After Cinnamon lock-up can’t access one particular program
 

In the past four weeks Cinnamon has locked up eleven times. However, I’ll raise that separately later. I have Cinnamon 18.2 64 bit with 12Gb RAM

The last time it locked up, I was running Simple Scan, which allows me to access my printer/scanner. After I reset Cinnamon I found that when I clicked on the icon to run Simple Scan, it does nothing at all. It doesn’t pause and not run, it just seems to ignore it completely.

Is there something straightforward I can do to get it working again?

You have probably coruptted one or more of the app files, re-install

I followed the suggestion to re-install Simple Scan.

First went into Synaptic Package Manager and found Simple Scan, highlighted it ‘Mark for Complete Removal’, then ‘Apply’.
It appeared to have removed it. It disappeared from the Menu.
I seem to remember it said all the configuration files were removed too.

Then I followed the instructions I saved when another member helped me install it a year ago:

Simple Scan re-appeared on the Menu, but it still won’t run. Same problem as before – clicking on it does nothing at all.

As an aside, I notice originally it said it was ubuntu, now it is linuxmint.
I have a copy of what was reported in terminal when I re-installed. If necessary I can post that.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can get Simple Scan working again?

If running an application through the GUI fails to work, one of the first things to try is to run the application on the command line and see if any errors/warnings are generated.

So, enter simple-scan on the command line and see what output you get.

Hi hydrurga!
This is what happened:

That indicates that simple-scan tried to use a memory address outside the memory that was allocated to it. Generally not a great sign. This might tie in with the Cinnamon errors you've been getting. How long have you been getting these lockups, and do you have a system image or backup before they started to which you can roll back? Are you running TimeShift?

Can I check which kernel you're using?

The lockups have been happening for nearly six weeks now. In that time there's been fifteen of them.

System image or backup? No.
I have a Seagate USB backup drive that works fine with Windows software, but trying to use it under Linux - I've given up, as I don't know what I should be backing up or how.
I can use it in Cinnamon, but only for straightforward reading/copying.
TimeShift - no idea what that means?

Ok, it's a separate issue, but you should be doing two things: (i) backing up your data regularly; (ii) making system images/snapshots regularly. If you had done the latter, you could have rewound back to before the Cinnamon problem started occurring. You should start a new thread and ask for advice if you don't know how to do this.

Because you've experiencing intermittent problems, I'm going to go back to basics and check that your package system is fine.

Please paste the output from the following commands (if there is any output).

First things first:
That produced nothing.

I assume I'll need to ask about snapshots and system images separately, whatever they are?

Thanks. Yes, it's probably best to ask about those separately, but I'll give you some pointers before you do.

Next, let's check that the packages are up to date:

Okey kokey, here are all the details:


Does that tell you anything?

It tells me that your system isn't entirely up-to-date. The more that this is true, the greater the possibility that problems may be encountered when it is eventually brought up-to-date.

Before we upgrade those packages, let's just check your software sources. Please paste the output from:

Here you are:

Ok. That appears to be ok. Is there any particular reason that you are running Mint 18.2 and not 18.3?

I would suggest updating those 34 packages that were listed before, but perhaps it would be a good idea for you first to install TimeShift and back up your system, and also to back up your data using whatever method is decided upon. Your call. Do you have an external hard disk to which you can back up your data?