[SOLVED] Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon only runs in fallback mode

Ptrjg · 11-23-2016, 02:43 AM

PC: 2008? Acer Aspire 5520 laptop. 160GB HDD. AMD 64x2 2.0GHz. 2GB ram. Nvidia GeForce 7000M / nForce610M graphics. OS: Windows Vista.

I installed Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon alongside Windows Vista. After booting into Linux, the screen is unreadable with 4 or 5 vertical versions of the home screen (is it called tearing?) which flickers and jumps.

Editing the startup Linux menu by changing "quiet splash" to "nomodeset" gets me into the normal home screen with all functions working. However, the screen shows the constant warning: "Running in software rendering mode. Cinnamon is currently running without video hardware acceleration and, as a result you may observe much higher than normal CPU usage. Etc, etc".

I did all the automatic updates through Update Manager, which included installing the Nvidia driver 304, version 304.132.
This made things worse (then Cinnamon would only run in Fallback Mode) so I reverted back to the Nouveau driver where at least I can run Linux with the "nomodeset edit".

My questions:
1/ Is there a fix for this?
2/ If no fix then is it okay to run Cinnamon in the nomodeset mode?
3/ If yes for 2, then how do I change "quiet splash" to "nomodeset" permanently? At the moment I have to do the edit each time I start Linux.
4/ I read that Cinnamon may use too many resources for my laptop to handle satisfactorily, and that Mate might be a better option.
So I installed Mate alongside Cinnamon through Software Manager (mint-meta-mate). However I am unable to login to Mate - The option shows in the login panel but when selected, I am asked for my password which is not accepted.

From what I have managed to see of Linux so far it appears to be excellent, but I need help to get it running as it should.
I have very limited PC experience so any detailed help would be greatly appreciated.

ardvark71 · 11-23-2016, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ptrjg

4/ I read that Cinnamon may use too many resources for my laptop to handle satisfactorily, and that Mate might be a better option.
So I installed Mate alongside Cinnamon through Software Manager (mint-meta-mate). However I am unable to login to Mate - The option shows in the login panel but when selected, I am asked for my password which is not accepted.

Hello and welcome to the forum

I think what you've read is correct. I once ran a copy of Mint Cinnamon on a system with 4 GB's of memory and just the OS (or Cinnamon) and Chrome together used up almost the entire 4 GB's!

I'm not sure why you're experiencing the graphics or the password issue but in terms of system resources and memory usage, I would recommend a more lightweight version of Linux, perhaps even more so than Ubuntu Mate or Mint Mate. Two that come to mind are Lubuntu or AntiX 16. If your system is 64 bit, You will need to experiment which architecture works best for you, whether 32 or 64 bit.

Let us know how it goes...

Also, I hope you guys are recovering from the earthquake a few days ago.

Regards...

rokytnji · 11-23-2016, 09:43 AM

Post from a terminal in code tags.

Code:

inxi -Fxxz

in your next post so members can see what you are running.

JeremyBoden · 11-23-2016, 11:37 AM

I wouldn't expect Mint to perform well in 2GB; 4GB would be quite sufficient.

However, try running the following command

Code:

top

This will show %CPU usage and any swap partition usage.

Do not be concerned about a very high memory usage; this is quite normal.

Ptrjg · 11-24-2016, 03:12 AM

This is the second reply I have written because the first disappeared. My apologies if it turns up!

Thank you to those who replied to my post.

ardvark71:

If I decide to change to Lubuntu and/or experiment with 32 and 64 bit systems, must I first remove the existing Linux Cinnamon version or will the new install automatically take care of removal and clean up, etc?

As to the earthquake, we were far enough from the epicentre (about 230 km) to have escaped any damage - which is amazing considering the amount our house (and bed) moved. A pretty rude awakening at 12:02 am!

rokytnji:

Result of inxi -Fxxz:

peter@peter-Aspire-5520 ~ $ inxi -Fxxz
System: Host: peter-Aspire-5520 Kernel: 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.3.1)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.0.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.1) dm: mdm
Distro: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Machine: System: Acer product: Aspire 5520 v: V1.08 Chassis: type: 10
Mobo: Acer model: Fuquene Bios: Acer v: V1.08 date: 09/07/2007
CPU: Dual core AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-60 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips: 8000
clock speeds: min/max: 800/2000 MHz 1: 2000 MHz 2: 2000 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA C67 [GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M]
bus-ID: 00:12.0 chip-ID: 10de:0533
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: vesa (unloaded: fbdev) FAILED: nouveau
Resolution: 1024x768@61.00hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 128 bits)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card NVIDIA MCP67 High Definition Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:07.0 chip-ID: 10de:055c
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-21-generic
Network: Card-1: NVIDIA MCP67 Ethernet
driver: forcedeth port: 30f8 bus-ID: 00:0a.0 chip-ID: 10de:054c
IF: enp0s10 state: down mac: <filter>
Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
driver: ath5k bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:001c
IF: wlp5s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 160.0GB (5.3% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: Hitachi_HTS54251 size: 160.0GB serial: 070926BB0C00WGG7H5WC
Partition: ID-1: / size: 35G used: 6.3G (19%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
ID-2: swap-1 size: 1.87GB used: 0.01GB (1%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda6
RAID: System: supported: N/A
No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Unused Devices: none
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 182 Uptime: 8:06 Memory: 928.5/1747.8MB
Init: systemd v: 229 runlevel: 5 default: 2 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
Client: Shell (bash 4.3.421 running in gnome-terminal-) inxi: 2.2.35
peter@peter-Aspire-5520 ~ $

