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**dibl** · Nov 19, 2007, 10:53 AM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

All Gnome programs don't run correctly on the K Display Manager (KDM) X server. I don't personally have a wealth of knowledge on the subject, but I tried to get that excellent little Gnome system monitor to run on Kubuntu, and it would appear to run until the first click on a tab, and then it crashed every time.

To run Gnome programs reliably, you need to be running the Gnome Display Manager (GDM) X server, which is the default Ubuntu setup. It is possible to install the ubuntu-desktop package (so I am told) on a Kubuntu system, and then you have the option to run one or the other when you do the GUI login. But you can't run both simultaneously, AFAIK.

**SheeEttin** · Nov 19, 2007, 04:00 PM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

Hmm.
Synaptic is a GTK application, but people never complained of crashes... I'm betting this is a problem with your system.

So, troubleshooting. Hm.
Umm... Have you ever run a GUI app (like Inkscape or Kate) with sudo to run it as root (i.e. "sudo kate")?

**Eippi** · Nov 20, 2007, 08:43 AM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

Thank You for your replies.

I have run GTK apps very successfully on my previous installations (which include various version of suse (9.1-10.0) and some previous Kubuntu distributions). I never had problems with programs like firefox, which is so unstable now, that I cannot even consider using it daily as my regular browser.

I installed Inkscape again yesterday with autopackage found in their website and it works now fine, so I guess the problem is in my .deb installer files gotten from the reposity or something, but I wouldn't like to install by whole system again for no guarantees for success. I guess, there might be a corrupted dependency file or something like that.

UPDATE: I just used inkscape and it crashed after just 25 secs of using, so I guess I'm back to zero.
UPDATE 2: And the kdesu option doesn't help, atleast not with inkscape.

I haven't tried running with kdesu or sudo, but I guess I'll have to try that with the rest of my apps, which aren't working usably yet. (Btw. Isn't Kate a KDE app? =))

**dibl** · Nov 20, 2007, 09:20 AM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

Yes, kate is a KDE app, and Firefox is NOT a GTK app, specifically, AFAIK.

Soooooo, I'm going to suggest that (a) your problem is not necessarily just a GTK problem, and (b) SheeEttin is probably right -- there must be something else going on in the system.

Have you received any backtrace error outputs when a KDE app crashed? Usually they're pretty good about offering the backtrace.

BTW, DON'T run KDE apps with a "sudo" prefix, to run as root, use "kdesu". Running them with "sudo" could be a cause of system problems (like the ones you're reporting ...).

I'm not the guru to diagnose your running OS -- I guess you might want to start studying up on the log files that the system creates in the /var/log directory. :P

**Eippi** · Nov 20, 2007, 11:37 AM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

Guess so then.

My system has been in other ways pretty unstable too (Kwin and kicker crash sometimes often and amarok crashes WAY too often.)

So, guess I'll have to dig in and try to find the problem. Thanks.

**dibl** · Nov 20, 2007, 11:49 AM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

When was the last time you ran memtest86 for oh, say, 4 hours?

**Eippi** · Nov 21, 2007, 12:11 PM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

I ran memtest86+ from the Kubuntu installation CD and it went through in 55mins and had no errors.

Though I did this after I had first tried memtester, which jammed, removed my 1GT DDR-pin from the computer, rebooted, run memtester, which was killed by bash, and then put the pin back and run memtest86+.

So, It might be that the removing might have helped, or then not. But I'll look into to it. Kwin hasn't yet crashed, though I haven't had my KDE open for more than 10 minutes now, but hopefully that might have solved something. Memtester seems to be running now fine, atleast for 8850 runs now =)

Thank You very much for Your help. I'll post if the problems continue.

**dibl** · Nov 21, 2007, 12:16 PM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

Originally posted by Eippi

I ran memtest86+ from the Kubuntu installation CD and it went through in 55mins and had no errors.

