Hello everyone,
I recently got a slimbook elemental laptop with Slimbook OS preinstalled. The system wasn't working for me as many of the applications I needed were not compatible with it. On top of that, there was a persistent error with Python (later I learned that this was due to the Ulauncher application that came with the system). As a result, I decided to go with a different OS, namely Linux Mint (which I had been using on my previous laptops without any issues, for several years), on a different partition.
On the Linux Mint 22 with the Cinnamon desktop, I installed a selection of 30 or so applications and a few App Images, nothing I hadn't used before. I also set up a ramdrive for some temp files from the browser and some stuff I'd download that I didn't care to keep longer. Everything worked fine until the desktop started freezing even in conditions with limited or even no load on the CPU or RAM. The problem was more pronounced when the computer was running on battery and when it was connected to the internet. The problem manifested as follows:
1. the icons in the panel would disappear, along with the menu button.
2. all I/O on the hard disk would fail (I couldn't even access the error journals or run simple scripts)
3. the mouse would still be functional throughout all this
4. all built-in keyboard shortcuts would still work but fail to revive the system (e.g., Ctrl-Alt-Esc and Ctrl-Alt-Backspace wouldn't do anything useful)
The same problem would also happen on the Slimbook OS partition, even after I re-installed the OS from the USB disk provided by the company.
Things I've tried:
- removed the power management option from the wifi card (originally, I identified this as a potential cause of the issue and I'm still not convinced that it's not, but there may be other factors that come into play)
- removed any unnecessary applets, e.g., a CPU temperature one (this didn't do anything)
- stopped graphics acceleration on the Brave browser (this didn't do anything so eventually I turned it back on)
- disabled the panel self refresh (PSR) from both partitions via the GRUB settings (this seemed to fix the issue at first but it wasn't the case)
- explored the xsession-errors log on the LM system for potential issues (I couldn't find any relevant patterns, even with the aid of AI)
- analyzed potential correlations between desktop freezes and temperature readings (I couldn't find any)
- installed the meta packages that Slimbook developed and recommended
Do you have any similar experiences or any ideas as to how I can resolve this problem (assuming it is solvable)?
Thank you in advance!
