i posted in the computer misc help section earlier but then realized this might be the more appropriate place..

any help would be greatly appreciated.

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=72811495&f=199

My first guess would be your graphics, maybe the driver.

Weird that it would be affecting XFCE though, which has always been minimal for the most part.

how do i go about fixing this? do i need to install an intel proprietary driver? (even though i think they come preinstalled nowadays with the linux distro)

my computer has 3 gb of ram and 250 gb space but i've only partitioned 15 gb for /root and 50 gb for /home because i'm planning on saving some space for arch linux..

I use the open ATI shit driver, just barely works, I had to use XFCE for the longest time because Cinnamon would crash.

If Intel proprietary is easy to install give it a try

hm ok.

i'm also facing another problem. the brightness shortcut would sometimes work and sometimes don't...has anyone ever experienced this?

you were right the first time.