Linux mint 22.3 cinnamon desktop freezing, audio and mouse cursor fine.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/50117987

I’m having an issue in linux mint 22.3 cinnamon where the GUI locks up but audio still plays and the mouse cursor still moves. The solution is to press ctrl+alt+f1 to take me to a terminal and then press ctrl+alt+f7 to go back to the GUI. Then everything works fine. Forgive me, I do not know what to call the terminal when accessing ctrl+alt+f1 other than tty1.

I also have an issue where when using a browser (librewolf / waterfox / zen) and using the pop out video window, sometimes over time it will lock in the main browser window and the solution is to minimise and restore the window. Sounds related.

I am new to linux and not sure where to start. I think there is something up with the cinnamon desktop environment but I do not know what. Hardware has been stress tested, multiple components, multiple days. I think it is a software issue but could be wrong, that is why I am asking for help.

Any help / thoughts much appreciated.

Thank you.