[SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

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JoeBingo
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[SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

Made 2 different Live DVDs for Mint 16 Mate (one from a torrent and the other from a mirror) and one Live DVD for Mint 16 Cinnamon.

Tried Mint 16 install from all three DVDs and experienced the same problems:

- "Do Something Else" ... Manual partition does not automatically check the "Format" box for each partition. When manually checking the "Format" box for each partition ... install crashes. The only way to format the partitions from within the Mint 16 install application is to highlight each partition and use the "Change" button to check "Format".

- Once installation is complete and prompted to "Restart System" ... notice appears to "Remove Media and depress ENTER" ... this is where a Restart freezes/hangs and at this point only a complete removal of power from the computer allows a Restart/Reboot.

Once Restart/Boot was completed, I Updated and Upgraded all files. Suspend, Hibernate, Shutdown ALL worked fine !!! ... every single time I tried to Restart/Reboot ... the computer froze/hung and I have to completely remove power from the computer in order to reboot. The computer booted up fine !!! ... just couldn't do a normal Restart under any circumstance, either from the menu or terminal.

I re-installed Mint 15. I have NONE of the above issues with Mint 15. The install application in the Live DVD works great and automatically checks the "Format" box for each partition when manually configured ("Do Something Else") ... AND ... there are NO "Restart" issues/freezes/hangs/burps/glitches when installing and using Mint 15.

Now that I have abandoned Mint 16 after fooling with 3 different DVDs encompassing both Mate and Cinnamon for the better part of an evening and night ... there isn't much I can do to further troubleshoot the situation from within Mint 15, which is running perfectly fine.

I just wondered if anyone else had experienced the Mint 16 Live DVD installation application crash when manually partitioning and more importantly ... been unable to "Restart" the system once Mint 16 (either Mate or Cinnamon) was installed?
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JoeBingo
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

No thoughts? No one else seen this?
I'm running a Dell Optiplex 745 Core 2 Duo
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

Today I re-downloaded Mint 16 Mate ... and using "USB Image Writer", made a bootable USB stick.

Live DVD (and stick) boots fine with no problems. Mint installer will crash if manually partitioning the hard drive and manually checking the "Format" box for each partition and the Format box is not checked by default when partitioning like it has done on previous installed versions of Mint.

INTERESTINGLY ... while using the bootable USB stick and after Mint Installer crashed, I decided to simply reboot outta there.
Well guess what? ... yep, Mint went to a screen with just the default desktop wallpaper ... and FROZE !!!

- I powered everything off and brought the system back up and booted again with the USB stick. Instead of even attempting to install Mint 16 ... I didn't do anything ... I just tried to reboot outta there from the Live Media ... and my computer froze again, with just a blank default desktop wallpaper showing.

- SOooo ... I powered everything off and brought the system back up using a Live DVD ... didn't do anything once the Live Media booted up ... Just tried to reboot outta the Live DVD and the computer froze !!! It froze with a Mint Logo and a prompt: "Please remove installation media and close the tray (if any) then press ENTER:" <<< the tray did open, I did remove the DVD and when I pressed ENTER ... the lights on the keyboard and mouse went out but the screen/computer remained frozen.

BOTTOM LINE: My computer does not like Mint 16 (Mate or Cinnamon), either on DVD or Mint on a stick LOL. I get the same indications whether using a Live DVD or bootable USB stick. Mint 16 Live Media (DVD & USB stick) boot fine !!! ... but my computer freezes when I try to restart/reboot out of the Live Media version. IF I install Mint 16, my computer will freeze every single time I try to restart/reboot (Suspend, Hibernate and Shutdown work fine)

I can't see the problem being a hardware problem. After all, Mint 15 installs and runs with no problems whatsoever. Certainly no restart/reboot issues like I experience when trying to use Mint 16 Live Media or once Mint 16 is installed (and even updated/upgraded).
JoeBingo
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

My computer isn't dual boot. I only run Linux Mint on this machine.
Any ideas, thoughts, comments ??
Anyone ... Bueller ... Bueller ??
JoeBingo
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

Almost 70 looks and not one single idea, thought, comment ?!?!
Geez ... you guys are a tough crowd ... shoot
Can someone at least tell me where I might could go to get some help with Linux Mint?
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by Webtest »

JoeBingo ...

