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Desktop problem


oldwierdal
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I got Mandriva 2008.1 setup on my Dell D630 laptop yesterday, and all seemed well. This morning, there was a notification that there were updates available. So, I did the updates. I noticed that among the updates was a kernel update. So, after the update was complete, I rebooted. The boot seemed normal, but after login, the desktop had just the background and the panel, no desktop icons or launchers. I was able to go into Configure Your Computer and change the monitor configuration to Dell Laptop, log out and log in, and the desktop was back. HOWEVER, this happens EVERY time, now. This began right after the latest update, this morning.

I don't know if this hardware related or software related to the recent update.

This is the output of ;

$ /usr/bin/lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)

00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 02)

00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)

00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)

00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 02)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f2)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)

03:01.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. Cardbus bridge (rev 21)

03:01.4 FireWire (IEEE 1394): O2 Micro, Inc. Firewire (IEEE 1394) (rev 02)

09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)

0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)

 

and;

$ uname -a

Linux localhost 2.6.24.7-desktop586-1.uc2mnb #1 SMP Thu Jul 17 16:47:02 EDT 2008 i686 Intel® Core2 Duo CPU T7100 @ 1.80GHz GNU/Linux

 

I have tried booting to all the available kernels with the same results. Does anyone have a clue what might be causing this?

Thanks for any help,

owa

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Why do you have this kernel version?

2.6.24.7-desktop586-1.uc2mnb

I believe this kernel version is a test-version. Also, this kernel is for desktops, but you may want to go with a laptop kernel version. Even though there are not that many differences, it would give you better control over power control for laptops.

 

This note is a quote from rpm.pbone.net RPM search page:

NOTE: This is work-in-progress (WIP) development kernel.

If you have other kernel versions installed try booting automatically to another. Go to MCC - > boot -> Set up boot system and set your default kernel to the previous one.

Edited by dude67
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Actually it is very unlikely that you experience a kernel problem. It seems to be faulty configuration file of your desktop-environment as the only things that are missing are the icons and such minor stuff. Please create a new user account and check if the problem exists there, too. If it does, then there is something wrong with the system-wide configuration of your Desktop (KDE? Gnome? XFCE? Which one do you use?). If the problem cannot be recreated in the new user accounts, then the problem is user-specific. In that case, removing e.g. the /.kde or /.gnome config files should fix it.

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Why do you have this kernel version?

 

I believe this kernel version is a test-version. Also, this kernel is for desktops, but you may want to go with a laptop kernel version. Even though there are not that many differences, it would give you better control over power control for laptops.

 

This note is a quote from rpm.pbone.net RPM search page:

 

If you have other kernel versions installed try booting automatically to another. Go to MCC - > boot -> Set up boot system and set your default kernel to the previous one.

Actually, I found the general, if not specific, cause of the problem, and I believe that it stemmed from this kernel. I was able to boot successfully to the original kernel, 2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb, with no problem with the desktop.... that is all was normal. So, having difficulty finding the offending kernel in the add/remove software program, I installed synaptic, and found it quite readily. I removed it completely. However, the problem still remained in the 2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb kernel, so, again using synaptic, I completely removed it as well. Then I rebooted to the original 2.6.24-4 kernel, and with synaptic, I re-installed the 2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb kernel, rebooted, and all is well.

Specifically what happened, I don't know. To reiterate, I would have to open the configure Xserver, close it, log out, and then log back in. This was still the case after removing the *uc2mnb kernel with the 2.6.24-7 kernel, but the 2.6.24-4 was ok.

Anyway, all is well now with this problem.

Just as an aside, I really don't like the layout of the Add/Remove Software program. Some packages just aren't visible, such as the kernels. So, at least for the forseeable future, I'll use apt/synaptic as my package manager. Perhaps someone can point out how to see ALL the packages. It is entirely possible that I am just not quite used to the Mandriva way of things yet.

Thanks for the reply.

owa

Edited by oldwierdal
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Actually it is very unlikely that you experience a kernel problem. It seems to be faulty configuration file of your desktop-environment as the only things that are missing are the icons and such minor stuff. Please create a new user account and check if the problem exists there, too. If it does, then there is something wrong with the system-wide configuration of your Desktop (KDE? Gnome? XFCE? Which one do you use?). If the problem cannot be recreated in the new user accounts, then the problem is user-specific. In that case, removing e.g. the /.kde or /.gnome config files should fix it.

In fact, it was the kernel, somehow. Read my reply to the previous poster, dude67. Just from 40 years of troubleshooting problems, I determined that the problem started with the update which had finished just prior to the onset of the problem. Since the update included a kernel update, that became my most likely suspect.

However, I do appreciate you taking the time and interest to respond. Thank you.

 

More an other time.

 

owa

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Glad you got it sorted out! :thumbs:

 

Just as an aside, I really don't like the layout of the Add/Remove Software program. Some packages just aren't visible, such as the kernels. So, at least for the forseeable future, I'll use apt/synaptic as my package manager. Perhaps someone can point out how to see ALL the packages. It is entirely possible that I am just not quite used to the Mandriva way of things yet.

Thanks for the reply.

owa

You can see all the packages by choosing ALL from the drop-down menu on the left. It's (for some odd reason) set to GUI packages by default...

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