broken window handling - corrupt file system?

[EvaGus]

The window handling in my Linux Mint Una 20.3 just stopped working. There is a red border around Firefox and a few other application windows, no border at all around others. Some applications can be exited using the menu, Alt File - Quit, some others only with the Task manager. Alt-Tab to go between them does not work. I had this before and then obviously the hard disk was broken, but now the Disks self-test (short and extended one) does not find any Uncorrectable errors, says Disk ok. I tried dbkg and fsck both in live session and root prompt of grub menu. It seems that I have removed a Dirty bit, but no change in behaviour. It says on fsck that Fs is corrupt or some issue after a non-standard shut down procedure if I understand correctly. Well, the computer shut itself off some way or other during a zoom session the day before this problem turned up. It seems that it works on sda1, but not on sda5 - mounted and cannot umount it. It asks if sda2 is a zero partition.
Any suggestions of how to repair this file system? Other than just reinstall the whole thing? (Yes, I do have a backup, but it seems a bit heavy to do new installs several times a year ...)

[Termy]

The issues you at least initially described are typical of a problem with the Window Manager, and is nothing directly to do with the filesystem, short of its file being stored thereon. When no WM is loaded, there is usually nothing to then manage the window or provide features like the Alt + Tab and many other keyboard shortcuts ordinarily handled by the WM.

While I wouldn't have jumped to a broken drive or corrupt filesystem, it's certainly possible that it's the case, if important WM files are missing or corrupt.

Please paste the output from inxi -Fxxxrz between [code][/code] tags.

Keep in mind that those drive tests aren't guaranteed to be correct; they're a step in the right direction, but you shouldn't usually go by what they alone say. For example, if you hear unusual sounds from your HDD, and smell smoke around it, yet the tests oddly say it's fine, that doesn't mean it's not about to burst into flames. An extreme example, but hopefully you see what I mean.

[EvaGus]

Thank you, Termy!

System:
Kernel: 5.4.0-135-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0
Desktop: N/A dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una
base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: P5QPL-VM EPU v: Rev X.0x
serial: <filter> BIOS: American Megatrends v: 0502 date: 06/01/2010
CPU:
Topology: Dual Core model: Pentium E5400 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Penryn
rev: A L2 cache: 2048 KiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 10800
Speed: 1202 MHz min/max: 1203/2700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1200 2: 1200
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915
v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:2e32
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel G41 (ELK) v: 2.1 Mesa 21.2.6
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:27d8
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-135-generic
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
driver: 8139too v: 0.9.28 port: e800 bus ID: 03:01.0 chip ID: 10ec:8139
IF: enp3s1 state: unknown speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 5.02 TiB used: 159.22 GiB (3.1%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB
speed: <unknown> serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: MBR
ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: SanDisk Cruzer
size: 14.93 GiB serial: <filter> rev: 8.02 scheme: MBR
ID-3: /dev/sdc type: USB vendor: Western Digital
model: WD My Passport 0748 size: 931.48 GiB serial: <filter> rev: 1016
scheme: MBR
ID-4: /dev/sdd type: USB vendor: Toshiba model: External USB 3.0
size: 3.64 TiB serial: <filter> rev: 5438 scheme: MBR
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 456.88 GiB used: 55.75 GiB (12.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 32.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb https://ftp.acc.umu.se/mirror/linuxmint.com/packages una main upstream import backport
2: deb http://ftp.lysator.liu.se/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http://ftp.lysator.liu.se/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http://ftp.lysator.liu.se/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/softmaker.list
1: deb https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt stable non-free
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teams.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/ms-teams stable main
Info:
Processes: 186 Uptime: 55m Memory: 3.81 GiB used: 1.45 GiB (38.0%)
Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash
v: 5.0.17 running in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.0.38

[EvaGus]

Restoring to a day before this issue, using Timeshift, did not bring any change to the issue ...

[EvaGus]

Code: Select all

System:
Kernel: 5.4.0-135-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0
Desktop: N/A dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una
base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: P5QPL-VM EPU v: Rev X.0x
serial: <filter> BIOS: American Megatrends v: 0502 date: 06/01/2010
CPU:
Topology: Dual Core model: Pentium E5400 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Penryn
rev: A L2 cache: 2048 KiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 10800
Speed: 1202 MHz min/max: 1203/2700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1200 2: 1200
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915
v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:2e32
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel G41 (ELK) v: 2.1 Mesa 21.2.6
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:27d8
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-135-generic
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
driver: 8139too v: 0.9.28 port: e800 bus ID: 03:01.0 chip ID: 10ec:8139
IF: enp3s1 state: unknown speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 5.02 TiB used: 159.22 GiB (3.1%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB
speed: <unknown> serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: MBR
ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: SanDisk Cruzer
size: 14.93 GiB serial: <filter> rev: 8.02 scheme: MBR
ID-3: /dev/sdc type: USB vendor: Western Digital
model: WD My Passport 0748 size: 931.48 GiB serial: <filter> rev: 1016
scheme: MBR
ID-4: /dev/sdd type: USB vendor: Toshiba model: External USB 3.0
size: 3.64 TiB serial: <filter> rev: 5438 scheme: MBR
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 456.88 GiB used: 55.75 GiB (12.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 32.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb https://ftp.acc.umu.se/mirror/linuxmint.com/packages una main upstream import backport
2: deb http://ftp.lysator.liu.se/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http://ftp.lysator.liu.se/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http://ftp.lysator.liu.se/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/softmaker.list
1: deb https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt stable non-free
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teams.list
1: deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/ms-teams stable main
Info:
Processes: 186 Uptime: 55m Memory: 3.81 GiB used: 1.45 GiB (38.0%)
Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash
v: 5.0.17 running in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.0.38

[minticle]

I don't have a fix for you, but I found this thread by searching the forum for a Zoom issue, too. I have Linux Mint 21 and Zoom 5.12.2. Zoom has crashed my entire OS several times, and the last time I rebooted, I had problems with Firefox and a few other apps not starting correctly. I rebooted again, just using the OS GUI buttons, and it booted into initramfs. I had to do fsck -yf on whatever /dev/ it complained about, and it finally rose from the dead, but it was a bit unnerving. I thought my SSD had gone or something.

It's strange to me that in this day and age a single app can still crash the entire OS... I associate that behavior with Windows ME.