Blank icons infesting my panel

[ericfoxx]

I just installed Mint 12 LXDE on an ASUS eee pc, and I'm loving it. However, a growing number of blank icons are appearing in the panel (not program icons, but what I would in Windows call the system tray icons). Here is what it looks like (follow the link if it is cropped):

and here are my system specs:

System: Host Hematite Kernel 3.0.0-12-generic i686 (32 bit) Desktop LXDE (Openbox 3.5.0) Distro Linux Mint 12 LXDE
Machine: System ASUSTeK (portable) product 1005HA version x.x
Mobo ASUSTeK model 1005HA version x.xx Bios American Megatrends version 0402 date 05/12/2009
CPU: Single core Intel Atom CPU N270 (-HT-) cache 512 KB flags (nx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3)
Clock Speeds: (1) 800.00 MHz (2) 800.00 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller
X.Org 1.10.4 drivers intel unloaded: fbdev,vesa Resolution 1024x600@60.0hz
GLX Renderer Mesa DRI Intel 945GME x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version 1.4 Mesa 7.11
Audio: Card Intel N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller driver HDA Intel Sound: ALSA v: 1.0.24
Network: Card-1 Atheros AR8132 Fast Ethernet driver atl1c
IF: eth0 state: down speed: 4294967295 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:26:18:2b:cc:bf
Card-2 Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver ath9k
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 00:25:d3:09:c1:c5
Drives: HDD Total Size: 160.0GB (2.4% used) 1: /dev/sda Hitachi_HTS54321 160.0GB
Partition: ID:/ size: 146G used: 3.7G (3%) fs: ext4 ID:swap-1 size: 1.06GB used: 0.03GB (3%) fs: swap
Sensors: Error: You do not have the sensors app installed.
Info: Processes 127 Uptime 23:20 Memory 258.9/993.7MB Client Shell inxi 1.7.7

I searched for this problem on here, but didn't find anything. Anyone else have this problem?

[shengchieh]

Will it close if you right-click the icons -> close window?

Btw, some programs need to be quited, not just closed. For some programs (e.g., skype), close will only close the window, not shutdown the program.

Sheng-Chieh

[ericfoxx]

Strangely, they aren't icons, just blank, non-interactive panel space between the icons for volume, network, etc.

[caribriz]

I think I had a similar problem and my panel looked like yours.
I added some icons in the panel by adding the Application launch bar and put in some spacers.
This is how it looks now - the icons no longer "drift" into the middle with varying spaces between them. They "stick" to where I want them on the right.

Screenshot panel.png

This is the order I added spacers in Panel Preferences. I also ticked the "stretch" box next to Task Bar (Window List) :

Screenshot dialog.png

caribriz

[ericfoxx]

Thanks, caribriz! I tried stretching things as you suggested, but it just added strange bands of blank to the elements in the panel. So, I tried shifting around their order and finally just removed the system tray from the panel. When I added it back, the blank "ghost icons" (as I'm now calling them. Tell your friends!) were gone. But, they are returning one by one every time I unlock my computer after it goes to screensaver. I think that's the root cause, and I have a workaround now: remove and add the systray to clear out the ghosts.

[caribriz]

mmm ... weird
I haven't run into that problem.
It's good you figured out a workaround ... hopefully someone will come up with an idea for a more permanent solution,
and get rid of those "ghost icons"

You could also try posting the problem on the LXDE forum as well - never know ....
http://forum.lxde.org/

Good luck
caribriz

[jcgr11]

Here's the discussion thread from the LXDE forums (I think it's the same as your problem):
http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=31432

It seems it aint solved yet.

----

I used to have problems with empty spaces on the system tray too...
but ever since I disabled a lot of startup applications (that would show up on the system tray),
I dont have empty spaces anymore.
Right now, I only have network and battery on my system tray... no dropbox, no update manager, no bluetooth... etc).
Maybe it's related, maybe it's not... but if it is, maybe it's because I dont have a lot of stuff on my system tray...