I installed Mint 19 Cinnamon and have had many problems. Listed:

1. I have to reboot when I put a USB drive in before it's mounted.

2. Computer hung when I played a downloaded video. I'd played the same video part way through earlier and wanted to finish it. When I double clicked in in videos, the computer hung. It had never done that before using Mint 18.3. I use VLC instead of the other.

3. When I installed all the updates after system installation, and after I upgraded the video driver, I rebooted and got a message bad something - I didn't write it down, but I got that once when I updated a kernel. I had to reinstall Mint 19 again. I turned off auto level 3 and 4, and also show/install kernels. After installing all updates after that, upgrading the video driver, and rebooting, it worked okay, but the above problems still remain. How do I know which kernels I can install without killing the system after reboot?

4. My computer is slower now than with mint 18.3. It is old but very reliable. I am hardwired to my internet modem.

System: Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.9 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1) dm: lightdm Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine: Device: desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: P5G41T-M LX PLUS v: Rev X.0x serial: N/A
BIOS: American Megatrends v: 0502 date: 10/21/2011
Battery hidpp__0: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh volts: NA
model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M325 serial: <filter>status: Discharging
CPU: Dual core Intel Core2 Duo E6550 (-MCP-) arch: Conroe rev.11 cache: 4096 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9335
clock speeds: min/max: 2003/2336 MHz 1: 2000 MHz 2: 2000 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GF119 [GeForce GT 610] bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:104a
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
drivers: nvidia (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
Resolution: 1280x768@59.99hz
OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GT 610/PCIe/SSE2 version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.48 Direct Render: Yes
Audio: Card-1 Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Def. Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:27d8
Card-2 NVIDIA GF119 HDMI Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0e08
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-20-generic
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCIE Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d800 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCIE Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: e800 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 168.1GB (11.8% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD1600BPVT size: 160.0GB serial: <filter>
ID-2: USB /dev/sdb model: Cruzer size: 8.0GB serial: <filter>
Partition: ID-1: / size: 146G used: 19G (14%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
RAID: System: supported: N/A
No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Unused Devices: none
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0C mobo: 39.0C gpu: 0.0:73C
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 777 sys-1: 2020
Repos: Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com tara main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic main restricted universe multiverse
deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http: //archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ bionic partner
Info: Processes: 180 Uptime: 28 min Memory: 1658.9/7976.6MB
Init: systemd v: 237 runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0 Client: Unknown python3.6 client inxi: 2.3.56

So, cinnamon requires a compositor (3d) to run. Might be the issue with your video, not sure. Didn't see how much ram you have. Cinnamon is light on resources, relatively speaking (compared to gnome or kde) but may not be the best choice for older hardware and your video card. Unfortunately, not sure how easy it is with Mint to switch desktops. They custom build each one for a specific desktop. Maybe someone who uses Mint can chime in?

With older hardware, I am thinking you might be better off with Xfce4 or Mate`. In Mint, all desktops look the same anyway because they style them that way on purpose, lol. Different functionality obviously but the look is similar.

Simply install the appropriate meta package - this seems to cover it; should still work with 19.
Mate gets good reports in this household on weak hardware.

1 members found this post helpful.

I installed Mate and no more problems. Much smoother and faster.