Tell me more ×
Unix & Linux Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for users of Linux, FreeBSD and other Un*x-like operating systems.. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite

I am running Linux Mint 12 with Cinnamon and sometimes when I leave my computer idle for a while, it will lock the screen. Usually, when I move the mouse a login prompt will pop up, but sometimes it doesn't. Then it's just a black screen with the time and my full name on a bar at the top of the screen. I can move the mouse, but nothing happens when I click on anything. When this happens I am forced to hard shutdown my computer, which is obviously not good. Does anyone know how to solve this?

share|improve this question
Not an answer, but something that will help with the hard shutdowns is installing and setting up acpid so that when you press your power button it will trigger a clean shutdown. Also, I've been experimenting with Cinnamon too, and I get this issue sometimes too so you're not alone. – Matthew Scharley Mar 5 '12 at 6:50
Also, some systems usually have (or used to have) CTRL+ALT+DEL set to run shutdown -r now (that is, reboot). Also, see the "Magic SysRq" key, as suggested by @jasonwryan, which is a last resort before a hard shutdown/reboot (REISUB). – njsg Mar 5 '12 at 10:05
Does the screen lock display animated images of some kind? If you press Ctrl+Alt+F1 in that state, does it bring you to a text console? If you press Alt+SysRq+S, does it cause some brief disk activity? – Gilles Mar 5 '12 at 22:49
Did you have VMware Workstation installed ? Sometimes it kills your Xorg key mapping. – warl0ck Apr 4 '12 at 7:20

1 Answer

up vote 0 down vote accepted

Solving the issue would involve understanding why it is happening. You should start by looking through your logs to see if there are any obvious errors; begin with /var/log/Xorg.0.log and the lightdm log at /var/log/lightdm/lightdmlog.

To avoid having to do the hard shutdown, next time it happens, switch to a console with CtrlAltF1 (or any of the F_ keys between 1 and 6) and login and restart the display manager with:

sudo service lightdm restart

You can then switch back to the console that X (your GUI) is running in with CtrlAltF7 where you can log back into your Mint desktop.

share|improve this answer
Unfortunately, when this happened to me I couldn't switch VT's, so that might not be a solution. – Matthew Scharley Mar 5 '12 at 6:54
3  
In that event, it's time for the Magic SysRq key... – jasonwryan Mar 5 '12 at 7:24
Huh, that's interesting. Never knew about that one. Personally, I just configured acpid to perform as safe shutdown on pressing the power button, and then use that to perform a safe reboot if I have to. Has the added advantage of just pressing the button on the front of my box to shut it down at the end of the day. This is still very useful info though, thanks! – Matthew Scharley Mar 5 '12 at 8:37
1  
If you can't switch terminals, then it sounds like an X11 driver issue — do you have any other computer around you can network with that one to see logs and play with the computer after the "lockup" happens? – njsg Mar 5 '12 at 10:08

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.