My System 76 Ratel Pro running 18.10 has developed a new problem: When I do the usual to un-dim the screen (move the mouse, lift the "lampshade"), all my windows are gone as is the background image. Only a blank purple screen remains, although the launcher is still present on the left side. The menus in the upper-right corner are also still present. If I click on an icon in the launcher for an active app, I see the usual miniature windows representing the windows that had been active for that app, but if I click on one, nothing happens.
There is a bizarre way I can recover without doing a system restart:
1. Click on any menu in the upper-right corner, such as the down-arrow one. Instead of the usual lock icon in the middle at the bottom is what looks like a "pause" button (two small parallel vertical bars).
2. Click on that "pause button". The whole screen goes dark, the activity light on the computer goes off and the monitor says it has no signal.
3. Press the power button (briefly). Things wake up and I'm prompted to log in.
4. Select user name and enter password. My session is back and my windows are visible again. It's like it's done a suspend and resume, somehow "curing" the missing windows problem in the process.
So what is going on here and how can it be fixed?
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