[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]
List: kde
Subject: Re: [kde] Plasma-desktop bug, desktop completely black but still able to open windows
From: "dE ." <de.techno () gmail ! com>
Date: 2013-03-23 13:45:19
Message-ID: CADofXPC+H6TVhvVpnS-et5bJfhSq5H84owxtLpbc_BCquQLJYg () mail ! gmail ! com
[Download RAW message or body]
[Attachment #2 (multipart/alternative)]
On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 9:13 AM, Britt Mathis <britt.mathis@gmail.com>wrote:
> On 03/21/2013 04:45 PM, Duncan wrote:
>
>> Britt Mathis posted on Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:29:20 -0400 as excerpted:
>>
>> This is my first post to a mailing list ever, so I apologize in advance
>>> if this has already been resolved or I am in violation of post etiquette
>>> in some way.
>>>
>> FWIW, your post was quite good, with one exception. Good: You included
>> the kde version, a reasonable description of the problem, and what you'd
>> done to narrow it down and/or try to fix it yourself (start plasma from
>> the command line, etc). You'd be surprised at the number of people who
>> include no version information at all, or if they do, it's for some
>> distribution (not for kde) that others may or may not be at all familiar
>> with. That's always frustrating as it's so simple to include, but takes
>> another round of question and reply to get when it's not included, and
>> there's often several rounds of that as it is.
>>
>> Single bad point: Many list regulars have been working with computers
>> for quite some time, and are traditional enough to consider HTML messages
>> bad form, at minimum. I do, but also realize that a lot of people don't
>> even know they're posting in HTML in the first place, until someone
>> requests they don't. (Sometimes people who don't even like HTML
>> themselves end up posting in it themselves, if they're running a mailer
>> that defaults to HTML and "forgets" their preferences, and I get thanked
>> for pointing it out so they can fix it, so it's easy enough to do.) From
>> this perspective, if it has to be dressed up in HTML to be worth reading,
>> it's not worth reading at all, and the people who post in HTML can be
>> broken down into four camps: The spammers, who often use HTML to hide
>> some of their filter avoidance tricks, the malware folks (often a spammer
>> subtype), who use it to obfuscate links and try to trick people, and/or
>> to track readership without permission (web bugs), and/or to exploit a
>> known security vuln in some HTML parsing mail client or other, the people
>> who simply don't realize the problem or that they're doing it, and the
>> rude folks who simply don't care. Fortunately, many people are in the
>> third category and only need it pointed out and they stop. After all,
>> irritating the folks who might have your answer isn't generally a good
>> idea.
>>
>> (FWIW, your post had two portions, an HTML and a plain text portion. But
>> had I been kill-filing all HTML messages as some do, I'd have never seen
>> the message and thus would have never replied...)
>>
>> I am running KDE 4.10.1. Every time I customize the desktop and reboot,
>>> I still get the splash animation, but I am booted into a completely
>>> black screen. I am then able to use kRunner to open any application and
>>> the applications function normally. As far as I can tell this is
>>> specifically affecting plasma.
>>>
>> Yes. KDE is deliberately modularized enough so that barring either two
>> different bugs or a single bug so bad it affects both, you'll always have
>> either krunner or plasma available to launch other apps with, even if the
>> other one has crashed, as plasma seems to be doing in your case.
>>
>> When I try starting plasma for the command line, I get a lengthy error
>>> message (I can replicate this bug and post an exact message if you all
>>> would like). The main error is an X error, BadPixMap invalid parameter -
>>> 4.
>>>
>> Unfortunately, much of kde appears to be designed with the assumption
>> that nobody but the developers runs anything from the command line or
>> with STDOUT/STDERR redirected to a file in ordered to try to debug
>> problems. As a result, when run from the command line or with STD*
>> captured, kde apps routinely spit out a huge amount of alarming looking
>> but non-fatal "noise" that's arguably of interest to the devs themselves,
>> but is just that, noise, to a power user or admin trying to debug a
>> problem, but who now can't see the real problem due to the volume of
>> "normal" messages, now noise hiding the signal of worth that he's trying
>> to find!
