GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

[wanderer]

Hi all

I have kubuntu 8.10 installed under vmware server 1. After updating to KDE 4.2.1 and restarting, i immediately faced the "plasma crash issue", more or less what has already been reported here). After searching around a bit, i saw some suggestions from users facing the same issue. So i tried the following:

- renaming ~/.kde/share/config/plasma-appletsrc to something else
- renaming ~/.kde/share/config/plasmarc to something else
- renaming /usr/share/kubuntu-default-settings/kde4-profile/default/share/config$/plasma-appletsrc to something else

Unfortunately, these have not helped much. Now, then i try to login from KDE GUI, after some screen flashing i get a black screen instead of a plasma crash and the system stops responding. Pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL (or rather CTRL+ALT+INS since i'm in vmware), the system cold-restarts (not shutting-down normally, just reboots) after ~15 seconds.

Anyone having any ideas on what to do next or where to look? I expected a patch to be released soon, after i saw that others are having the same problem but nothing has come up yet.

I'm performing updates and upgrades with apt-get daily but still no luck...

[StarWolf]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

in my case had to delete the files with sudo rm /usr/share/kubuntu-default-settings/kde4-profile/default/share/config$/plasma-appletsrc once id did that i was just fine however maybe renaming would have worked ? id try removing those three files with sudo rm

[wanderer]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

in my case had to delete the files with sudo rm /usr/share/kubuntu-default-settings/kde4-profile/default/share/config$/plasma-appletsrc once id did that i was just fine however maybe renaming would have worked ? id try removing those three files with sudo rm

I "sudo mv" 'd them, in the same folder with a different name. I expected it to work, the file's name has indeed been changed. I restarted the virtual machine but no luck. I didn't want to delete them just in case they are of any use to anyone trying to spot a bug in there...

[StarWolf]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

ok well just a thought hope all works out . theres liley an update soon ? we will see

[Fenix-TX]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

Try showing if your ~/.kde/share/config/kwinrc has these lines:

[Compositing]
AnimationSpeed=3
Backend=OpenGL 
DisableChecks=false
Enabled=true    
GLDirect=true   
GLMode=TFP     
GLTextureFilter=1 
GLVSync=false   
HiddenPreviews=5  
XRenderSmoothScale=false

Change "Enabled=true" to "Enabled=false". If your kwinrc doesn't have those lines, then add the section Compositing with that option. Restart X Server (Alt+E from KDM) and try to login again. If not, perhaps you don't have some plasma packages or libraries.

[wanderer]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

Try showing if your ~/.kde/share/config/kwinrc has these lines:

Change "Enabled=true" to "Enabled=false".

This section didn't exist at all. I added it as you suggested but unfortunately nothing changed.

If not, perhaps you don't have some plasma packages or libraries.

KDE 4.2.0 worked just fine for quite some time. What could have gone wrong with the update? Everything seem to have been downloaded properly. I wonder how could there be missing libraries. Wouldn't the repeated apt-get's i did, fix any missing packages/libs?

In any case, how could i check if there's anything missing?

[Fenix-TX]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

From a virtual terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F[1...6]), try executing startx.

[wanderer]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

From a virtual terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F[1...6]), try executing startx.

From the login screen, i went to "console login" and then startx and... success! Though it seems a default setup has been used (probably because of all the plasma files i renamed), it has logged-in to kde and seems to work. Logging-out and loggin-in from the ALT+F7 default X screen though has the same results. Virtual PC frozen.

It seems promising... Any more good ideas perhaps?

EDIT1: I restored all 3 files i mentioned in my first post. Now when i login with startx, i get the plasma crash again. Nice. It seems there are two different things that are messed up here.

EDIT2: deleting file ~/.kde/share/config/plasmarc, then startx. Problem solved. Everything loads normally with my KDE 4.2.0 settings. So now the only question is why logging-in from the default screen freezes... Thanks for the help so far Fenix-TX. If you have any more ideas...

