I have three problems currently and wanted to see if anyone could help me.

Issue one- When I restart my laptop it will not reboot correctly, I will just get a black screen but the actual hardware is on (fans). So I have to do a hard reset (hold down the power button) then it's completely off and then I normally just push the power button again and it loads normally. Same happens when I turn it off. Once off I normally press the power button to turn it on and again just a black screen with the hardware all lit up and have to do the same steps as a restart.

Issue two- My wifi/internet connection just drops out and I can't figure out why. I will be watching a movie or just browsing the forums and it just drops. I turn the wifi off and then on again and it just says "connecting" so I found a weird workaround by rebooting my laptop which is a pain if you the reader, read issue one! How can I fix this? What do I do?

Issue three- Not a big thing, just curious. When I either turn on or restart my system it prompts me to select Linux, Linux Compatibility mode, or System Options. Anyway around that? Just go straight into the OS?

I'm running Linux Mint Rafa....something. I'm extremely new to this and have no clue what to do.

Thanks


Edit- About the wifi. It's not my router. No problems with the other computers and gadgets.

Sounds like an ACPI issue or graphics drivers. Could you post your system's specification by opening Terminal and typing:

inxi -F

Then copy and paste the output to pastebin and post the link to it here. It might have to do with WiFi drivers in use. I could possibly tell you more when I see your wireless adapter model after you have posted your specs. If you only have one OS installed on your laptop, this GRUB boot prompt should be hidden by default. I will tell you how to modify that, but please confirm if indeed Mint is the only OS on your computer at the moment.

http://pastebin.com/HCKqKigQ

That I know of I only have one OS installed now.

Ok.

Could you execute the following command from terminal and paste the output like before:

cat /etc/default/grub

Also, open up the program called Driver Manager and, if not a problem, type what is written there on pastebin, or take a screenshot and post it here.

That I will need to tackle issues one and three.


For issue two, run this in terminal:

gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be.conf

When text editor opens you will see a blank file, then enter the followin text in it:

options rtl8723be fwlps=0

Save and close the editor. Reboot your computer and hopefully your wifi should work normally.

http://pastebin.com/yP8iWwFt

One last problem I forgot to mention I have this weird little white box that follows my mouse cursor around the screen. I noticed that when I leave my laptop alone and goes into sleep mode and I exit out of sleep mode that little box is gone.

Holy smokes! It worked! Thank you so much! How did you figure it out? Do you run Gentoo?

sudo apt-get install radeontool

This means, if you want to use opensource radeon driver. This alone should suffice. This is worth reporting here. You will need to report inxi -F information.

But probably its just to old kernel.
You can try adding PPA of Liquorix kernel something similar on Linux Mint, plus this.

- GPU driver to drive GPU chip itself seats in kernel. Newer kernel means better hardware support.
- GPU driver to translate OpenGL calls into specific commands for kernel part (userspace part, its in /usr/share/lib/...) sits in libdrm, mesa, xserver-xorg-video-ati. Newer version these packages usually means better 3D performance.

In case of proprietary drivers, kernel part is loaded as kernel module, so kernel version must be supported by proprietary driver, and it installs own libraries - so Xorg version also must be supported.

As an overview:
Catalyst is proprietary, supports newer hardware faster, has a bit more features, OpenGL4.5.
Radeon is opensource, supports hardware nearly indefinitely, may have less application-specific bugs, OpenGL ~3.3-4.2. Does not taint kernel.

In the past, Catalyst proprietary was called Fglrx and was complete shipwreck. As time passed it started to work more-less reliably. Recently it gained stability and shares kernel code with open driver. Its currently targeted as driver with more ("legally encumbered") features for newest hardware, until open driver arrives to you as part of kernel update.

Radeon opensource driver went from 1 fps and Opengl1.x at start of 2013 to 300 fps and OpenGL3.3 at end of 2014. Its hardware support base is reliable for anything at HD3xxx and up, but basic stuff may work since R200/8500. Its currently targeted as long term support open driver with very adequate performance and features.

Glad it works, you're welcome. Just a little bit of experience :) And I too run mostly Mint.

Big congrats on your switch to Linux and I must say I'm impressed with how you followed everything through. For a newbie penguin you surely found your way around with ease. After those terminal excursions, you're now officialy a geek :)

Enjoy your new adventure!

YAYYYYY! Thanks but you were very thorough with your instructions. When I have some down time I'm going to check out the Linux tutorials. Whats taint kernal? Just from reading your post I have a lot to learn=)

Here you go ;)
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/118116/linux-what-is-a-tainted-kernel