I'm not particularly strong with Lilnux in general, but I can sympathize with you on Mint 16 (and 15) LiveUSB failing to restart on my machine. Strangely enough my system restarts just fine when the system is on an SD card! See: [url=http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=152492]Live(media) system boot problems for Mint 15 & 16[/url]. It seems like the only forum that gets much attention (in terms of responses) is the "Newbie Questions" forum. I have a favorite brick wall that I regularly beat my head against when I decide to play with Linux again.

Blessings in abundance, all the best, & ENJOY!
Art in Carlisle, PA USA
BOAT - a hole in the water that you pour money into
LINUX - a hole in your life that you pour TIME into

HP dx2400 Core 2 Duo 8 GB. Mint 13/15/17.x/18.x Mate <on LOCKED SD cards, and Kanguru USB drives> No Hard Drive / No SSD
JoeBingo
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

Sounds like similar sorta problems we're having Webtest. I hope someone can help us get it sorted out.

I checked my bios to see if there was anything in the Dell bios I might try. I tried the following one at a time but was unable to correct the RESTART/REBOOT failure when coming out of Mint 16 (Mate or Cinnamon) Live Media (USB or DVD). So I returned the Bios settings to default.

In Bios:
SATA operations: I tried switching from NORMAL to LEGACY
Fast Boot: I tried turning Fast Boot OFF

I have absolutely no problems with Mint 15 (or earlier versions) and RESTART/REBOOT ... only with Mint 16
JoeBingo
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

Although I've updated and am using the latest nVidia driver as "recommended" by Mint's "Driver Manager" ... I tried booting LiveUSB and LiveDVD in compatibility mode. Other than having a wonky graphic display once booted (booting hasn't been a problem) ... the system STILL froze when I tried to RESTART/REBOOT out of LiveUSB and LiveDVD.

In summary, I've tried both Linux Mate AND Cinnamon on both LiveDVD and LiveUSB ... I've tried changing any BIOS settings that might impact RESTARTING Mint 16. I've tried booting LIVE in compatibility mode even though I have the recommended display driver installed. Nothing I've tried changes the problem and that is, Mint 16 will not allow my computer to RESTART/REBOOT either from LiveMedia OR with Mint 16 installed and updated/upgraded (Suspend, Hibernate and Shutdown work fine when I have Mint 16 installed) ... and there are some installation glitches with the Mint 16 installation application, found in the live media and linked on the desktop, that cause the installation application to predictably crash, as noted in previous posts in this thread.

Other than that, I feel like I'm just talking to myself here. More like a journal than a (help) forum ya know.
wayne128

Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by wayne128 »

Not sure what is the issue.

Perhaps the default kernel used just do not work well with your hardware.

If I were in the same situation, I would try new kernel, provided I could boot and run alright after installation..

Or, take from your working well version 15, then, apply a new kernel ( something like 3.12.4, not the default kernel 3.11?), then change repos and do dist-upgrade, hopefully you can upgrade to new version without breaking..
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

I'd thought about changing repos and doing a dist-upgrade but decided, "why reinvent the wheel when the wheel is working just fine?". And at the end of the day ... I might just end up downloading and installing whatever code is causing the problem with restart/reboot. So I'll stick with Mint 15 until a Mint distro is released that works on my apparently unique one of a kind off the shelf Dell Optiplex 745.
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

The only thing different about the hardware on my Dell Optiplex 745 is that I added an nVidia card and disabled the onboard Intel graphics a couple of distros ago. As stated, I have the Mint Driver Manager recommended nVidia driver installed and it is working perfectly fine with Mint 15.

