Mint 16 Petra Freezes

[Donnie]

Hi all, I'm new to linux mint so if I've posted in the wrong section please fogive me.

I've installed Linux Mint 16 Petra Cinnamon few days ago, and I'm having freezing problem when i use a browser.
The problem occurs sometimes, I think especially when I look at videos; the OS completely freezes and i can't do quite anything to make it work again.
I've tryed with ctrl-alt-f1 and than sudo restart mdm but still does not work.
I've tryed firefox, chrome and chromium and the problem is present in all cases.

I don't know what it could be but I can say that I had a similar problem with windows 8 too (TDR failure), and the only way to make it work without freeze is with old graphic drivers (195.62). I don't know if this might be of help.

Here is what i get with inxi -Fxz

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System:    Host: linux-mint Kernel: 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.1) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 16 Petra
Machine:   System: Packard Bell product: EasyNote TJ65 version: 0100
           Mobo: Packard Bell model: SJV50MV version: Rev Bios: Phoenix version: V1.24 date: 08/11/2009
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 Duo CPU T6600 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3) bmips: 8778.14 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 1200.00 MHz 2: 1200.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GT216M [GeForce GT 240M] bus-ID: 01:00.0 
           X.Org: 1.14.5 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: nouveau Resolution: 1366x768@59.6hz 
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVA5 GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 9.2.1 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1: NVIDIA High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
           Card-2: Intel 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-3: Microsoft driver: USB Audio usb-ID: 045e:070f
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.11.0-12-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel WiFi Link 5100 driver: iwlwifi ver: in-tree: bus-ID: 04:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Broadcom NetLink BCM5784M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe driver: tg3 ver: 3.132 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (37.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: Hitachi_HTS54503 size: 320.1GB temp: 40C 
Partition: ID: / size: 76G used: 17G (24%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 4.29GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0C mobo: 49.0C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 159 Uptime: 23 min Memory: 811.8/3949.2MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.1 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 

Please give me some advice to understand what it might depend.

Thank you in advance.
Daniele

[WharfRat]

Daniele,

It looks like it could be related to the Xorg video since the inxi line contains FAILED and doesn't clearly list the driver in use. Paste back:

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awk '/VGA/,/Kernel/' <(lspci -k)

[Donnie]

I got this:

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01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT216M [GeForce GT 240M] (rev a2)
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device 0219
	Kernel driver in use: nouveau

I've also tryed to switch between this driver and nvidia-319 (recommended) but the problem persists!

[Tejas_0]

I've tryed with ctrl-alt-f1 and than sudo restart mdm but still does not work.

With FireFox try after ctrl-alt-f1

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pkill plugin-con

[Donnie]

With FireFox try after ctrl-alt-f1

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pkill plugin-con

I've tryed but i can't recover my desktop. On the other hand, with

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pkill cinnamon

I can come back to login screen without a hard reset. This not solve the problem but at least I'm not forced to wait the pc to reboot.

There is anything like a logfile where I can find the reason why my PC freezes?

Thank you for your help!

[WharfRat]

Take a look in /var/log.

syslog.1 would be the previous log and syslog would be the present. Also dmesg and dmesg.0 dmesg being the current one.

Good luck

[Tejas_0]

With FireFox try after ctrl-alt-f1

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pkill plugin-con

I've tryed but i can't recover my desktop.

After

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pkill plugin-con

have you done Alt+F8

[Donnie]

have you done Alt+F8

Sure, but nothing happens!

[WharfRat]

have you done Alt+F8

Sure, but nothing happens!

Do you have another computer that you can use to try and connect via ssh

[Donnie]

Do you have another computer that you can use to try and connect via ssh

Unfortunately this is the only computer I own
But I can borrow one from a friend if this can help!

[Tejas_0]

How about before killing cinnamon you kill cinnamon-screen, did work the one time had to do it. Anyway if you have to kill cinnamon, just have to open the applications once more, but all your settings are still there

[Donnie]

How about before killing cinnamon you kill cinnamon-screen, did work the one time had to do it. Anyway if you have to kill cinnamon, just have to open the applications once more, but all your settings are still there

The command

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pkill cinnamon-screen

has no effect, neither when I am on desktop and nothing is crashed

[Donnie]

I think finally I solved the issue.
The problem is due to the VGA (nVidia Geforce 240 M) and it comes out with any linux distribution I tried.
Here is the link that helped me to solve the problem:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topi ... x-x86_64-/
As suggested to solve the problem with nvidia drivers:
go to "NVIDIA X Server Settings" and set the "Powermizer" and set preferred mode to "Prefer Maximum Performance"

Hope this will help someone with the same problem

[Donnie]

If you just change the powermizer in nVidia settings it will be again set to auto after reboot.
To set the Powermizer to maximum performance at system startup just add this command to Startup Applications:

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nvidia-settings -a [gpu:0]/GPUPowerMizerMode=1