screen freezes when clicking an app

[paulxxx]

Acer desktop m3641
mcp73 (the motherboard?)
Intel pentium dual cpu e2200
ram 2gb
hdd 300gb
The only os is debian and there is plenty of space on the hdd.


Symptoms: When I click on something, say Evolution or Empathy or Maps, about 1 in 5 times the screen will freeze and I have to switch the computer off and on again.

I had this problem with Wheezy and could not resolve it. In the past week I have installed Jessie 32bit and then Jessie 64bit and I get the same problem.

On downloading my copies of Jessie I have verified the md5 and sha.

I'm beginning to think that I may have a hardware problem.

Any suggestions? (not too technical please)

[mardybear]

You'll need to keep troubleshooting. May/not be hardware. Quick things i would try:

- Confirm no partitions are full (don't just look at overall drive space) using 'df -h' command
- Install and try another Desktop Environment or Window Manager
- Temporarily try a liveCD, maybe Ubuntu or Mint
- Reboot and run memtest
- Check drive health (gsmartcontrol)

[paulxxx]

Thanks mardybear,

I've tried installing another os and I think I may have located the problem but I don't know how to solve it in Jessie.

I installed Mint 17.1 Rebecca.
I had similar problems with screen freezes, and also random discoloured pixels and overwriting of screen text.
In the Mint menu there is something called "Driver Manager". Under VGA driver there is a list and the xorg driver is selected even though the NVIDIA driver (304.125) is recommended. I changed the driver to the recommended nvidia one and "VOILA!" as they say in France. The screen went perfect, no freezes, no random pixels.

So now I need to know how to change the vga driver in Jessie. Any suggestions?

[mardybear]

Check out this link if you're using Jessie:
https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers

Jessie offers what appears to be your preferred Nvidia 304.125 driver. Just follow the installation instructions. You can also search the Debian wiki or these forums for the nouveau driver, which many report to be just as good or better than proprietary Nvidia.

Running the command 'lspci -v' will identify your graphics hardware, usually the VGA section:

Code: Select all

lspci -v

If you have list hardware installed, then this is also useful to identify your graphic hardware and driver utilized:

Code: Select all

lshw #run as root, usually check in PCI section, Graphics Memory Controller

I don't use Jessie, so probably can't help further. If having problems or want clarification before changing system settings, just forum search or post the relevant portions of the commands mentioned.

FYI: My first post indicated test with an Ubuntu or Mint liveCD, not install...you may just be a happy Mint user.

[paulxxx]

Hello mardybear,

That link you recommended seems to contain the exact solution to my problem.
Now I just need to implement it.

It seems to have four steps…

“1. Add "contrib" and "non-free" components to /etc/apt/sources.list,
2. Update the list of available packages.
3. Create an Xorg server configuration file.
4. Restart your system to enable the nouveau blacklist.”


By using Synaptic Package Manager I have done points 1 and 2.

Point 3 is where I have a problem. I tried to do it but when I went to point 4 and rebooted the system, I get a black screen with a flashing cursor at the top left.
Control-alt-f1 gives a $prompt.
I'm not yet very familiar with using a terminal, but I'll give it a go if you have any suggestions.

[mardybear]

When installing drivers, follow instructions exactly to avoid black screen and terminal prompt reboots

Don't use synaptic, as per the wiki utilize the specific aptitude command outlined.

The next step configuration file seems basic, just tells the system to utilize Nvidia. Follow exactly:
https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers#configure

If Ctrl-F1 gives you a prompt you're okay, just repeat the correct steps EXACTLY in terminal.