Linux Mint 12, no panels, just desktop with 2 icons

[Ingenuitas]

How do you get panels in Lisa? I am used to Gnome 3, have been using it in Fedora 16 for some time now with no problems. I install Linux Mint 12 and all I see is an icon for Computer, and one for Home. Nothing else and no combination of keystrokes or mouse clicks accomplish anything. What's the secret? I've read a post about go to Advanced Settings, which is useless since all I have is an almost blank desktop, nowhere do I see Advanced Settings.

[steviejay]

No panels at all, not even the top bar?

What happens when you move your cursor to the top left of the screen?

[Ingenuitas]

No panels at all, top or bottom. When I run the mouse to the lower left corner, something pops up but it is so faded that I can't see anything in it.

[steviejay]

I suggest that you re-install

[Ingenuitas]

No, I think I'll be leaving Linux Mint. Sadly. Support is virturally non-existent. I would think that a problem this simple would have merited some response but again I am wrong. Installation is what caused this problem so I don't think re-installing is the way to go. De-installing and replacing Linxu Mint with BSD is the route I am taking.

[Lomapur]

Looks a bit like a Fallback mode for me.

[encodr]

Experienced the same problem after install and then update.
- in virtualbox on Mac with nvidia graphics.
Is this relevant: during update I was asked if I wanted to keep or overwrite some gnome default. I choose overwrite, since I hadn't (deliberately) made any changes.

Trying to login again, I notice that my default session type has been changed.

*** As a sort of fix *** :

At login screen, click on the gear icon above the password box, and choose MATE. Then some sort of desktop will be presented.
I then choose to install cinnamon, which again was usable after logout/login.
But I also choose to install LXDE and I'll probably stick with that.

e

[crisparmour]

I suggest that you re-install

I'm having the same problem too, but re-installing isn't going to solve anything.

I had the problem in the live environment on the Linux Format DVD so I downloaded the DVD from the Mint site and burned it and ran it only to find it just the same.
I installed it, hoping that it would sort itself out when on the hard drive but no such luck.

So I have no panels or menus to launch anything.
The only glimmer of hope is that by right-clicking on the desktop I can launch a terminal or reach a limited configuration window.

The hardware I'm running the installation on is a Gigabyte GA-M68SM-S2L motherboard. It has the nVIDIA GeForce 7025/nForce 630a chipset with on-board graphics. I have 2GB of RAM FWIW.

So what's the deal here? Do I have to run an nVidia driver or something to get things back on an even keel? Running the config app, the system has correctly identified my widescreen monitor and is running an appropriate resolution on it. I can launch Firefox from a terminal and browse the Web. I just haven't got any launchers to get into anything. Are there any commands to launch the launchers???

I'm a sort of beginner to intermediate user of Linux and I'm happy to have a rummage to get to the bottom of this. Anyone want to help me crack this one? Pleeease?

[w0zf]

Had the same problem - it worked fine right after install but then I ran all the updates and it behaved exactly as you described - Computer and Home icons on a blank desktop, no panels.
This is on a HP laptop with nVidia graphics.

I have it working again now. Here is what i did:
1. shut down and restarted the machine. since I had no menus, I shut down by right-clicking the desktop, opening a Terminal, and typing

Code: Select all

sudo shutdown -h now

2. After restarting the machine, on the login box there's a gear icon - I clicked it and selected MATE then logged in.

3. From the menu in the lower left of the desktop, selected Control Center. Under Hardware, select 'Additional Drivers' . A proprietary driver for my nVidia graphics was displayed (version 173), so I selected it and clicked Activate. After a couple minutes it told me to restart the machine, which I did.

After that, I can now select any of the desktop managers from the 'gear' on the login screen - they all work fine. Hope that helps. (of course, your graphics driver may be different - that one worked for me)

Incidentally, it seemed that ONLY the default GNOME choice had this issue before I installed the proprietary driver - I was able to use 'GNOME Classic' or 'MATE' just fine with the standard graphics driver.

[crisparmour]

Thank you for the helpful suggestion. I was able to get into MATE as a guest after I was bounced out of each desktop under the user I'd created for myself. I installed the nVidia driver and have been able to operate the menus and panels. However, I'm struggling with Firefox which is in a vicious crash loop and is no use at all despite upgrading and running in terminals in safe mode. I have installed Seamonkey which crashes every time I click on the box to reply to this thread. When I try to install Opera I get a message in Synaptic saying "E: /var/cache/apt/archives/opera_11.60.1185-1linuxmint_i386.deb: short read on buffer copy for backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/lib/opera/opera'" and Chromium-browser fails in exactly the same way. So I'm browsing the Web on Epiphany for the moment.

I'm disappointed. It doesn't look good. I have managed to install some packages successfully but this distro feels distinctly wobbly on this box. I have run the update manager and found a number of updates so I'll see how I get on after they kick in...

[w0zf]

Hard to say what the problem might be there. It's working great so far on this laptop. I don't recall any distro having so few problems right out of the box. Usually when I try a new distro, I figure on days of troubleshooting to get all the hardware working on whatever box I'm using. In this case, all of the following worked immediately:
- wired network adapter
- DVD player
- webcam
- touchpad
- USB flash drives
- printers (going to the printer control panel found both of my network printers without entering any commands)
- the 'media' buttons on the laptop for volume, pause/play, etc.

I had to load a proprietary driver for the Broadcom wi-fi adapter, but it clearly told me so, and let me load it from the control panel without hunting for it.

I believe this is the first time that much stuff worked without dropping to a shell to edit config files, run modprobe commands, etc.