I also have a Dell Latitude D830 laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo). It came from Dell with nVidia hardware. Currently I'm running WinXP Pro on the laptop. This morning I booted up the Latitude with Mint 16 LiveUSB (didn't try LiveDVD) and it RESTARTED/REBOOTED fine when coming out of the Live Mint OS.

So apparently there is something in the configuration of my Optiplex desktop that Mint "doesn't like". Mint 16 is the first distro that has had this problem though. All others have worked fine on the Optiplex.
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Re: Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/Hangs

Post by JoeBingo »

Okay, here's the workaround I came up with. While it doesn't solve the problem ... where ever that problem may be ... hardware ... nVidia driver ... Ubuntu kernel ... all/none of the above ... I have no idea.

Anyway ...
I noticed when I tried to do a RESTART on Mint 16, I would get a "mount: / is busy" during the RESTART process <<< Something is keeping the ROOT open ... to write to a log maybe ... I don't know

SOooo ...
I added the following to etc/default/grub ... GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="reboot=force"
Then I ... sudo update-grub AND sudo update-grub2 in a terminal (because I don't know if I just have to do one or the other or both so I did both)

BASICALLY ... what that does is force=Avoid anything that could hang
AND it's pretty much the same as doing an alt+SysRq+b (SysRq is a shared with the Print Screen key on the keyboard)

RESULT ... When I choose Menu > Quit > Restart ... it forces my computer to reboot like right now with force LOL ... do not pass go, do not collect $200. NO MORE HANGS/FREEZES on RESTART !!! WOooHOoo !!!

I had also tried reboot=bios and reboot=acpi ... but neither of those grub entries changed the problem.

HOW DID I COME UP WITH THIS WORKAROUND ... I'm glad you asked ...
http://linux.koolsolutions.com/2009/08/04/howto-fix-linux-hangfreeze-during-reboots-and-restarts/
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1170911

*Note* ... I have no idea what I'm doing. Am I corrupting any files by forcing a reboot? ... What might happen in the long run by always forcing a reboot? ... If it's okay to force a reboot, why the heck wasn't that written into grub to begin with? ... etc etc ... I don't know the answer to those questions. If forced reboot becomes an issue I will try something else ... revert the nVidia-319 driver back to the xorg nouveau driver maybe and see what happens if anything? Also, when a new kernel update comes out, I will remove the force boot line entry from the grub file to see if the problem has been addressed in the kernel update.

I got NO help here from the forum or "Mint Gurus" as you can see in this thread. THANK goD for google !!!
JoeBingo
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Re: [SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/H

Post by JoeBingo »

Problem DEFINITELY in the Linux Kernel 3.11 that ships with Linux Mint 16.
Upgraded to Linux Kernel 3.12.5 ... problem corrected like magic !!! WOooHOoo !!! :)
Link to upgrade and instructions: http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2013/12/install-kernel-3-12-5-ubuntu-linux/
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Re: [SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/H

Post by Webtest »

Way to go JoeBingo!

Are you going to spin a new Live ISO? If you do, I'd love to buy into the process ... either a copy, or a tutorial on how to accomplish the feat. Building a new ISO is something I've never managed to master, but would be willing to part with a few greenbacks for a solid working tutorial.

Anyway, congratulations on your success.
Blessings in abundance, all the best, & ENJOY!
Art in Carlisle, PA USA
BOAT - a hole in the water that you pour money into
LINUX - a hole in your life that you pour TIME into

HP dx2400 Core 2 Duo 8 GB. Mint 13/15/17.x/18.x Mate <on LOCKED SD cards, and Kanguru USB drives> No Hard Drive / No SSD
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Re: [SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/H

Post by Webtest »

One fearful question ...

After updating the kernel, what all in the distro (Mint 16 Mate) will I find broken?

Blessings in abundance, all the best, & ENJOY!
Art in Carlisle, PA USA
BOAT - a hole in the water that you pour money into
LINUX - a hole in your life that you pour TIME into

HP dx2400 Core 2 Duo 8 GB. Mint 13/15/17.x/18.x Mate <on LOCKED SD cards, and Kanguru USB drives> No Hard Drive / No SSD
JoeBingo
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Re: [SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/H

Post by JoeBingo »

Webtest wrote:One fearful question ...

