Taskbar disappears on reboot & speakers buzz on reboot

[WeeWooWee]

Hello! I have Kubuntu 21.10 installed on a laptop with an external monitor, but I leave the laptop lid closed most of the time as I don't use the laptop display. Every time I reboot, or shutdown and turn back on the laptop, the taskbar at the bottom disappears. I have to run

plasmashell --replace

in order to get it back. Is there any way I can just have the taskbar show up without having to restart plasmashell? Also, whenever I restart my laptop, as soon as it starts to turn off, there is a loud buzzing sound through the external speakers I have plugged in through the audio jack, which stops as soon as the computer is completely off.
CPU: Intel i7 5500U
GPU: NVIDIA GeFore GTX 950M
RAM: 8gb
HDD: 256gb SSD

[jlittle]

For the first problem, plasmashell is crashing. Usually, there's some saved state that is corrupt, usually somewhere in ~/.config or ~/.local. Sometimes looking in ~/.xsession-errors can give clues about what is happening.

A good first step is to add new user, and log in as that user to see if the problem exists for that user. If not, the quickest way out is to rename files in your home directory, test, then rename them back. For example, mv .config .config-bak. This can be tedious; I start with files and directories matching ~/.config/plasma*.

If the problem occurs for the new user, something is badly wrong and the quickest way out is to backup and reinstall the OS. Again, tedious, but can be quick. Using btrfs tricks can help a lot (I do a full Kubuntu install in 7 minutes, without affecting the existing installation.)

[WeeWooWee]

Thank you for your help! I reinstalled Kubuntu and everything seems to be working well now, and the taskbar shows up like it should (the new user was broken too). However, the buzzing speakers on reboot problem still persists. Is there anything I can do about that?

[Snowhog]

As to your buzzing speakers. Just to eliminate internal hardware and/or software, does this buzzing occur through the laptop speakers if you disconnect the external speakers?

[WeeWooWee]

No, the buzzing does not occur when the external speakers are unplugged.

[Snowhog]

Then it is 'possible' that the speakers themselves are the problem. What brand? How old?

[WeeWooWee]

The speakers are the Logitech Z323, maybe a year or two old? If it helps, I've never had this problem when Windows was installed on the laptop.

[claydoh]

Buzzing can be from interference from other cables and wires that may be nearby or touching, and possible from dirt or junk in the jack, maybe. My plug-in speakers have an awful buzz if they are not fully plugged in all the way, and while plugging or unplugging it, more likely if I have not moved any USB, HDMI or ethernet cables out of the way.

If other speakers or headphones don't exhibit the buzz, you can look at the plug on the speakers. If they do, then maybe look at the jack. An alternative might be to try a cheap USB sound card dongle - they are usually dirt cheap online.