a problem of simply detecting internal and external devices, and also remembering shortcuts.

[amethyst_igor]

Thanks,

But my problem doesn't seem to be this at all. It's a problem of simply detecting internal and external devices, and also remembering shortcuts.

Try out Xubuntu. See whether you have the same problems. If so, then Linux Mint is not the problem, the underlying Ubuntu is, or possibly Linux itself. More than likely that is the case. The links I gave suggest upgrading the BIOS, which is good practice, and the kernel. The linux kernel seems to play catch-up with Intel's chips sometimes, and Skylake in particular. I don't know why. Maybe Intel is too focused on Windows. But eventually the kernel catches up. Apparently, the later versions of the kernel work better with Skylake, which is what you have. That is the gist. Linux Mint is basically a flavor of Ubuntu, a little work done on top of Ubuntu, which is based on Debian, which is based on Linux. I seriously doubt that Linux Mint added something to Ubuntu that messes with your hardware. Serious Hardware issues point to the Linux kernel quite often. So, recommending upgrading the kernel manually to the latest that Linus Torvalds has to offer. Also recommend upgrading your motherboard's BIOS. To do so, you would need to visit the manufacturer's web site.

[Ashocka]

Thanks