cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/50117987

I’m having an issue in linux mint 22.3 cinnamon where the GUI locks up but audio still plays and the mouse cursor still moves. The solution is to press ctrl+alt+f1 to take me to a terminal and then press ctrl+alt+f7 to go back to the GUI. Then everything works fine. Forgive me, I do not know what to call the terminal when accessing ctrl+alt+f1 other than tty1.

I also have an issue where when using a browser (librewolf / waterfox / zen) and using the pop out video window, sometimes over time it will lock in the main browser window and the solution is to minimise and restore the window. Sounds related.

I am new to linux and not sure where to start. I think there is something up with the cinnamon desktop environment but I do not know what. Hardware has been stress tested, multiple components, multiple days. I think it is a software issue but could be wrong, that is why I am asking for help.

Any help / thoughts much appreciated.

Thank you.

  • EnsignWashout
    1·
    3 days ago

    The issue where the window needs reloaded after some time does sound like software - specifically like a slow memory leak.

    Plenty of us are using Cinnamon without that issue, but of course it could be you have some strange unlucky combination of hardware, patch version, etc.

    I’m not sure b if the video thing is related. Pop-out videos come in many flavors, and most range from mildly anti-user to outright evil. So the video misbehaving could be down to the specific combination of site, site video digital rights management, how much spying they try to do while the video plays, how much of that spying Librewolf is set to block, and what day of the week it is (how fast your Internet connection is, that day, really).

    Do you have any window manager extensions installed? (I know gnome has a whole extension ecosystem, but I’m not sure Cinnamon even supports Desktop extensions. If you don’t remember adding anything, ignore this, it’s a really long shot.)

    You could try adding a second desktop environment (MATE is a popular enough 2nd choice) and see if the issues happen there, as well. You can switch desktop environments in a drop-down on the login page.

    • nootux@lemmy.mlOP
      2·
      2 days ago

      For clarification of the pop out video, I mean say you are playing a youtube video, firefox and its forks allow you to “pop-out” that video into a separate borderless always on top window. I use ublock origin for element blocking including advertising and other privacy related features.

      I did think window manager extensions as I did play around with the obligatory wobbly windows and the like. But I prefer to have them turned off and have made sure they are all disabled. It was fun though.

      A different DE was a consideration but I am a little nervous being new to linux of changing too much and getting myself into a situation where I do not have a GUI. I do have a means to do a system image so would probably wait until I have a recent backup and a system image before changing the DE. Ideally I’d like to fix whatever this issue is but I agree it would be a good diagnostic step.

      Thank you for your help.

      • EnsignWashout
        1·
        2 days ago

        Wobbly windows are fun! I also turned them off for stability. I should try them again sometime.

        Adding additional DEs on Debian variants (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint) has always just plugged them in to my login page as a drop-down to choose between.

        So I consider it pretty low risk. The main cost is disk space.

        If the DE freezes up, a hard power button reboot will stop at the login page and allow choosing a different one, as long as the “automatic login” setting is turned off (and as long as I know I password).