Summary
Intermittently, Cinnamon begins flashing and the window manager becomes partially unresponsive. Windows can still receive focus, but window controls cannot reliably be clicked (for example, the close button). Restarting Cinnamon with Alt+F2, r, Enter temporarily restores the session.
Environment
- Linux Mint 22.3 (Zena), based on Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble)
- Cinnamon 6.6.9+zena
- Muffin 6.6.3+zena
- CJS 115.1+zena
- Kernel 6.8.0-137-generic
- X11 session (not Wayland)
- Intel Alder Lake-P GT2 / Iris Xe graphics, i915 driver
- Mesa 25.2.8
- Two displays:
- eDP-1: 2256x1504 at 60 Hz
- DP-1: 3840x1600 at 59.99 Hz
- Kernel parameters already include
i915.enable_dc=0 i915.enable_psr=0.
Observed behavior
~/.xsession-errors contains repeated Cinnamon Gjs-CRITICAL storms. The messages say that a JavaScript callback is being run during garbage collection or during the JSAPI sweeping phase. Most affected callbacks are Clutter paint() vfuncs, directly involving Cinnamon rendering.
Example:
(cinnamon:2337): Gjs-CRITICAL **: 15:50:47.099: Attempting to run a JS callback during garbage collection. This is most likely caused by destroying a Clutter actor or GTK widget with ::destroy signal connected, or using the destroy(), dispose(), or remove() vfuncs. Because it would crash the application, it has been blocked.
The offending callback was paint(), a vfunc.
Recent incidents
- 2026-08-14, 15:50:00 to 15:51:48: 2,174
Gjs-CRITICAL messages, including 1,795 paint() callbacks. The final burst had 577 errors from 15:51:41 to 15:51:48. It also included notifications on MetaWindowX11, CinnamonWM window map/restack/effects events, GnomeWallClock, and IBus callbacks.
- 2026-08-12, 12:59:45 to 13:00:16: 1,234
Gjs-CRITICAL messages, mostly paint() callbacks.
The window-manager freeze and flashing occur during these bursts.
What has been ruled out
- No third-party Cinnamon extension is enabled.
- The only third-party desklet, BBC Weather (
bbcwx@oak-wood.co.uk), was disabled before later incidents; the issue continued.
- No relevant i915/DRM/Mesa error, GPU reset, display disconnect, Cinnamon crash, or Cinnamon/Muffin/CJS coredump was found at the incident times.
Reproduction
The issue is intermittent and no reliable trigger has been identified. The latest incident was correlated with Cinnamon window (MetaWindowX11 / CinnamonWM) events.
Summary
Intermittently, Cinnamon begins flashing and the window manager becomes partially unresponsive. Windows can still receive focus, but window controls cannot reliably be clicked (for example, the close button). Restarting Cinnamon with
Alt+F2,r,Entertemporarily restores the session.Environment
i915.enable_dc=0 i915.enable_psr=0.Observed behavior
~/.xsession-errorscontains repeated CinnamonGjs-CRITICALstorms. The messages say that a JavaScript callback is being run during garbage collection or during the JSAPI sweeping phase. Most affected callbacks are Clutterpaint()vfuncs, directly involving Cinnamon rendering.Example:
Recent incidents
Gjs-CRITICALmessages, including 1,795paint()callbacks. The final burst had 577 errors from 15:51:41 to 15:51:48. It also included notifications onMetaWindowX11, CinnamonWM window map/restack/effects events, GnomeWallClock, and IBus callbacks.Gjs-CRITICALmessages, mostlypaint()callbacks.The window-manager freeze and flashing occur during these bursts.
What has been ruled out
bbcwx@oak-wood.co.uk), was disabled before later incidents; the issue continued.Reproduction
The issue is intermittent and no reliable trigger has been identified. The latest incident was correlated with Cinnamon window (
MetaWindowX11/ CinnamonWM) events.