Linux Freeze – What to Do When a Linux Desktop Freezes

desktopfreezelinux

I'm a Windows guy, dual booted recently, and now I'm using Linux Mint 12

When a Windows desktop freezes I refresh, or if I am using a program I use alt + F4 to exit the program or I can use ctrl + alt + delete and this command will allow me to fix the Windows desktop by seeing what program is not responding and so on.

Mint freezes fewer times than my XP, but when it does, I don't know what to do, I just shut down the pc and restart it.

So is there a command to fix Linux when it freezes?

Best Answer

You can try Ctrl+Alt+* to kill the front process (Screen locking programs on Xorg 1.11) or Ctrl+Alt+F1 to open a terminal, launch a command like ps, top, or htop to see running processes and launch kill on not responding process.

Note: if not installed, install htop with sudo apt-get install htop.

Also, once done in your Ctrl+Alt+F1 virtual console, return to the desktop with Ctrl+Alt+F7.

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