Disabling the virtual keyboard fixed every issue I've been having, amazing!
I don't need it and don't even remember turning it on to be honest. thanks again for your patience and research with this issue.
the output wasn't something I paid much attention to since I needed a friend to help me with it. I can grab it if it helps.
My drivers are obtained via Linux mints built in driver manager. I use the recommended drivers (nvidia-driver-590-open)