Desktop froze

[Liam Proven]

On Sun, 11 Jun 2023 at 23:50, Bill <bstanle at wowway.com> wrote:

>  The entire desktop stopped.  The mouse cursor
> could move around normally but nothing could be selected.

If the mouse pointer still move, then the computer had not completely frozen.

There are two things that you can do in this situation. Note this is
*not* attempting to troubleshoot or resolve the problem: It's just a
way to get back without pulling the plug or pressing and holding the
power button.

The key thing that you need to know is that while the Linux graphical
desktop is showing, there are still six text screens available and you
can switch between them. The graphical terminal normally runs on
screen number 7. To get to the first screen, hold down the control and
alt keys, and press F1. In case your computer is one of the modern
machines that uses the function keys (F1 through to F12) as multimedia
keys or something, you may have to hold down the FN key to get them to
work as normal function keys. If that's the case, you need to hold FN
and Ctrl and alt and then press F1.

Once you've got to the first screen, you can switch between the others
with just old and F2 through to F6. If you press alt and F7, that will
take you back to the graphical desktop. Sometimes in the event of
screen display problems or graphical corruption or something, this may
be enough to get your desktop working again.

If it is, great, problem solved!

If it isn't, and your desktop still isn't responding properly, then
switch to any of the screens number 1 through to 6, with ctrl plus alt
plus F1 —F6, and when the text display appears, just press Ctrl and
Alt and Del.

That should cleanly shut down your computer, and reboot it, without
causing any hard disc corruption or anything else.

-- 
Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
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