OK, that's one pass, but most of the technical advice I've seen on the subject of memory testing recommends 3 passes minimum, if you want to be confident that installed memory is not a problem. For me, with 4GB installed, that is a 7 hour process, even with my fast CPU :P

Possibly when you reseated your DIMM, you corrected a problem -- that has happened before too, just a little fuzz in the socket and you can have an intermittent contact.

**Eippi** · Nov 21, 2007, 12:53 PM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

Kwin crashed again (with no info WHY), so guess It's time to make a 4x run tomorrow.

Thanks.

**dibl** · Nov 21, 2007, 01:04 PM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

Another possibility to consider is your power supply (PSU). Sometimes they can develop an intermittent (low voltage or low amperage) situation on the line to the motherboard that allows "glitches" to happen to the CPU and/or memory. Probably this would show up as a sudden bunch of memory faults if you are running memtest86, and it also might make the video card (running the X server display) restart as well. Just a thought ....

**Eippi** · Nov 22, 2007, 07:17 AM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

I ran the memtest86+ app this morning for 8 times (which took about 8h) and it got 8 clean passes, so the problem isn't in the memory.

I have a Asus 6K laptop, so if the problem is in the PSU it will be quite hard to fix. =) But I doubt if is it possible, 'cause wouldn't the system use the battery if there is a low voltage? In common sense one could think so. And is there a way to test the PSU?

**dibl** · Nov 22, 2007, 07:51 AM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

Originally posted by Eippi

I ran the memtest86+ app this morning for 8 times (which took about 8h) and it got 8 clean passes, so the problem isn't in the memory.

I have a Asus 6K laptop, so if the problem is in the PSU it will be quite hard to fix. =) But I doubt if is it possible, 'cause wouldn't the system use the battery if there is a low voltage? In common sense one could think so. And is there a way to test the PSU?

Excellent! Well, if it ran 8 hours fault-free, then I think you can rule out problems with the motherboard, PSU, and memory (that's good news!). We can still wonder about the display hardware (graphics chip and its memory). Also, we can wonder if there's some thermal problem happening when you are running the system that doesn't happen with just memtest running. Do you have any kind of thermal sensor running? Linux provides the package "lm-sensors" which you can install, and then you run the sensors-detect command in super user mode:

Code:

 sudo sensors-detect

and it will set up the sensor inputs to be provided onscreen with a utility like Ksysguard.

Another thing you could do, to see if this is a *buntu-specific or a more generic problem, is make a Live CD with some other OS (take your pick, there are many) and play with that in graphical mode for awhile and see if it also crashes.

http://distrowatch.com/

Those are my ideas at this moment -- hope one of them helps!

**Eippi** · Nov 22, 2007, 05:31 PM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

OMG, impossible!

I put the sensors working, and put them into ksysguard. Then I "made some heat": Ran 7 glxgears, 6 youtube videos, amarok playing, started inkscape and gimp and did big vectors with inkscape to get as much heat as possible.

Result: After a 1 hour (!) of succesful gimping and inkscaping, without ANY crashes (except for amarok, but that's normal.) I got bored and tired and shut all 'em down and decided that I should report about this insanity and get sleeping (it's 01:27 now =)).

I guess it's so that when you try to get result they never come. =) I know that my notebook can sometimes produce CPU heat over 80C's, but now: it didn't get over 65C for the whole time (1h of 1,5GT in RAM and 100% processor use.). Though I was unable to get my nvidias temps, I think that the problem might really be in the heat, 'cause the system didn't get too high temps now <=> No crashes. I'll look into the temperatures later, when my inkscape, kwin or gimp crashes next time, so I'll get more hints, but it seems now, that the problem might even be solved in the near future. =)

Thank You very much dibl. =)

PS. I even got the things made which the crashes had stopped =)

Hopefully I don't have to get to the Live CD section. :P

**Eippi** · Nov 22, 2007, 05:32 PM

Re: GTK programs crash losing connection to the "X-server"

Btw. My PSU voltage was stable for the whole process.

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