Upper left quarter of the screen becomes "unclickable"

[sebbo]

I have been searching for a solution to this for a while and hope someone knows a quick and easy fix for this

Every now and then my upper left corner of the screen becomes "unclickable".

Imagine you draw a horizontal line and a vertical line at the middle of the screen and then basically the upper left quarter that is created by these lines becomes non-reacting to clicks.

If an application window is "below" that quarter (or on that quarter) of the screen, i can not click any buttons or other UI elements.

At the same time i can click UI elements which are outside of this quarter.

If i move the Application to the right or down into any other part of the screen i can click UI elements that i could not click before.

It seems to me as if some other invisible Window becomes stuck at that place and it happens to be quite accurately 1/4 of the screen.

So far i only know that a restart fixes this issue. (maybe logout is enough).

I also tried to type

xfwm4 --replace

which somehow restarts my WM but that also does not help

Anyone has a clue what i could do to get rid of this or at least find the root cause why this keeps happening every few weeks?

Some info:

Code: Select all

sebastian@sebastian-VirtualBox ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: sebastian-VirtualBox Kernel: 3.13.0-37-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.2 (Gtk 2.24.23) Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   System: innotek (portable) product: VirtualBox v: 1.2
           Mobo: Oracle model: VirtualBox v: 1.2 Bios: innotek v: VirtualBox date: 12/01/2006
CPU:       Single core Intel Core i7-6600U (-UP-) cache: 4096 KB
           flags: (nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3) bmips: 5617 speed: 2808 MHz (max)
Graphics:  Card: InnoTek Systemberatung VirtualBox Graphics Adapter bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.15.1 drivers: vboxvideo (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1667x964@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 256 bits)
           GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 82801AA AC'97 Audio Controller driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: d100 d200 bus-ID: 00:05.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.13.0-37-generic
Network:   Card: Intel 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: e1000 v: 7.3.21-k8-NAPI port: d010 bus-ID: 00:03.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 43.8GB (47.5% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: VBOX_HARDDISK size: 43.8GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 39G used: 20G (54%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info:      Processes: 181 Uptime: 7 days Memory: 1140.5/6057.0MB Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28 

[Fred Barclay]

Is this running inside Virtualbox 1.2? If so I'd have to wonder if that isn't part of the problem right there. A lot has changed since that version of VBox was released (the current version is 5.something now), both in VBox and Linux. Using such an old version to host a modern release of Mint could very well cause weird events like what you're seeing.

[sebbo]

Is this running inside Virtualbox 1.2? If so I'd have to wonder if that isn't part of the problem right there. A lot has changed since that version of VBox was released (the current version is 5.something now), both in VBox and Linux. Using such an old version to host a modern release of Mint could very well cause weird events like what you're seeing.

Hi! Thanks for your answer. Sorry for the delay.

yes i'm running this inside a virtualbox.

The Virtualbox Version is (wIndows) Version 5.1.2 r108956

I had actually not noticed that there is some old "Bios" which is reported by Inxi

Code: Select all

Machine:   System: innotek (portable) product: VirtualBox v: 1.2
           Mobo: Oracle model: VirtualBox v: 1.2 Bios: innotek v: VirtualBox date: 12/01/2006

Thanks and br
seb

[sebbo]

And now it happened again.

I have no clue why. It happens out of the blue...

However i have another Symptom that might help troubleshooting this.

When i use the scroll wheel on the "non-clickable" Area (that is the upper left quarter), then instead of scrolling in the active window, the Workplace will be scrolled, as if i was hovering the Workplace switcher in XFCE panel

What is weird: if i scoll in the Workplace switcher - i have two workplaces - i can only scroll once up and then once down. The unwanted workplace scrolling in the upper-left-quarter is endless, means, if i scroll it scolls and continuously switches my two workplaces!

I tried to restart xfce4-panel as this was the first suspect that came to my mind, but it didn't help.

Anyone has a suggestion?

Thank you!

br
sebbo

[sbosshardt]

I get this problem fairly often, but I use Mate window manager not XFCE. I think it tends to happen randomly after moving a window to another workspace, but I am not 100% sure. Scrolling my mouse wheel while the cursor is in the dead area doesn't cause the workspace to change.

