[SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

clemens · 2016-02-21 10:43:02

Hello everyone, I hope you are all well.
Somehow this morning, while running both chrome and a Virtual Machine, the screen temporarily froze (too much load?)
After things started moving again, I discovered that all the icons on the desktop (XFCE) moved a bit upwards, which in itself is not too much of a big deal, but also the top bar of the programs (the one to minimize and maximize) disappeared.
Even more oddly, when I summoned the terminal to kill an application that was covering the applications menu (I wanted to restart the computer), I could not input anything in it (and the top bar was missing)!!
When I tried to write on the address bar of the browser, what I inputed was shown in the lower search enclosure.
Eventually I managed to restart but the problem persisted and now I am writing from root, where the problem seems not to be present
I have no idea of what the cause might be.
What can I do?

Thank you again for your patience and support.
Cheers,

Clemens

--------------

Mod Edit - moved from Help&Support (not a BunsenLabs question)

Last edited by clemens (2016-02-21 14:59:08)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-02-21 10:55:35

Please don't log into your desktop as root.

Use <Ctrl>+<Alt>+F2 to drop to a TTY then post the output of this command:

DISPLAY=:0 xrandr

You can pipe the output to a text file to ease exporting:

DISPLAY=:0 xrandr > screen.txt

Or use pastebinit to generate a URL which can be posted here:

DISPLAY=:0 xrandr | pastebinit

Also:
https://xkcd.com/1479/

clemens · 2016-02-21 11:22:30

Thank you for the fast reply.
Every occasion is good to learn new things
I tried changing the resolution, but it didn't work, or perhaps I didn't do things correctly.
I also didn't know what TTY (teletypewriter) was and how to get back to the normal desktop (ctrl+alt F7), but after various attempts (and reboots) I managed to print the info to the txt file.
The results are:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2048 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-0 connected 1024x768+1024+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm
   1280x1024      60.0 +   75.0  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       85.0*    75.1     70.1     60.0  
   832x624        74.6  
   800x600        85.1     72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2  
   640x480        85.0     72.8     75.0     66.7     60.0  
   720x400        70.1  
VGA-0 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 410mm x 230mm
   1366x768       59.8 +
   1280x800       59.8  
   1280x720       60.0  
   1024x768       75.1*    70.1     60.0  
   832x624        74.6  
   800x600        72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2  
   640x480        72.8     75.0     66.7     60.0  
   720x400        70.1

Thank you also for the advice of not logging into root. From now on I will use TTY

EDIT one other thing that perplexes me is that I am not able to move the windows. The most I can do is detach individual chrome tabs, but after I place them elsewhere, they stay there as individual instances of Chrome with no top bar. To move them again I have to drag and drop just the tab again.

Last edited by clemens (2016-02-21 11:36:50)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-02-21 11:34:11

clemens wrote:

DVI-0 connected 1024x768+1024+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm

Looks like the output to DVI-0 has been shifted up 1024 pixels, I don't know if this is normal.

Please explain your physical set up in more detail.

How many screens are connected and what is their nature and disposition?

Have you tried using

arandr

to see if you can align your display?

Check your monitor settings as well.

clemens · 2016-02-21 11:52:34

Yes,

I have 2 screens: a slightly rectangular one on the left attached to the VGA port, and a square one on the right, attached to the DVI port.
Before I tried moving things on arandr, moving screens downward but I ended up having to reboot since I couldn't access anything anymore.
I feel really silly since to close windows I have to keep on going to the file tab and select close, rather than just going to the little x. And many programs, such as arandr itself, appear just on top of the AppMenu tab, so I need to close them to try to open something else.
I also have a script at startup, created by arandr, that automatically sets the screens (or at least used to do this correctly).
It is:

#!/bin/sh
xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode 1024x768 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal --output DVI-0 --mode 1024x768 --pos 1024x0 --rotate normal --output HDMI-0 --off

Should I perhaps remove it and redo the arandr settings?
I am also wondering why the terminal (and some other programs as well sometimes, such as the application finder) doesn't allow me to write on it.

Last edited by clemens (2016-02-21 11:53:30)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-02-21 12:14:42

clemens wrote:

the top bar of the programs (the one to minimize and maximize) disappeared

If you hold down <Alt> and left click on the window and drag the window down, is the top bar revealed or does it just not exist?

If there is no top bar at all, try changing the window manager theme.

Which distribution are you using?

You have posted this in Basic Help & Support which is supposed to be for BunsenLabs/Debian stable queries.

I take it that you are using the XFCE desktop then?

clemens · 2016-02-21 13:06:35

I am on Vanilla Wheezy + XFCE
I have just tried pressing the Alt left click on the various windows, but I cannot move them at all.
I have also just tried to change the appearance settings, but again, since now I am writing in Chrome, I am not able to close the window and might have to reboot to be able to be able to see the appmenu again. For now I keep on using the application launcher of which I have a icon on a ribbon on the lower part of the screen, but I can only scroll through the icons since I cannot input text.
Interestingly, when I get to the window manager in the application settings, I get a white window, no controls and settings at all

EDIT, by chance I wnt on the top right corner of chromium, right clicked and de-selected the "use system title bar and border" and magically the topbar of chromium reappeared.
Yet still, not much has changes, since I cannot move (nor resize or minimize) the window in any way

EDIT 2 I have closed the chromium window through the x on the top bar that I managed to make appear again (although all the rest, i.e. minimizing maximizing and moving don't work) and went on to load the windows manager independently, not from the appearance settings, but nothing happens. Could it be corrupted? Should I reinstall it If yes, how? I tried going on synaptic, but I cannot input text, I can only scroll down.

EDIT 3 I just found this thread https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=5806 and it seems exactly my problem.
I am now going to try deleting the session cache.

EDIT 4 it did not work Could it be because i rebooted so many times?

Cheers

Last edited by clemens (2016-02-21 13:38:10)

damo · 2016-02-21 14:11:01

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

clemens wrote:
DVI-0 connected 1024x768+1024+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm
Looks like the output to DVI-0 has been shifted up 1024 pixels, I don't know if this is normal.
....

No, that is OK - it is offset 1024 on the x-axis.

damo · 2016-02-21 14:18:16

I wonder if your `xfce4-session.xml` has been corrupted?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-02-21 14:35:45

damo wrote:

No, that is OK - it is offset 1024 on the x-axis.

Yes, of course, I'm always mixing up my axes :8

@OP: is xfwm running?

pgrep xfwm 1>/dev/null && echo yup || echo nope

Try this:

DISPLAY=:0 openbox --replace

EDIT: Also, disable any compositing.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2016-02-21 14:49:34)

clemens · 2016-02-21 14:58:09

Hello,

yup, xfwm is running.
I just tried logging out and then delete the .cache/session files from the root account and then log in again and things are back to normal.
Indeed it was related to the xfce bug https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7324
Thank you all for your help.

#1 2016-02-21 10:43:02

[SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#2 2016-02-21 10:55:35

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#3 2016-02-21 11:22:30

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#4 2016-02-21 11:34:11

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#5 2016-02-21 11:52:34

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#6 2016-02-21 12:14:42

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#7 2016-02-21 13:06:35

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#8 2016-02-21 14:11:01

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#9 2016-02-21 14:18:16

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#10 2016-02-21 14:35:45

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

#11 2016-02-21 14:58:09

Re: [SOLVED] Help, desktop messed up

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