JeremyBoden:

Ran the 'top' command but I don't understand the result and am unable to copy and paste - I guess because the result is not static.
However, the top line numbers vary from: 0.33, 0.25, 0.28 to: 1.31, 1.29, 1.30 if this makes any sense to you?

JeremyBoden · 11-24-2016, 07:04 AM

The 'top' command gives a lot of info - but in this case it basically says:-
Your total CPU usage is a bit high, if you looked at the individual processes lines you might see Cinnamon using rather a high percentage.

However, the results of the

Code:

inxi -Fxx

(please enclose in CODE tags - that's the # toolbar symbol)
indicate that your PC is a bit stressed - temperature only 49C, but both cores are running are running at full speed (2GHz).
You aren't using any swap - which is good.

Quote:

Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: vesa (unloaded: fbdev) FAILED: nouveau

Indicates that you made a minor error in installing the nVidia drivers.
nouveau is the general purpose set of video drivers which comes with most distro's; but nouveau conflicts with other drivers so it has to be "black listed".
I find the Debian instructions at https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers to be useful.

Because you have only two partitions ('/' and /swap) any install of another distro that uses the same partitions would over-write your current Linux set-up.
So backup any data you want to keep first!

Note that if you had created a separate /home partition for your data (which I find is normally a good idea) you would have to be a lot more careful with a reinstall.

Ztcoracat · 11-24-2016, 07:56 PM

Have you considered running a more lightweight distro?
It has low hardware requirements-

Maybe give Lubuntu a try. OR Puppy Linux.
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/re....04.1/release/
http://puppylinux.org/main/Download

frankbell · 11-24-2016, 08:23 PM

It seems to me that the crucial variable here is the desktop environment, not the underlying distro.

Instead of replacing Mint, you might try installing a more lightweight GUI, such as LXDE or Enlightenment, and using it instead of Cinnamon. You could even go with a window manager such as Fluxbox, my personal favorite (Enlightenment is a close second). All are in the Mint repos.

I've had Mint perform quite nicely on a machine with one GB RAM when using LXDE for the desktop environment.

Aside: Fluxbox is extremely plain out-of-the-box, but you can configure it up to have enough eye candy for anyone.

rokytnji · 11-24-2016, 09:39 PM

Agree with Frankbell on changing Desktops. You downloaded the wrong Mint version for you Hardware limitations. Cinnamon is too spicy.

https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_sarah_mate_whatsnew.php

https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_sarah_xfce_whatsnew.php

Either or would have gave you more joy and less stress instead of Cinnamon.

I also kinda sorta agree with JBodens post about

Code:

Graphics: Card: NVIDIA C67 [GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M]
bus-ID: 00:12.0 chip-ID: 10de:0533
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: vesa (unloaded: fbdev) FAILED: nouveau
Resolution: 1024x768@61.00hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 128 bits)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes

I am guessing when in fallback mode. Though. That Mint defaults to vesa. Just a extra safe guard
thingy. <Benefit of the doubt kind of guess>

So either go with Frankbells recommends or if not too deep into this install. Pick one of my links and roll with one of those Mint spins instead.

Me? Iroll on this I5 , 16 gig ram laptop

Code:

harry@biker:~
$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: biker Kernel: 4.6.2-antix.1-686-smp-pae i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.9.3) Desktop: IceWM 1.3.8
           Distro: antiX-15-V_386-full Killah P 30 June 2015
Machine:   System: LENOVO (portable) product: 2347DS2 v: ThinkPad T430
           Mobo: LENOVO model: 2347DS2 UEFI [Legacy]: LENOVO v: G1ET41WW (1.16 ) date: 05/25/2012
Battery    BAT0: charge: 34.3 Wh 99.1% condition: 34.6/56.2 Wh (62%) model: SANYO 45N1001 status: N/A
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-3320M (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 10376
           clock speeds: max: 3300 MHz 1: 1518 MHz 2: 1637 MHz 3: 1490 MHz 4: 1324 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1600x900@60.01hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ivybridge Mobile x86/MMX/SSE2
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.3.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.6.2-antix.1-686-smp-pae
Network:   Card-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: 5080 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: eth2 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (20.8% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: HGST_HTS545032A7 size: 320.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 7.6G used: 4.8G (67%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: /home size: 68G used: 5.0G (8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 4.19GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info:      Processes: 174 Uptime: 1:31 Memory: 349.7/15932.1MB Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 4.9.2
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.301) inxi: 2.3.1

