task bar and desktop disappear after new boot (HELP!)

[jvdgraaf]

I just installed Mint Mate 14 -- Nadia on my Dell XPS.
I really like, but I have a terrible problem:
two times in three days, when booting up my notebook, all my setting had disappeared: the task bar, and the desktop background. I am only presented with the traditional Mint background, and my desktop with files and short cuts.Everything works, including the wifi and the terminal. But I have no menu etc. Since I don't understand the problem I have to reinstall Mint from scratch, but having to do this two, three times a week is really not a viable solution. I believe some setting files get corrupted, but I don't know which ones. Any feedback appreciated.

[ladywasky]

I am facing up exactly the same problem !!!
I run Linux Mint Mate 14 on a Dell XPS M1330.

Anyone could help please ???

[ladywasky]

I just reinstalled Mint Mate.
In case of, I put on my desktop the shortcut for firefox, the Terminal, Desktop Settings, all managers (packages, softwares, files, updates, softwares at startup,...) and the file explorer so that if this happens again, I have still a hand on the system.

[ladywasky]

damned, once again after reboot.

Hopefully I can acces the terminal, files, internet, settings, etc...
It was wise to put all those shortcuts on the workspace.

Now, what can I do ???

It has to do either with :
- automatic updates
or
- installation of screenlets (it wan'ts to create a startup folder and does not work very well after install.
--> I uninstalled it via the software manager but my menu panel is still nowhere

[jvdgraaf]

Mine is a Dell XPS13-7000SLV.
(It's suppose to compete with the MacBookAir.)

Putting the shortcuts on the desk top was pure luck.

Is this a Dell-specific problem? How can that be?

[ladywasky]

No, for the shortcuts, it was not pure luck
I tried it because on the preceeding install, I put a shortcut to Firefox and of course I was left with only this shortcut... That's why I supposed it was a good Idea to put everything I could on the desktop...

Anyway, we are curse for the panel menu...

Did you installed any software like screenlets, or did you just rolled out the updates ?

[jvdgraaf]

Did you installed any software like screenlets, or did you just rolled out the updates ?

Certainly no screenlets, and I don't think I had started updating anything. Frankly, I do not think the problem is related to any of these two issues.

[jvdgraaf]

I think I will try to sidestep the problem forsome by using suspend and logout, but not a shutdown, of my notebook. Though it would be prefeable to find the cause of this problem.

[ladywasky]

The problem is reported everywhere, it seems to be a conflict between Nemo and Nautilus, the python version seems to have an impact too...
A real mess...

Google : "linux mint desktop missing" and cross the fingers to find a suitable solution.

[ladywasky]

OK, soooo...
For the moment, <I reinstalled, and just applied level 1 and level 2 updates...
So far so good, everything is still there (the desktop and the taskbar).
Sooooo.... There is a level 3 update that mess everything up (suposedly safe but not tested).
Now, it would be good to know wich one.

For that, I would like very much to apply each patch separatly and reboot each time after.

In order to do this, I would like to :
- put the list of each updates in a spreadsheet, in orer to have a kind of journal with the name of the package, the old version, and the new one (like the list of available updates in the update manager). Is there any easy mean to do that without typing everything ?
- I would like to know if there is a command in linux (a sudo 'something') in order to rollback an update ? or at least a convenient way to do so ?

thank you by advance