[GreyGeek]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

I am running Kubuntu 9.04 beta5 updated to KDE 4.2.1
(sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade)
and the only issue I am having is FF3's live zombie crashing after a time, and the dcopserver stopping on its own. Neither seem to cause any problems with anything I run. (Flight Sim, Stellarium, QtCreator, PostgreSQL, Thunderbird, Dolphin, etc.....).

If 8.10 is giving you so much trouble perhaps 9.04 is a better solution?

[wanderer]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

If 8.10 is giving you so much trouble perhaps 9.04 is a better solution?

Well, so far i've been using only "stable" versions and 8.10 is considered stable. I don't like playing with alphas/betas, i just need a system that works. 8.10 with KDE 4.2.0 worked like a charm for me. It was 4.2.1 that ruined everything...

With Fenix-TX's great help, i seems the situation has greatly improved though. I hope i manage to resolve the last remaining issue and continue with 8.10 for the next couple of months, until 9.04 is officially released.

[GreyGeek]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

If 8.10 is giving you so much trouble perhaps 9.04 is a better solution?

Well, so far i've been using only "stable" versions and 8.10 is considered stable. I don't like playing with alphas/betas, i just need a system that works. 8.10 with KDE 4.2.0 worked like a charm for me. It was 4.2.1 that ruined everything...

With Fenix-TX's great help, i seems the situation has greatly improved though. I hope i manage to resolve the last remaining issue and continue with 8.10 for the next couple of months, until 9.04 is officially released.

There is LOTS of great help on this forum. I have no doubt that they will help you find a solution that will keep 8,10 runninng for as long as you want.

[wanderer]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

After searching around for several days, i still have not found a solution to the blank screen issue i'm facing. When kubuntu starts up, i enter my password and after pressing enter i see the login screen flashing a couple of times and then it goes black and it remains frozen there (i have to perform a CTRL+ALT+INS (DEL) to restart, CTRL+ALT+Backspace does nothing). If instead i go to console login (ALT+N), login there and use startx, it loads the X server normally.

Could anyone please tell me what is the difference between the two ways of starting the X server? I assume some extra tasks take place in the normal login screen which probably cause the freezing i'm facing. Are there any config files i could perhaps look for abnormalities?

TIA

[GreyGeek]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

I believe the black screen issue is common with certain video chips. My Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E/H has a G45 chip and instead of a black screen it gave me a light, dirty gray screen, not a black one, but black screens were reported. In the background I could hear KDE4 starting up and then the melody which indicates it has completed its install and is ready to use could be heard, but I could not access it because my video chip was not correctly configured. This was on Mandriva 2009 PWP. I posted bug report at xorg's bugzilla last October and watched as they explored it. In February they discovered the problem and I expected to see the solution filter down to my desktop by late summer or early fall.

I was surprised and delighted to discover that Jaunty could properly detect and configure my G45 chip to give me an excellent 1600X900 display with 3D accelerated video.

However, there were a couple times when I encountered EXACTLY what you described when, during an update, the kernel was updated to. I discovered that a certain file, ~/.ICEauthority, had its ownership changed from me to root. To fix it I did the following:
1) Ctl+Atl+F2 to open a console.
2) login
3) issue "sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop"
4) issue "sudo chown jerry:jerry ~/.ICEauthority" but use your account name, not "jerry"
5) issue "sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start"

If that is your problem you should be presented with the continuation of the KDE login process leading to the desktop.

[wanderer]

Re: GUI issues after updating KDE from 4.2 to 4.2.1

I believe the black screen issue is common with certain video chips.

I'm running kubuntu under VMWare. I checked what you said though but it seems i'm the owner of .ICEauthority, not root. The only file in my profile that had root as the owner was .usb-creator.log. I changed the owner of that to me, just in case, but unfortunately no luck.

Thanks for the tip anyway.