And I must say. I run pretty fast and snappy. But you are only running 182 processes vs my 174 processes. I guess your processes are way fatter than mine though. No telling though without a

Code:

top - 21:50:52 up  1:37,  4 users,  load average: 0.11, 0.14, 0.10
Tasks: 174 total,   1 running, 173 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s):  1.0 us,  0.8 sy,  0.0 ni, 98.2 id,  0.0 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,  0.0 st
KiB Mem:  16314516 total,   789148 used, 15525368 free,    47424 buffers
KiB Swap:  4095996 total,        0 used,  4095996 free.   381524 cached Mem

  PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND                                                                                                    
 2250 root      20   0   85180  28664  14860 S   2.7  0.2   2:30.84 Xorg                                                                                                       
11842 harry     20   0   43448  21812  17588 S   1.7  0.1   0:01.03 roxterm                                                                                                    
 2254 root      20   0   28068  11136   5732 S   0.7  0.1   0:10.83 wicd                                                                                                       
 3441 harry     20   0  949136 306184  85192 S   0.7  1.9  12:41.46 firefox-esr                                                                                                
 2293 root      20   0   17704  11764   7512 S   0.3  0.1   0:04.74 wicd-monitor                                                                                               
 2580 harry     20   0   75744   6048   5008 S   0.3  0.0   0:06.33 conky                                                                                                      
    1 root      20   0    3036   1576   1440 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.70 init                                                                                                       
    2 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kthreadd                                                                                                   
    3 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0                                                                                                
    5 root       0 -20       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kworker/0:0H                                                                                               
    7 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:01.50 rcu_preempt                                                                                                
    8 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 rcu_sched                                                                                                  
    9 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 rcu_bh                                                                                                     
   10 root      rt   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.02 migration/0                                                                                                
   11 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 cpuhp/0                                                                                                    
   12 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 cpuhp/1                                                                                                    
   13 root      rt   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.03 migration/1                                                                                                
   14 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/1                                                                                                
   15 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:01.83 kworker/1:0                                                                                                
   16 root       0 -20       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kworker/1:0H                                                                                               
   17 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 cpuhp/2                                                                                                    
   18 root      rt   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.03 migration/2                                                                                                
   19 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/2                                                                                                
   20 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.01 kworker/2:0                                                                                                
   21 root       0 -20       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kworker/2:0H                                                                                               
   22 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 cpuhp/3                                                                                                    
   23 root      rt   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.03 migration/3                                                                                                
   24 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/3                                                                                                
   26 root       0 -20       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kworker/3:0H                                                                                               
   27 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kdevtmpfs                                                                                                  
   28 root       0 -20       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 netns                                                                                                      
   29 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 oom_reaper                                                                                                 
   30 root       0 -20       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 writeback                                                                                                  
   31 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kcompactd0                                                                                                 
   32 root      25   5       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksmd                                                                                                       
   33 root      39  19       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 khugepaged                                                                                                 
   34 root       0 -20       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 crypto                                                                                                     
   35 root       0 -20       0      0      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kintegrityd

report though.

Ztcoracat · 11-24-2016, 09:43 PM

Most members that I've talked to that were running Cinnamon installed Mate and didn't have anymore issues.

I use XFCE.
Light and fast; no complaints-

I was surprised when I looked up the requirements for the Cinnamon DE.
It requires (recommended) 1 GB of RAM.

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3051

frankbell · 11-24-2016, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Cinnamon is too spicy.

Oh, my. I hope I didn't wake anybody up!

Best laugh I've had all day.

Ptrjg · 11-25-2016, 12:13 AM

Thanks all for your helpful comments.

I have installed antiX-16 and so far it appears to do all I require (although I'm still checking it out) and it runs really well using minimal resources.

In future I may check out some of the versions mentioned in these posts, but in the meantime I'm happy with antiX.
I didn't realise there were so many version options! Certainly a big learning experience.

Thanks again.

Ztcoracat · 11-25-2016, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ptrjg

Thanks all for your helpful comments.

I have installed antiX-16 and so far it appears to do all I require (although I'm still checking it out) and it runs really well using minimal resources.

In future I may check out some of the versions mentioned in these posts, but in the meantime I'm happy with antiX.
I didn't realise there were so many version options! Certainly a big learning experience.

Thanks again.

Glad that antiX is working for you.

Since it's based on Debian stable you shouldn't have any issues.
Enjoy your new os.

ardvark71 · 11-25-2016, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ptrjg

Thanks all for your helpful comments.

I have installed antiX-16 and so far it appears to do all I require (although I'm still checking it out) and it runs really well using minimal resources.

In future I may check out some of the versions mentioned in these posts, but in the meantime I'm happy with antiX.
I didn't realise there were so many version options! Certainly a big learning experience.

Thanks again.

You're welcome, I'm glad AntiX is working well for you.

Regards...

flos · 11-05-2019, 11:01 PM

Thanks, chaps!
I used fallback Main Menu to run Synaptic and 'Completely Remove' all nvidia entries.
After a few reboots, Cinnamon runs sweet as a nut: nothing lost.
flos