Hi, I've looked at all of the other threads in regards to this and tried a few suggestions but to no avail. The last suggestion I tried was to install MATE which I did but upon reboot, it didn't let me select cinnamon or mate, just booted directly into Cinnamon where of course I get the crashed message.

As with most people, things were fine until I updated and rebooted. I have a lot of things setup as I want and would rather find a solution versus having to reinstall completely. Because there are so many different reasons/variables that could cause this I was wondering if someone could take a look at my system info including running inxi -Fxz and dmesg for which I have info for. See below. I tried to update the graphics card but I think that's what caused the issue in the first place so I've reverted back to the open source driver recommended but being a newby, I'm really not sure. Any help would be awesome.

frosty@frosty-X555LI ~/Desktop $ inxi -Fxz
System: Host: frosty-X555LI Kernel: 3.19.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
Desktop: Cinnamon 2.8.6 (Gtk 3.10.8~8+qiana)
Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine: Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X555LI v: 1.0
Bios: American Megatrends v: X555LI.202 date: 03/26/2015
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i3-5005U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 7981
clock speeds: max: 2000 MHz 1: 2000 MHz 2: 2000 MHz 3: 2000 MHz
4: 2000 MHz
Graphics: Card-1: Intel Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0
Card-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Jet PRO [Radeon R5 M230]
bus-ID: 04:00.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.17.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1360x768@59.8hz
GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A Direct Rendering: N/A
Audio: Card-1 Intel Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Card-2 Intel Broadwell-U Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.19.0-32-generic
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
driver: ath9k bus-ID: 03:00.0
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (28.3 used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: HGST_HTS541010A9 size: 1000.2GB
ID-2: USB /dev/sdb model: My_Passport_0748 size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 913G used: 63G (8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1
ID-2: /boot size: 236M used: 51M (23%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-3: swap-1 size: 4.19GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-2
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 46.0C mobo: 27.8C
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 191 Uptime: 8 min Memory: 407.0/3852.7MB
Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28

fanof3d,

From your description of "booting directly into Cinnamon" it seems that you have not actually installed the MATE version of Mint 17.3.

Most of these fallback-mode problems are attributable to Cinnamon, so I am afraid that you just need to bite the bullet and do a fresh install using the MATE or Xfce version of 17.3.

Thanks beach boy but not the answer I'm looking for. The purpose of me asking a question was to get assistance, not "bite the bullet". If it turns out no one can actually help me then so be it but until then, I'll hope someone else can provide a bit more effort in helping solve the issue which in turn could help someone else. If Cinnamon is so bad, they should shelve it until it's stable.

I have installed MATE as I can see double of a lot of things and I received zero error messages while it was installing. Perhaps there is another reason why I'm not able to select it after Mint loads.

all right.

can you post the outputs of

Hi Ondoho,

For the first query I received back: cinnamon2d.desktop cinnamon.desktop mate.desktop

For the second query I received back:
00:001.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics
(rev 09) Subsystem: ASUSTek Computer Inc. Device 192d
Kernal Driver in use i915_bpo
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller
(rev 09) Subsystem: ASUSTek Computer Inc. Device 192d
Kernel driver in use: snd hda_intel

OK so this is saying that I'm using my intel driver correct when I should be using my
AMD Radeon R5 320 driver? This driver isn't on their "series" of cards supported by Linux.
I tried several times to load Crimson but after reboot it would say I was in a different mode or something.
What is the next step do you think? Thanks again for your help.

you have a mate session, and you should be able to choose it before logging in.
is your dispaly manager set to autologin?
what display manager are you using? it probably has a settings dialog in your menu.

lspci does not list the amd card at all. that means that linux is unable to see it; not sure how inxi got it, though.

is this a second card you installed yourself? maybe you have to enable it in the bios.
or is it a "hybrid graphics" setup? in that case you need a dedicated setup, i think bumblebee is doing that under linux.

i do not know what "Crimson" is.

I deleted Cinnamon and everything is okay now. It's defaulting to MATE No crash message.
The only thing now is that I can't connect to the internet wirelessly.
What is the Linux way of flushing the dns and resetting?

Yes this laptop has 2 graphics cards, the intel integrated and the radeon dedicated.