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Hello, I had this problem a couple of times, it didn't bother me but i would like to know what caused it. I used Linux Mint 9 Xfce as usual surfing the web, etc. and don't think i pressed any keyboard shortcut. Suddenly mint boot splash screen appeared and I couldn't get out of it, I waited but nothing happened so I had to reboot. Could this be a hardware/ overheating problem? The PC is kinda old (512MB RAM) but works ok apart from being loud.
A problem such as you describe can be caused by a huge number of different things. A poor or failing PSU can cause a huge number of problems due to incorrect voltages, etc. Bad RAM can similarly cause the problem you describe. A damaged hard drive can be a problem... the list goes on.
How to diagnose what is wrong? Well, you could start by running memtest, which will do as it says and examine the RAM for problems. Memtest is free to download. If you have a non-ssd hard drive, which is probably the case if it's old, then you can try Spinrite on it. Spinrite is not free, but is not expensive either. It is a worthwhile tool in any case. This program will examine the disc for bad sectors, recover the data and move it to a good spot. A failing PSU is difficult for the average person to diagnose. Usually easiest to swap out the PSU for a known good one, and see if the problem happens again.
Alternatively, you could try running Mint from the live disc, or even reinstall it in case it had an installation issue.
I could go on, listing hardware and software potential problem areas, but this is where google is your friend.
Hope this helps
Thank you for a detailed explanation.