I recently bought a Mac mini, but I gotta say that all the basics work (and look) just as good on this laptop. i even did some basic video editing (using OpenShot) this evening on this machine. When i boot this same machine into Windows Vista (which came with the machine) it struggles to keep up with simple browsing and such.

I know none of this helps your problem - just saying that perhaps you have some hardware that's bad or just not compatible, and this distro seems to be worth the effort to see if you can make it work on your hardware or find some other hardware that does.

I'm sure I'll probably run into problems with one thing or another as i use it more - nothing is perfect - but I am pretty impressed so far (and I've been using various flavors of Linux for at least 10 years).

Here's hoping you're able to sort out whatever is causing your crashes ! There are much smarter folks than I that will probably be able to point you in the right direction based on that error message.

[NeoMint]

My Gnome shell shows the desktop background, mouse pointer moves, panel displays, but NOTHING happens when I click on panel items, or the desktop. The good things is, Crtl-Alt-Backspace works to restart X, and take me back to Lightdm logon (and Mate).

Reinstalling did not fix. Nvidia deactivated did not fix. Nvidia works with Unity (3D), games, etc.

The only thing I noticed, is the Gnome-shell extension with "Menu" (I want the one with "Applications"), and "Menu" shows up on the panel. Even after I delete all the extensions. Is there something (else) about extension I can reset?

ADD:--started my own specific issue thread. --
viewtopic.php?f=205&t=92557

[crisparmour]

Latest update on my battle with Mint 12!

Since installing nVidia 173 driver I have full access to panels, menus and the Activities/Windows dichotomy.

The wobbly behaviour seems to be stabilising after running the mint update three times in twelve hours when some serious updating went on. I have completely removed and reinstalled the browsers using Synaptic and all appears to be well. I'm still picking through odd teething troubles but these are what I come to expect when migrating from one distro to another [we have been using PCLinux 2010 but it's time to move on].

I'm just plugging at it because I don't think that you should throw up your hands because you don't like what you see at first when other users are reporting satisfactory experiences. If I can get over these hurdles, believe me, it's not rocket science. I'm sure that Mint 12 will turn out to be the great experience it's cracked up to be and I hope that this little struggle I've gone through will show others who find themselves in the position I was a few days ago that you can get over it.

Thanks to those who have taken the time to offer advice and encouragement! I'm going to make it.

[Ingenuitas]

Mint 12 was the end of my journey with Linux Mint. I'm amazed at how such a great OS could deteriorate so quickly and completely. I don't know what it is or what happened. It's not Gnome 3. I'm using Gnome 3 with Fedora 16 and have had no problems. I guess I could go back and install LM 10 but knowing that Linux Mint is a dead product makes me think twice about that. So I'll stick with Fedora for now. At least it's alive.

[mank_in]

@Ingenuitas, what your VGA Card
In my experience , i founds :
- GeForce older than 6xxx have problem with gnome shell ( both proprietary and open source driver) . Geforce 6200 and 6150 affected too.
- Intel 915 and older have problem too
- About ATi , i just try one ( radeon x1650 with open source driver and it work fine )

[NeoMint]

FYI, my (other computer) 6800GT is working fine; with Gnome shell.

This computer happens to have a 7200GS, and Gnome Shell is not working here, but I doubt it's Nvidia, this card, and the "recommended driver". I'm guessing it's extension mix-ups, and I'm seeking a solution. At: viewtopic.php?f=205&t=92557

[jerefrer]

Ok I'm having kind of the same problem.

Mint installed just fine, booted well, I had a normal desktop with menu bars and all but the resolution wasn't right. So I went to install my nVidia proprietary drivers the normal way through the Hardware Drivers panel.
Then I reboot and was presented this black screen with the last line saying something about LightDM with [ok] at the end.

Well alright ... So I CTRL-ALT-F1'ed and typed startx. I was amazed it worked but, and that's why I'm here, I'm now typing this message from a nice 1920*1080 desktop with no panels

So I have 2 questions now :

• How can I avoid having to launch X every time I boot ?
• How can I get my panels back ?

After googling around for a while I found that the X thing may be normal somehow for my nVidia GTX570, but I found no relation between my GC and the missing panel thing.

What do you think ?

[crisparmour]

Just an update to report that I have persevered with Mint 12 on my installation and, apart from the occasional random crash on Firefox now and again, all is well. I've got Virtualbox OSE running XP and overcome its broken extension downloads too, largely from what I learned in my appeals in the thread above. I know that it doesn't help the others struggling here but I want to express my gratitude and encouragement! Don't give up!

[ElQuia]

Guys I am having the SAME problem but in virtualbox:

My setup: Windows 7 x64 Virtual Box 4.1.8. I install, Mate Works fine, Gnome shell sometimes shows panels but on most boots it just shows desktop icons but NO panels.
Fedora 16 works fine EVERY time.
Mint LMDE XFCE also, PCBSD KDE 9 also.
CANT INSTALL MINT KDE, live dvd boots, on choosing language installer just freezes.

[webass]

Hi,
I already tried to take part in a conversation about the same issues on another thread.

I think, it happened probably to You all too, because the autologin feature is set to on (although I think the buddy with the live cd has a very different problem).
Setting the autologin to on (because my damn long keyword) just broke that panel.
I was using cinnamon panel, but as it is a fork of gnome, that inconsistent behaviour http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=89131&p=538493#p538493 could simply come from Gnome, so it would happen on gnome probably too.
I consider this as a serious bug.

I tried something but now I cannot even enter with startx, the screen stays black.
Cheers.
Andre