Can't open some of the Mate menu options

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dgBP
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Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by dgBP »

Not sure if this is a newbie question, or has something more major underlying, but hoping it's the former!
I am running Mate 18.3 Sylvia 64-bit on an HP Stream 11 which seems to work fine for other internet users as far as I can find. Since I installed it (as far as I can tell - I didn't try everything immediately) I've not been able to open some of the Menu options. These include Backup Tool, Driver Manager (it comes up with a password prompt, but then no window loads), Login Window, Desktop Settings and probably a few more. The same thing happens if I open the Control Centre using mate-control-center from the command line. Is there a particular way I can troubleshoot this? Is there a simple solution that I just haven't seen? Help appreciated!
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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pbear
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Re: Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by pbear »

Well, yeah, that sounds like a faulty installation. Did you verify the checksum of the download file? Does anything work? For example, can you access the internet with Firefox? For context, did you install from DVD or USB? Single or dual boot? Also, run inxi -Fxz in Terminal and post the output (please use "code" tags, which is the fifth icon from the left above the text input box). And are you new to Linux in general or just Mint?
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all41
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Re: Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by all41 »

Can you get into Users and Groups?
If so try creating a new user, then log out and back in as the new user and retry the menu items there.
You can also get to Users and Groups via terminal command

Code: Select all

users-admin
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Cosmo.
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Re: Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by Cosmo. »

It sounds for me, as if the user has managed to remove his account out of the group sudo.

Open a terminal and enter groups. Paste the output here,
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all41
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Re: Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by all41 »

Also disabling PolicyKit Authentication in the Startup Applications group can cause
problems such as this.
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dgBP
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Re: Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by dgBP »

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try them now. I did indeed check the checksum of the install media. Everything else seems to work. Occasionally I'll have graphical issues with the native file browser/manager. It's just opening up the listed settings which doesn't work so I can't test whether those features actually work!
This is the result of inxi -Fxz:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: blueroseLT Kernel: 4.13.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: MATE 1.18.0 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: HP product: HP Stream x360 Convertible 11-aa0XX v: Type1ProductConfigId
           Mobo: HP model: 82E1 v: 13.23 Bios: Insyde v: F.06 date: 10/13/2016
CPU:       Dual core Intel Celeron N3060 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 6400
           clock speeds: max: 2480 MHz 1: 1600 MHz 2: 1600 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Device 22b1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1366x768@60.06hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 400 (Braswell)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Device 2284 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-32-generic
Network:   Card: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: NA (-) ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: N/A size: 31.3GB
           ID-2: /dev/mmcblk1 model: N/A size: 63.9GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 26G used: 20G (80%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0
           ID-2: /boot size: 473M used: 131M (30%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 1.98GB used: 0.19GB (10%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-2
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 35.0C mobo: 27.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 188 Uptime: 8 min Memory: 1335.3/1838.4MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 
I've used Linux comfortably for a long time, but I've never really needed to get into the nitty-gritty of the configurations and Mint is totally new to me.

It *may* be pertinent that I installed python3.6 alongside the 2.7 installed locally as I wanted to try it out. This was one of the first things I did and I didn't remove python2 so didn't think it would affect anything. Might it have? I know messing with python installs can mess things up, but I didn't touch python2.

Output of groups:

Code: Select all

bluerose adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare
PolicyKit is still checked in the startup apps.

Does any of this info give an idea to any problems? Seems pretty normal to me.

Edit: I realised I didn't answer some questions; I installed from USB and single boot - no longer wanted Windows that came on the laptop as it slowed down the limited specs of this comp even more. Browsers work fine. Using Chrome atm, but Firefox works.
Last edited by dgBP on Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
dgBP
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Re: Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by dgBP »

I tried creating another user and I still can't access the same options in the menu :(
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all41
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Re: Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by all41 »

Where did you get your 3.6? Is it 3.6.0?
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dgBP
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Re: Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by dgBP »

It is python 3.6.3 and I'm not 100% sure but most likely using aptitude (sudo apt-get).
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trytip
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Re: Can't open some of the Mate menu options

Post by trytip »

maybe permission are bad in a file. what do you get for :
find $HOME ! -user $USER -type f
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