Screen goes blank then I cannot click on anything with the mouse and must reboot!

linustalman · 11-01-2011, 11:00 AM

Hi.

Today Ubuntu 10.04 went blank for about 2 seconds and then comes back by itself. I can use the mouse but cannot click on anything.

Could this be a Friefox or graphics card problem?

I hit Alt Gr + k + Print keys to force a log out. It logs out but I cannot do anything thus the only remedy is a reboot.

This has happened multiple times today.

Is my computer failing?

hassan329 · 11-01-2011, 11:43 AM

check the dislplay drivers. Display driver problem.

linustalman · 11-02-2011, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hassan329

check the dislplay drivers. Display driver problem.

Hi. How do I check the display drivers? Do you mean Hardware Drivers?

sundialsvcs · 11-02-2011, 09:16 AM

No... display drivers.

Linux systems use a graphic user interface system, called "XWindows" or "XOrg" as the case may be, which operates entirely in user-space. (It allows you to, for example, run a graphic session against a remote computer that doesn't even have a graphics-card installed ... things that Microsoft Windows never dreamed of.)

Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F3 (cycle through the nearby F-keys) and see if a terminal window pops up. It probably will. This will give you control of the system again from which you can restart "X" and also from which you can examine the XWindows log-files (which could be in various places but "/var/log" is usually a good place to look).

linustalman · 11-02-2011, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sundialsvcs

No... display drivers.

Linux systems use a graphic user interface system, called "XWindows" or "XOrg" as the case may be, which operates entirely in user-space. (It allows you to, for example, run a graphic session against a remote computer that doesn't even have a graphics-card installed ... things that Microsoft Windows never dreamed of.)

Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F3 (cycle through the nearby F-keys) and see if a terminal window pops up. It probably will. This will give you control of the system again from which you can restart "X" and also from which you can examine the XWindows log-files (which could be in various places but "/var/log" is usually a good place to look).

I have been using my computer the same amount of time today with the same programs and it has not crashed once. Thanks for the advice, sundialsvcs. I will certainly use it the next time I get a screen blackout/freeze.

linustalman · 11-06-2011, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sundialsvcs

Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F3 (cycle through the nearby F-keys) and see if a terminal window pops up. It probably will. This will give you control of the system again from which you can restart "X" and also from which you can examine the XWindows log-files (which could be in various places but "/var/log" is usually a good place to look).

It has just happened again, I had a video playing in Liferea and then went to open a Firefox window (FF was already running). I could not use the keyboard thus Ctrl+Alt+F3 was impossible. I just hit the reset button on the computer. What is the log file(s) I must check? Thanks.

Thought: Everytime this has happened, both Firefox & Liferea were running. I wonder is it a problem with one of them? This glitch has never happened even when I play high end games.

linustalman · 11-18-2011, 11:52 AM

That crash happened again today when I was renaming a folder in nautilus. I also had a wine game running in a window. So I cannot blame Firefox or Liferea for this.