gnome-panel crashes after launching steam game (Thomas was alone)

[niedzwiedz]

Hello,

I encountered a minor problem on Ubuntu 13.04 with Gnome session in fallback mode. After running the game (even without launching steam application), both gnome panels (upper panel and the bottom one) disappear.

I had started gnome-panel manually in the terminal and then launched the game.

I received a following message:
(gnome-panel:3447): Gdk-ERROR **: The program 'gnome-panel' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)'.
  (Details: serial 32189 error_code 8 request_code 62 minor_code 0)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the GDK_SYNCHRONIZE environment
   variable to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)

Output of apt-cache policy gnome-panel:

gnome-panel:
   Zainstalowana: 1:3.6.2-0ubuntu3
   Kandydująca: 1:3.6.2-0ubuntu3
   Tabela wersji:
  *** 1:3.6.2-0ubuntu3 0
         500 http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ raring/universe i386 Packages
         100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

and my quick translation:

 gnome-panel:
    Version installed: 1:3.6.2-0ubuntu3
    Candidate version: 1:3.6.2-0ubuntu3
    Table of versions:
   *** 1:3.6.2-0ubuntu3 0
          500 http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ raring/universe i386 Packages
          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

The game is based on Unity3D engine.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Ben Kraft (benjaminjkraft)]

I'm getting exactly the same bug (running Kerbal Space Program, also the Unity engine); same gnome-panel version except amd64.

[Spindizzy (spindizzy-wizard)]

I've tried both Kerbal Space Program v 0.22.0 and v 0.23.0, installed direct, not through Steam.

Both of the programs trigger the same fault in gnome-panel.

Neither of the KSP programs triggered the problem prior to my upgrading to Ubuntu 13.10.

The problem is definitely repeatable, at will.

$ apt-cache policy gnome-panel
gnome-panel:
  Installed: 1:3.6.2-0ubuntu15
  Candidate: 1:3.6.2-0ubuntu15
  Version table:
 *** 1:3.6.2-0ubuntu15 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

If you need any further information, I'd be happy to try and get it for you.

[Erlenmayr (erlenmayr)]

The crash of GNOME components seems to come from Xorg bugs with the fglrx driver.

Since Ubuntu 14.4, Mesa and the free ATI video drivers are completed matured to the point that KSP can be played without FGLRX. Performance difference with my RadeonHD6850 is not noticable (KSP is a very CPU-dependend game, GPU is seldom the bottleneck), stability improvement is huge.

[Erlenmayr (erlenmayr)]

gnome-system-monitor also crashes. This means that Unity-based setups are also affected. And it also happens on my Thinkpad with Intel graphics, no proprietary drivers of any kind installed.

This makes the fglrx theory implausible to me and means it affects fully Canonical-supported setups.

Tests to reproduce can be made with the MiniMetro game alpha version from here:
http://dinopoloclub.com/minimetro/

Steps to reproduce:
-Launch gnome-system-monitor
-Launch MiniMetro

[Jon Crawford (crawfordcomputing)]

I have the same issues, using Xubuntu 14.04. When ever i launch Steam, the panels freeze. I can still right click, and I have to use the xkill command in the terminal to close the panel, they restart and work fine until i restart steam.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

niedzwiedz, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. However, your crash report is missing. Please follow these instructions to have apport report a new bug about your crash that can be dealt with by the automatic retracer. First, execute at a terminal:
cd /var/crash && sudo rm * ; sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo apt-get -y install gnome-panel-dbg && sudo service apport start force_start=1

If you are running the Ubuntu Stable Release you might need to enable apport in /etc/default/apport and restart.

Now reproduce the crash, then open your file manager, navigate to your /var/crash directory and open the crash report you wish to submit.
If this fails you will have to open a terminal and file your report with 'ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash' where _my_crash_report.crash is the crash you would like to report. If you get an error that you aren't allowed to access this report you will have to file it with 'sudo ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash'. If you run the command against the crash report and a window pops up asking you to report this, but then never opens a new report, you would be affected by https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apport/+bug/994921 . In order to WORKAROUND this, one would need to open the following file via a command line:
gksudo gedit /etc/apport/crashdb.conf

and comment out the line:
'problem_types': ['Bug', 'Package'],

by changing it to:
# 'problem_types': ['Bug', 'Package'],

Save, close, and try to file the crash report again via:
ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash

I'm closing this bug report since the process outlined above will automatically open a new bug report which can then dealt with more efficiently.

Please do not attach your crash report manually to this report and reopen it.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[Peter Schüller (schueller-p)]

I have the same issue in gnome-flashback on ubuntu 14.04. I will try to create the crash report and attach it.

[Peter Schüller (schueller-p)]

Followup issue is here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-panel/+bug/1438740

[Alberts Muktupāvels (muktupavels)]

This is bug in libwnck not gnome-panel:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libwnck3/+bug/1293252