After updating the kernel, what all in the distro (Mint 16 Mate) will I find broken?

Blessings in abundance, all the best, & ENJOY!
Art in Carlisle, PA USA
I don't know how to compile an ISO from the upgrade and won't google to teach myself right now LOL ... I've already "wasted" several days on just trying to get Mint 16 to work (reboot) on my computer.

As far as what's "broken", the only thing I've found so far is that I can't update to the recommended nVidia drive via the Driver Manager in the Control Center. When I did the Linux Kernel update, I was using the xorg-video-nouveau driver and didn't notice any display issues what so ever. After the kernel upgrade and once I TRIED to install the recommended nVidia-319 driver, I discovered that it would not compile with the 3.12 Kernel, resulting in my screen resolution being very low resolution (something like 800x600).

SOoooo ... I opened the package manager and installed nvidia-current ... which also installed the nvidia-304 driver. THAT worked (but boot time was slightly longer) !!! ... and when I tried to upgrade to the recommended nvidia-319 driver again but from nvidia-304 (instead of upgrading from the nouveau driver) ... I still had the same low resolution problem.

NOW ... I'm back to the xorg-video-nouveau driver that ships with Mint 16 and my display is perfect at a 1920x1080 resolution on my HDMI connected monitor. NOT ONLY THAT but Mint boots slightly faster using the nouveau driver versus the nvidia driver. So it's all good for now.

Other than that, I haven't found anything else "broken". Mint 16 seems to be very stable and running great now. No crashes, freezes, black screens or anything. All there ever was a problem with, is the 3.11 kernel and trying to RESTART/REBOOT on my computer ... and that MAY be corrected at some point and in some time, with a kernel update from Linux Mint, dunno.

EDIT: OH ... I did find some threads (on another site) wherein some programmer type Linux/Ubuntu folks were able to compile the latest nVidia driver(s) [319 & 331] with the latest kernel update but most everything they talked about was WAaaay over my head ... and may not have even been legal from an nVidia corporation standpoint.
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Re: [SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/H

Post by JoeBingo »

I finally found a suggested "dirty" workaround to get the Linux kernel 3.10 that ships with LM16 to reboot without freezing/hanging on my desktop.
Just edit /etc/default/grub and add reboot=p after "quiet splash" so the line looks like this ...
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash reboot=p"
Then sudo update-grub in a terminal of course.
Maybe it works for me because I have an Intel CPU chipset and nvidia PCI video card. dunno
WORKAROUND: adding reboot=p to the kernel command line (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/KernelBootParameters) avoids this bug.
Bug report and workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1244312

NOTE: There are other kernel command line "forced" reboot choices available that may or may not work as well (or better) IAW this link to a Ubuntu Kernel Engineer's blog ...
http://smackerelofopinion.blogspot.com/ ... ng-pc.html
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Re: [SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/H

Post by este.el.paz »

@joebingo:

Did a brief scan of your thread, it sort of looks like one of mine . . . with the inquiry to self nature of them . . . . Found your thread on google search, I also had problems getting 16 installed . . . finally succeeded yesterday . . . . Looking at the first burned DVD was from a month or so ago, where the installer was crashing mid way thru the install . . . and that was pointed out to probably be related to the md5sum numbers not matching. And, after getting two .iso's that matched the number correctly I tried an install . . . did seem to be more complicated as you mentioned in comparison to my recent re-install of 15 after the 16's failed.

