Can't logout or shutdown [[NOT] SOLVED MIRACULOUSLY]

[betacentauri]

Hi, suddenly I can't logout, shutdown or reboot my netbook as a (certain) regular user. Other users do not have this problem; they can reboot or shutdown normally.
I try quitting from the Mint system menu (or from the equivalent button I have dropped in the Panel) and the choices show up, I choose Reboot or Shutdown, the choice window closes; but nothing else happens. I can keep on launching programs forever as normally. Only Suspend works as expected.
However, I can shutdown, reboot, etc from console as root.
Please, how can I start debugging this? Thank you in advance!

[altair4]

Miracles are highly underrated

[betacentauri]

Bumping up my own thread because the problem really never went away -- it's just inconsistent.
And yes, I have read about the Open Office quick start thingy but I don't have it on anyway...
Guess there goes my last pinch of faith in miracles...

[RavanH]

Hi, I have found a similar thing happening on my LMDE installation. And I think I found how to reproduce it:

If I do a clean boot and login, there is no problem loggin out / reboot /shutdown but... each time I have run the Mint Update Manager (and installing updates) I cannot log out / reboot or shutdown. Not by clicking the Shutdown menu item (or hitting the laptop ON/OFF button) and then choosing one of those options in the popup dialog.

BUT ... if I choose NO option in the shutdown dialog, and let it run the 60 second countdown, then my system does a complete shutdown as if there is no problem at all !!!

Miraculous? No. But weird, to say the least.

Can anyone reproduce this?

[RavanH]

Nobody?

Then there might be a problem with mintUpdate on my LMDE install... Come to think of it, it has NEVER informed me about updates. It can go for weeks showing that comfortable green checkmark but when I click to open mintUpdate, I regularly find a long list of updates available. Coincidence?

In any case, after running mintUpdate, I can no longer log out / shutdown any more. Trying to do so will show a message about two running programs not wanting to terminate for a very short time and then disappear again. At least, I suspect it is something like that because it shows only for a fraction of a second before it is gone! Then nothing...

The only way to shut down is either a hard shutdown pressing the on/off button for 4 seconds or pressing AltGR+SysRq+k to kill X. After coming back at the GDM login screen I can now shut down the system via the shutdown menu.

Can anyone explain this? How is the problem (?) with mintUpdate and "Can't logout or shutdown" related?

Thanks

[NeoMint]

LM10 64-bit

Logout and Shutdown have, inexplicably, just disappeared from the regular, Gnome system menu (that I use instead of the Mint Menu).

What is the cause? How do I put them back?

[RavanH]

LM10 64-bit

Logout and Shutdown have, inexplicably, just disappeared from the regular, Gnome system menu (that I use instead of the Mint Menu).

What is the cause? How do I put them back?

We are in the Debian Edition forum... And the topic is the logout/shutdown not working instead of the buttons missing. But still, another weird thing. What happens if you press the On/Off button?

Anyway, best to create a new topic on this

[Dave68]

I wonder if this issue is because of the gnome-shell-metapackage that was causing issues earlier on. Answer one of the questions incorrectly, and that may be the cause of the issue.

If the OP was talking about LMDE in the first place.

Not Sure, but Worth A Look,
Dave

[RavanH]

I wonder if this issue is because of the gnome-shell-metapackage that was causing issues earlier on. Answer one of the questions incorrectly, and that may be the cause of the issue.

If the OP was talking about LMDE in the first place.

Not Sure, but Worth A Look,
Dave

Could you please explain? Can't find any such package in Synaptic with that crippled-by-mint search function...

[Dave68]

My bad. The actual name is gnome-core.

Here is the Topic I spoke of.
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... ge#p356322

Hope This Helps,
Dave

(PS The Search actually works pretty good, and I use it quite often.)

[RavanH]

My bad. The actual name is gnome-core.

Here is the Topic I spoke of.
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... ge#p356322

Hope This Helps,
Dave

(PS The Search actually works pretty good, and I use it quite often.)

Hmmm... that package is not installed on my setup. Should it have been?

(PS I prefer the quick search as it tends to give me a wider scope, but that has been disabled in Mint )

[samething22]

I found this thread when I was having a similar problem (i.e., logout and shutdown commands doing nothing) with Debian 6 squeeze.

I think I figured out how to solve the problem.

I don't know about LMDE, but in Debian 6, the default display manager is gdm3. When I installed gdm (older display manager) instead of gdm3, the problem went away. You might try this.

Good luck.

[samething22]

Nevermind. Switching from gdm3 to gdm did not end up solving the problem. This problem seems to come and go.

[samething22]

Okay, I think I got it this time. I bet you have the logout problem when (and only when) you are running the OpenOffice.org quickstarter. Try exiting the quickstarter and then logging out.

It turns out this is a bug in OpenOffice, not Gnome. See here for more info:

https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ ... bug/562027

[RavanH]

Okay, I think I got it this time. I bet you have the logout problem when (and only when) you are running the OpenOffice.org quickstarter. Try exiting the quickstarter and then logging out.

It turns out this is a bug in OpenOffice, not Gnome. See here for more info:

https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ ... bug/562027

Hey that's interesting... I do have that running. Will test this

[jcoleman]

Similar problem, have OO quickstarter running.
What I did was create two desktop launchers to Shutdown and Restart

Create launcher on Desktop (under application choose "Application in Terminal")

command for shutdown = sudo init 0
command for restart = sudo init 6

change desktop icon(s) to one of choice

To use just double click on and the terminal window pops up - enter password and things shutdown/restart like they are suppose to

[mukmaster]

Confirm...

I run a HP G5220 and the have the same problem: No reaction when choosing shutdown or restart (apart from the disappearing window, wich is normal).
After shutting down the Open Office launcher the problem is gone..