<Solved> Help! Suddenly weird window problems

[kaskuser]

Hi all,

I suddenly get weird window problems starting yesterday evening.

1. All window borders are gone, so I cannot resize, maximize or minimize window.
2. On some applications, I cannot click on any menu on Menu Bar.
3. Right-click mouse button doesn't work anymore, except on the Desktop.
4. When opening 2 applications (= 2 windows), I cannot type anything on the first app, whether it's a Gedit text editor, Firefox browser or else. My typing always go to the latest opened window.

On yesterday morning, it was normal use, ie. browsing using Firefox and Chrome, with Pidgin messenger open.
No electric power blackout. It just acted weird when I started using the PC in the evening.

My spec:
- Linux Mint 13 Xfce
- Pentium 4 HT
- GeForce4 Ti4200
- nVidia96 driver (the version compatible to legacy GeForce4 Ti4200)
- 3 Gbytes of RAM

Thanks in advance for any help.

[karlchen]

Hello, kaskuser.

Have you taken the time to shutdown and switch off the computer after the reported symptoms had started? Sometimes a reboot will make a difference.

Cheers,
Karl

[kaskuser]

Hi Karl,

I tried rebooted, shutdown the PC many times and it still didn't work.
It seems that the problem is permanent.

Here I'm trying booting from USB flashdisk using the original Linux Mint installation, and it's running normally, unlike the one installed on the harddrive.
Do I need to reinstall this OS onto harddrive?

[jsimson]

This happened to me as well. Linux Mint 13 Xfe. The title bar disappeared, menu bar inactive. On the first computer I installed this version of Mint on, I formated the partition and did a reinstall - it's been fine for a week. On the second computer, the same thing happened, did a format and reinstall and it happened in just a couple day's use. Any solution would be of great help to me too. I'm new to Linux and need to have a reliable OS before XP isn't safe for web use!

[Wouter_db]

Try this from a post I found:

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Experienced this problem on Linux Mint 13 XFCE. Not to worry. This post from Linux and Friends puts it all right.

~$ xfwm4 --replace

Many thanks! If I hadn't stumbled across this tip, I don't know how I would have been able to fix this.

This has happened to me three times now.

It appears to have something to do with corruption of the session when you log out. To avoid the problem altogether, set up your desktop the way you want it, and the log out while saving session state (it's a checkbox on the logout dialog). The next time you log out, uncheck that box. If you don't save, you can't get corruption on save, right? That's the theory anyway.
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[jsimson]

Worked like a charm! Thanks very much.

[karlchen]

Hi, folks.

You mention Mint 13 xfce. May we learn whether you applied all available updates? May we learn whether you have activated [X] backports in the Software Sources?

The reason I am asking is this:
I am running Mint 13 xfce as well. But so far I have never experienced the reported problem at all.
I have applied all available software updates, safety categories [1], [2] and [3] in mintUpdate.
I have applied (almost) all available software updates, safety categories [4] and [5] in mintUpdate. I would, however, not suspect the kernel updates to have fixed the root cause of the problem that you reported.
In addition, I have deliberately activated backports in Software Sources / mintUpdate. This has given me a newer version of mdm e.g. I am not sure it has given me a newer version of xfce (backported from Mint 16 to Mint 13): no, it has not. No newer xfce in the backport section of Mint 13.

So I wonder a bit whether you might resolve your display problems by installing all available software updates of the safety categories [1], [2],[3] and [4]. Category [4] will update among other hardware drivers the open-source graphics drivers. As a matter of fact I would install kernel updates, category [5], as well, because kernel updates are much less evil than people believe. If an updated kernel does not function properly, you can always go back to the previous kernel by rebooting and selecting the previous kernel in the Grub boot menu.

But in the end it is your decision.

By the way I never save my sessions on exit and hence never restore them after logon.

Cheers,
Karl

[kaskuser]

Thanks everyone, my problem is solved after reinstalling Linux Mint and repairing Grub using Boot Repair.

~$ xfwm4 --replace

I wish I heard about this method before reinstalling my Linux Mint.

@Karl:
I always select all the categories on the Update Manager list, as I don't know which ones are required and which ones are optionals.

[jsimson]

Well - the xfwm4 --replace works, but I have to do this every time I boot into Linux Mint. I try checking and unchecking save sessions on exit - doesn't make a difference. I have installed all the updates that are available, but it seems that if the computer I install Mint on can just survive a week while updating daily, maybe the problem doesn't happen? I'm a newbie, so, what do I know. Perhaps I need to reinstall Linux Mint and repair Grub using Boot Repair as kaskuser suggests? But, then again, as a newbie, I would need to know the specific entries to make to accomplish this.

I did notice while downloading updates that there was a problem. If this is a part of the wierdness, I don't know. Here is the report I received:

Could not download all repository indexes
The repository may no longer be available or could not be contacted because of network problems. If available an older version of the failed index will be used. Otherwise the repository will be ignored. Check your network connection and ensure the repository address in the preferences is correct.

Failed to fetch http://packages.medibuntu.org/dists/precise/Release.gpg Something wicked happened resolving 'packages.medibuntu.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Failed to fetch http://packages.medibuntu.org/dists/pre ... 6/Packages Something wicked happened resolving 'packages.medibuntu.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Failed to fetch http://packages.medibuntu.org/dists/pre ... 6/Packages Something wicked happened resolving 'packages.medibuntu.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Failed to fetch http://packages.medibuntu.org/dists/pre ... tion-en_US Something wicked happened resolving 'packages.medibuntu.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Failed to fetch http://packages.medibuntu.org/dists/pre ... slation-en Something wicked happened resolving 'packages.medibuntu.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Failed to fetch http://packages.medibuntu.org/dists/pre ... tion-en_US Something wicked happened resolving 'packages.medibuntu.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Failed to fetch http://packages.medibuntu.org/dists/pre ... slation-en Something wicked happened resolving 'packages.medibuntu.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Any ideas?

[kaskuser]

If I'm not mistaken, medibuntu.org repository is not available anymore, so it will return error messages when trying to download things from there.
There's a way to exclude medibuntu.org from the update list, but i forgot where the article is.

[Wouter_db]

Well - the xfwm4 --replace works, but I have to do this every time I boot into Linux Mint. I try checking and unchecking save sessions on exit - doesn't make a difference. I have installed all the updates that are available, but it seems that if the computer I install Mint on can just survive a week while updating daily, maybe the problem doesn't happen? I'm a newbie, so, what do I know. Perhaps I need to reinstall Linux Mint and repair Grub using Boot Repair as kaskuser suggests? But, then again, as a newbie, I would need to know the specific entries to make to accomplish this.

I think you forgot one more thing: Delete all the stored sessions in de 'Session and Startup' window. For some reason the session function misbehaves every now and then.

[jsimson]

Deleting stored sessions did the trick! I've logged out and back in several times now and no residual wierdness. Mighty grateful for the help. I now have three computers running Mint nicely. Goodbye XP for this household!

[Wouter_db]

I'm glad to hear that, good luck on the Linux experience.

[austin.texas]

Could not download all repository indexes
Failed to fetch http://packages.medibuntu.org/dists/pre ... slation-en Something wicked happened resolving 'packages.medibuntu.org:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)
Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

How to fix: update errors about Medibuntu
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=147271

[jsimson]

Thank you for this very nice and neat fix!