For me, it is the upper left corner of the screen, but it is not a full 1/4 of the screen. My host screen resolution is 4k and I have the VirtualBox window maximized. The area is 800x600. I came up this measurement through experimentation with dragging selection boxes on my desktop. I'd find the invisible borders of this area by my loss of ability to drag selection boxes. I'd look for a "landmark" in my desktop wallpaper to eyeball the point of measurement. First I did horizontal, then vertical. I used a screen capture utility (2 screenshots) to select the dead horizontal/vertical area, then see what the pixel measurement was. My actual measurements were 807x602 pixels (since the technique is very difficult to be exact, I'm guessing the dead area is 800x600).

Guest OS

Code: Select all

$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: my-vm Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: N/A Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana
Machine:   System: innotek product: VirtualBox version: 1.2
           Mobo: Oracle model: VirtualBox version: 1.2 Bios: innotek version: VirtualBox date: 12/01/2006
CPU:       Quad core AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core (-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3) bmips: 32106.8 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 4013.357 MHz 2: 4013.357 MHz 3: 4013.357 MHz 4: 4013.357 MHz
Graphics:  Card: InnoTek Systemberatung VirtualBox Graphics Adapter bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: vboxvideo (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 3840x2060@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 128 bits) GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel 82801AA AC'97 Audio Controller driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: d100 d200 bus-ID: 00:05.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic
Network:   Card: Intel 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: e1000 ver: 7.3.21-k8-NAPI port: d010 bus-ID: 00:03.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 107.4GB (65.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: VBOX_HARDDISK size: 107.4GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 96G used: 66G (72%) fs: ext4 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info:      Processes: 235 Uptime: 1:32 Memory: 4428.4/7985.2MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 

Host OS

Code: Select all

$ virtualbox --help
Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager 5.0.40_Ubuntu

$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: my-desktop Kernel: 4.4.0-87-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: MATE 1.14.1 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) Distro: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Machine:   Mobo: ASUSTeK model: CROSSHAIR V FORMULA-Z v: Rev 1.xx
           Bios: American Megatrends v: 2201 date: 03/23/2015
CPU:       Octa core AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core (-MCP-) cache: 16384 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 64221
           clock speeds: max: 4013 MHz 1: 4013 MHz 2: 4013 MHz 3: 4013 MHz 4: 4013 MHz 5: 4013 MHz 6: 4013 MHz
           7: 4013 MHz 8: 4013 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
           Resolution: 3840x2160@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 375.66 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA GM204 High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
           Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-87-generic
Network:   Card: Intel 82583V Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: c000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2756.6GB (83.4% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: Samsung_SSD_850 size: 500.1GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: ST2000DM001 size: 2000.4GB ID-3: /dev/sdc model: Samsung_SSD_840 size: 256.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 219G used: 88G (43%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1
           ID-2: /boot size: 236M used: 146M (66%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sdc1
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 17.08GB used: 4.61GB (27%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-2
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info:      Processes: 356 Uptime: 17 days Memory: 15162.8/15945.5MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0

[sebbo]

I get this problem fairly often,

Sorry to hear this, but at least now i know i'm not the only one.

It didn't happen for me since i last posted in this thread, but i did not find any further clues. Hopefully some day it is either clearly reproducible so we can find the root cause or someone drops by and shares what he already knows...

[sebbo]

This is making me crazy...

happened again.

Does not seem to have changed with the latest 3.13.x Kernel that i upgraded to due to the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerability.

As always can't remember what I was doing to cause this. The only thing I remember is that I was playing with Virtmanager...

crazy...

Update.... like ~1 hour later:

it happened again! I have no clue. Rebootet and was again playing with Virtmanager on my machines.

But what i notices. Between trying to restart or reload the xfce components to find out which is causing this (because the non-clickable area can scroll between desktops, i thought it might be relating to the Xfce panel or workplace switcher doing something weird) i had a brief moment where everything was okay... however i cant reproduce this and now i am back to the status where i have this big non clickable area in the top left corner..

I tried - what i remember:
xfce4-panel -r
xfwm4 --replace

as i said then i had some kind of new desktop and there it did not occur. Apparently all my applications had gone minimized/hidden except firefox (there i could use the top left corner for clicking)... then i ctrl-c'ed what ever i had in the terminal and now i can't reproduce what it did

So i guess this must have to do with the desktop environment or the window manager or one of its components going nuts..

[sazaju]

Hi,

I also have this issue since a while, but never found anything about how to solve it. Only today I found this topic and other stuff :

• Ticket about the issue: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/14743
• Summary of what to do: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1014172 ... on-desktop

I am not sure they are about this exact problem, but since the way to reproduce it is highly similar to what I am used to, it seems that is the stuff. I will try next time it occurs for me.