But, now I also have the "restart" freezing issue . . . I found another thread entitled "restart" . . . and posted there about my issues as well as here now. Seeing that upgrading the kernel might "fix" the problem, but not wanting to do anything that "force boots anything" . . . I'll try to read through your thread a bit to see if it looks simple enough . . . or I'll just wait until the next "dist-upgrade" brings the kernel upgrade . . . . Funny how the new system upgrades seem to always bring some new things, some new problems, and some older problems . . . . I guess it wouldn't be so bad if I knew how to run the console to make the system do what I want, but, I'm mostly a GUI driver . . . able to do some simple CLI work if the instructions are spelled out clearly and simply. But, seems like the "restart" function should be well sorted by this point??? Guess not . . . .

e.e.p.
[Edit: Went through this Ubuntu wiki Kernel/Kernel Boot parameters and followed the "temporary" adjustment in the Grub window, and it did give a "restart" function . . . so then I followed the "permanent" instructions and the only difference is that "gedit" was not recognized, so I used "pluma" to edit the "quiet splash reboot=p" aspect . . . and the did the update-grub and tried the "sudo reboot" from the Terminal . . . and we dropped into the blackness . . . and then I had to shut down the unit and booted back into LM, logged in and tried the "Quit" button from the Main Menu . . . same thing . . . again, into the darkness. This is reminding me of the problems with the "mdm" thingie, and needing to choose GDM to get the system to run . . . seems to still be hanging around??? And, finally, from the HTML log in window I clicked the "Power" icon and got the flash window for the various options . . . choosing "restart" this time takes me to the TTY log in . . . have to log in, then I get the command prompt, I can type "sudo reboot" and ****again***** enter my password, and yes, the computer restarts . . . . So, it works, but, it ain't pretty, and it's a tad cumbersome . . . but this doesn't seem to be working from the desktop using this method, for my computer running 16.]
MacPro '12 multiboot various linux OSs with some aging OSX's . . . .
rsadix

Re: [SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/H

Post by rsadix »

Similar problem here. I installed LM16 Cinnamon on an AMD Athlon 64 2800+ CPU, integrated video, WD 73GB raptor HD that had an older version of Ubuntu 11.04 running that would boot fine. Booting the Live DVD is fine, installing goes fine. I selected "Do Something Else" so I could re partition the hard drive. Everything seems to install fine, and then when its done it gives the message of keep hanging out on the live disk or reboot. I choose reboot, remove the ejected DVD-ROM, and then on reboot the machine hangs in the bios where its looking for the hard drive. I mean it finds the hard drive, but it won't move passed it. If I press delete to enter bios, I get the "Entering BIOS" message but it never progresses because there is some handshake or something with the hard drive that isn't working. It doesn't matter what I do, reboot, power off, unplug, dance around, nada. It always hangs at the same exact spot. If I power down and unplug the hard drive, everything returns to normal. I can enter bios, boot off of a live CD/DVD, whatever I want. But if I plug the hard drive in, the machine freezes right after if recognizes the hard drive. I mean it is still responsive. I can press delete whenever I want and get the "Entering BIOS" message, but again, in never moves and I can't get into bios or do anything else.

SOooo, I figure maybe its just coincidence and the hard drive failed. So I go pull another WD 73GB raptor out of a different intel machine that had Ubuntu 11.04 running, and same exact thing happens. This time I noticed that on the reboot after install, the screen hangs. I press the enter key and get a message about not being able to write to the drive and I have a blinking cursor that won't accept any input. So what else can I do but push the reset the button. Now this drive won't boot either.

The trouble is, I now have two dysfunctional hard drives and no working machine. I guess I'll try and install the hard drives in another machine and see if I can re-partition them there.

Thanx mint :roll:

What a PITA.

Anyone have a suggestion on what I could do different? I'm wondering if the "Do Something Else" partitioning tool is part of the problem.
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Re: [SOLVED] Mint 16 Mate & Cinnamon ... "Restart" Freezes/H

Post by este.el.paz »

@rsadix:

Don't know if I can offer help to you, it's not entirely clear what you are experiencing . . . because, you say, "the install went well" . . . but then are saying that you want to "partition the drive" . . . which would be done during the install . . . . Do you get to the GRUB window when you boot the system? Did you set up a partition for GRUB? You could do an install, and it would say, "success" but if there was no partition for GRUB it wouldn't boot. And, lastly, did you check the md5sum number for the iso?

e.e.p.
MacPro '12 multiboot various linux OSs with some aging OSX's . . . .
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