>>
>> I googled this and didn't really get anything recent. I have managed to
>>> isolate this bug to when I resize my panel or when I add too many icons
>>> to my panel. Everything else survived rebooting several times.
>>>
>>> I appreciate any help you guys can give me. Again, I apologize if this
>>> has already been resolved.
>>>
>> Here's a few hints, anyway:
>>
>> 1) Important! Please backup your $KDEHOME/share/config/plasma-**desktop-
>> appletsrc file. ($KDEHOME defaulting to ~/.kde or sometimes ~/.kde4,
>> depending on distro.) If this file gets corrupted, you lose all the
>> customizations you have and may need to start from the defaults, as while
>> it is a text-based file, it's too complex to /easily/ edit by hand. At
>> least having a backup will let you easily restore it if necessary. I've
>> had to do that a few times here.
>>
>> 2) With the backup made and plasma not running, try deleting the above
>> file and see if you can then successfully reconfigure plasma. If so,
>> it's a problem in the existing file.
>>
>> 3) Try temporarily turning off desktop effects. Sometimes they are the
>> problem, but can be reenabled after the desired adjustment has been made.
>>
>> Gotta head to work now. Later!
>>
> Thank you so much for your reply, Duncan. I was unaware that I was using
> html and not plain text, hopefully I have fixed the issue now.
>
> As far as the bug is concerned, I had already renamed that file and
> started the desktop back up, which worked. I have been experimenting with
> customizations and I have narrowed the bug down to the icons being placed
> on the panel. I know I had some bash scripts that ran wine games on there,
> maybe that could have caused the issue. I will test this more thoroughly
> and get back to you all, if this is indeed a kde issue and not an issue
> with one of the packages.
>
> Thanks again for your help,
> Britt
>
Can you please check the file ".xsession-errors" in your home directory?
Also are desktop effects enabled?
[Attachment #5 (text/html)]
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 9:13 AM, Britt Mathis <span \
dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:britt.mathis@gmail.com" \
target="_blank">britt.mathis@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote \
class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc \
solid;padding-left:1ex"> <div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">On 03/21/2013 04:45 PM, \
Duncan wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 \
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> Britt Mathis posted on Thu, 21 Mar \
2013 13:29:20 -0400 as excerpted:<br> <br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc \
solid;padding-left:1ex"> This is my first post to a mailing list ever, so I apologize \
in advance<br> if this has already been resolved or I am in violation of post \
etiquette<br> in some way.<br>
</blockquote>
FWIW, your post was quite good, with one exception. Good: You included<br>
the kde version, a reasonable description of the problem, and what you'd<br>
done to narrow it down and/or try to fix it yourself (start plasma from<br>
the command line, etc). You'd be surprised at the number of people who<br>
include no version information at all, or if they do, it's for some<br>
distribution (not for kde) that others may or may not be at all familiar<br>
with. That's always frustrating as it's so simple to include, but takes<br>
another round of question and reply to get when it's not included, and<br>
there's often several rounds of that as it is.<br>
<br>
Single bad point: Many list regulars have been working with computers<br>
for quite some time, and are traditional enough to consider HTML messages<br>
bad form, at minimum. I do, but also realize that a lot of people don't<br>
even know they're posting in HTML in the first place, until someone<br>
requests they don't. (Sometimes people who don't even like HTML<br>
themselves end up posting in it themselves, if they're running a mailer<br>
that defaults to HTML and "forgets" their preferences, and I get \
thanked<br> for pointing it out so they can fix it, so it's easy enough to do.) \
From<br> this perspective, if it has to be dressed up in HTML to be worth \
reading,<br> it's not worth reading at all, and the people who post in HTML can \
be<br> broken down into four camps: The spammers, who often use HTML to hide<br>
some of their filter avoidance tricks, the malware folks (often a spammer<br>
subtype), who use it to obfuscate links and try to trick people, and/or<br>
to track readership without permission (web bugs), and/or to exploit a<br>
known security vuln in some HTML parsing mail client or other, the people<br>
