I am running Linux Mint 12 with Cinnamon and sometimes when I leave my computer idle for a while, it will lock the screen. Usually, when I move the mouse a login prompt will pop up, but sometimes it doesn't. Then it's just a black screen with the time and my full name on a bar at the top of the screen. I can move the mouse, but nothing happens when I click on anything. When this happens I am forced to hard shutdown my computer, which is obviously not good. Does anyone know how to solve this?
Locked out of Linux Mint
gnome;linux mint;screen lock
Solving the issue would involve understanding why it is happening. You should start by looking through your logs to see if there are any obvious errors; begin with /var/log/Xorg.0.log and the lightdm log at /var/log/lightdm/lightdmlog.To avoid having to do the hard shutdown, next time it happens, switch to a console with CtrlAltF1 (or any of the F_ keys between 1 and 6) and login and restart the display manager with:sudo service lightdm restartYou can then switch back to the console that X (your GUI) is running in with CtrlAltF7 where you can log back into your Mint desktop.