I have a Lenovo T430 running Linux Mint 13 (MATE):

joseph:~$ uname -a
Linux joseph-T430-LM 3.2.0-23-generic #36-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 10 20:39:51 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I installed Mint immediately after getting the laptop about two weeks ago, and have noticed that about once a day, the computer will completely freeze up- I can't use Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to restart X, I can't use Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get a text only terminal, can't move mouse, can't type, and if any music was playing it just gets stuck in about a 1-second loop. There is a Windows partition, but I haven't had any issues in Windows.

I couldn't find a common thread between the freezes, they were seemingly random (sometimes right after I clicked the mouse, sometimes not; sometimes with Pandora/flash being used, sometimes not, etc). I assume they're kernel panics since it completely locks up, but the laptop doesn't have a capslock or scroll lock LED. It is on a dock and I do have a USB keyboard, but the scroll lock/capslock lights do not flash when it happens (not sure if this is indicating its not a kernel panic, or if the kernel panic just wouldn't illuminate the LEDs on a usb keyboard attached to a laptop dock).

This was annoying but not terrible. However, I've found a way to reproduce it. I have a particular CSV file that when I open up in LibreOffice Calc and scroll around, the same thing happens- complete lock up. I really need to use this file, so I'd like to fix the issue, but at the least it's given me a test case to work with.

So, having a case where I can cause this issue, what can I do to better find out what's going on? I've looked in /var/log/syslog but haven't found anything seemingly useful. Any thoughts?