who simply don't realize the problem or that they're doing it, and the<br>
rude folks who simply don't care. Fortunately, many people are in the<br>
third category and only need it pointed out and they stop. After all,<br>
irritating the folks who might have your answer isn't generally a good<br>
idea.<br>
<br>
(FWIW, your post had two portions, an HTML and a plain text portion. But<br>
had I been kill-filing all HTML messages as some do, I'd have never seen<br>
the message and thus would have never replied...)<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc \
solid;padding-left:1ex"> I am running KDE 4.10.1. Every time I customize the desktop \
and reboot,<br> I still get the splash animation, but I am booted into a \
completely<br> black screen. I am then able to use kRunner to open any application \
and<br> the applications function normally. As far as I can tell this is<br>
specifically affecting plasma.<br>
</blockquote>
Yes. KDE is deliberately modularized enough so that barring either two<br>
different bugs or a single bug so bad it affects both, you'll always have<br>
either krunner or plasma available to launch other apps with, even if the<br>
other one has crashed, as plasma seems to be doing in your case.<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc \
solid;padding-left:1ex"> When I try starting plasma for the command line, I get a \
lengthy error<br> message (I can replicate this bug and post an exact message if you \
all<br> would like). The main error is an X error, BadPixMap invalid parameter -<br>
4.<br>
</blockquote>
Unfortunately, much of kde appears to be designed with the assumption<br>
that nobody but the developers runs anything from the command line or<br>
with STDOUT/STDERR redirected to a file in ordered to try to debug<br>
problems. As a result, when run from the command line or with STD*<br>
captured, kde apps routinely spit out a huge amount of alarming looking<br>
but non-fatal "noise" that's arguably of interest to the devs \
themselves,<br> but is just that, noise, to a power user or admin trying to debug \
a<br> problem, but who now can't see the real problem due to the volume of<br>
"normal" messages, now noise hiding the signal of worth that he's \
trying<br> to find!<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc \
solid;padding-left:1ex"> I googled this and didn't really get anything recent. I \
have managed to<br> isolate this bug to when I resize my panel or when I add too many \
icons<br> to my panel. Everything else survived rebooting several times.<br>
<br>
I appreciate any help you guys can give me. Again, I apologize if this<br>
has already been resolved.<br>
</blockquote>
Here's a few hints, anyway:<br>
<br>
1) Important! Please backup your $KDEHOME/share/config/plasma-<u></u>desktop-<br>
appletsrc file. ($KDEHOME defaulting to ~/.kde or sometimes ~/.kde4,<br>
depending on distro.) If this file gets corrupted, you lose all the<br>
customizations you have and may need to start from the defaults, as while<br>
it is a text-based file, it's too complex to /easily/ edit by hand. At<br>
least having a backup will let you easily restore it if necessary. I've<br>
had to do that a few times here.<br>
<br>
2) With the backup made and plasma not running, try deleting the above<br>
file and see if you can then successfully reconfigure plasma. If so,<br>
it's a problem in the existing file.<br>
<br>
3) Try temporarily turning off desktop effects. Sometimes they are the<br>
problem, but can be reenabled after the desired adjustment has been made.<br>
<br>
Gotta head to work now. Later!<br>
</blockquote></div></div>
Thank you so much for your reply, Duncan. I was unaware that I was using html and not \
plain text, hopefully I have fixed the issue now.<br> <br>
As far as the bug is concerned, I had already renamed that file and started the \
desktop back up, which worked. I have been experimenting with customizations and I \
have narrowed the bug down to the icons being placed on the panel. I know I had some \
bash scripts that ran wine games on there, maybe that could have caused the issue. I \
will test this more thoroughly and get back to you all, if this is indeed a kde issue \
and not an issue with one of the packages.<br>
<br>
Thanks again for your help,<br>
Britt<br></blockquote><div><br>Can you please check the file \
".xsession-errors" in your home directory?<br><br>Also are desktop effects \
enabled? <br></div></div>
___________________________________________________
This message is from the kde mailing list.
Account management: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde.
Archives: http://lists.kde.org/.
More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]
Configure |
About |
News |
Add a list |
Sponsored by KoreLogic