December 2013 updates to 12.04 LTS cause multiple problems

[octalman]

December 2013 and January 2014 updates have caused numerous usability problems. Some disappear, then reappear. All the following are current.

1. Firefox and Thunderbird no longer find internet connection when connected wirelessly. System reports wireless connection is established and working, but neither FF nor TB cab find it. Wired connection works OK. This problem first appeared in early December and has continued to date (January 24, 2014).

2. Booting HP Pavilion dv6 laptop fails when external power is connected. Boots OK on battery alone. Bug reported. Problem appeared after January 1, 2014.

3. Firefox loses tab history -- it's still there, but inaccessable unless I reboot. Long-standing issue.

4. Right-click no longer works in Firefox. Can't copy or cut-and-paste.

5. After running for more than a few hours, Firefox window frames become transparent and Firefox no longer works.

6. When using LibreOffice, screen updates cause brief, but very annoying, display flashing or blanking. Blanking is sometimes extended up to ten seconds. (AMD A-8 quad-core processor with 6 GB main memory!). Very alarming.

7. Lost ability to scroll, etc. using "gestures" shortly after January 1, 2014.

8. Unity magically appearing/disappearing scroll tabs replaced Gnome's hard scrollbars. That's not nice. I don't like them.

9. Firefox never, ever restores automagically (though it always did in 10.04 LTS and does on Linux Mint). This issue has been outstanding for two years, or more. No biggie, but it's annoying and very unprofessional. Two bugs reported on this vs. Oneric! C'mon, people. Surely you can do better than that.

This system is single-boot Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Gnome 3/Unity on an ext4 filesystem, installed about August 6, 2012 and kept up to date.

What happened to the concept that 12.04 was to be a "stable" release? This is the most unstable *n*x OS release I have ever used since 1999 (SuSE 5 through 8, Ubuntu 8.04, 10.04, Mint 13 and 14). This nonsense makes Microsoft Windows almost seem desirable. I also use Linux Mint 14 on other "boxes", an HP Pavilion dv7 and a Dell Optiplex GX620. None of these issues affect Mint 14, although it is based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Mint 14 has its own issues, but none affect usability like these do). Unity sucks stumpwater.

[octalman (octalman)]

And, what's more:

10. Resized windows no longer retain their size, but revert to a default size. Sometimes I want a smaller sized window and I expect it to stay that size.

[octalman (octalman)]

2 and 7 fixed with seventeen updates February 6. Possibly some others (6 and 8) -- too soon to tell for sure.

1 and 9 definitely still outstanding.

[octalman (octalman)]

Fixed with seventeen updates February 6:

2. Boosstrap fails
5. Windows lose content (apparently due to memory leak) -- passed 16 hour stress test
6. Screen flashing while updating LibreOffice display (limited testing)
8. Unity magically appearing/disappearing scrollbar reverted to originally configured old-school scrollbar.
10. Resized windows retain size on restart (yay!)

Still outsanding:

1. Firefox and Thunderbird can't access established wireless connection.
4. Right click doesn't work with Firefox
7. Gesture-scrolling only works with some Firefox windows/tabs (didn't work at all before)
9. firefox does not automagically restore windows on restart.

Can't determine:

3. Firefox loses tab history -- can't tell because right click doesn't work (4 above)

[octalman (octalman)]

Further testing reveals that right-click works in some Firefox windows, but not others, similar to the problem with gestures (work in some windows, not others).

When it does work, tab history appears to be intact. Back and forward arrow movement through tab history works OK and history appears to be intact.

[octalman (octalman)]

With update of February 13, 2014:

2. Bootstrap failure returns
3. Tab history is garbled for some tabs (not all)
4. Right-click woks with some windows, but not all (this was true as of previous update too).

[octalman (octalman)]

With update of Feb 17-22, 2014:

All issues have now been resolved, except:

  1. Firefox and Thunderbird can't find a wireless connection, even though one has been successfully established.. Requests to authenticate appear repeatedly, from time to time, even though system status indicates that the wireless connection has been established and is active. This problem first appeared about the first week of December, 2013 and continues to this time.
  9. Firefox does not automagically restore previous session.
10. Some Firefox windows are restored in the smaller size of another, unrelated resized window.

[octalman (octalman)]

Issue No. 10 has been resolved, but a new issue has appeared and an old one (2) reappeared:

11. There appears to be a slow memory leak that manifests itself with Firefox (though it may be elsewhere). When the system is left powered up for an extended period (over a week, as observed in this case), one or more of the windows become non-responsive.

12. System will not restart when shut down -- bootstrap fails with a green screen (GSOD?). Power (the battery) must be removed to be able to shut down and restart. This is similar to, but different in some details, from previous shutdown/restart issues which appeared in December, 2013. Formerly issue (2).

Issues 1 and 9 remain unresolved.

[octalman (octalman)]

Following the most recent update (about March 22-24, 2014):

Issues 1 and 9 remain unresolved.

13. A new issue has appeared, possibly related to No. 11 (probable memory leak): after the system runs for a prolonged period, a message appears with increasing frequency, stating that a script has stopped running. System usability gradually, then rapidly, decays to the point of the system being unusable. Re-boot is required. The issue appears to be related to Firefox, but Firefox may or may not be the true cause. A more probable culprit seems to be Unity.

Issue No. 12 has not reared its head, but there has been only limited testing.

[octalman (octalman)]

The latest update (March 26 or 27) has introduced new issues having to do with mouseover-autoclick and touchpad sensitivity.
 No other changes have been made to the system other than the updates.

Timeout for autoclick is so short that just moving the cursor usually results in moving some piece of text (or a cell in a spreadsheet). Random links are autoclicked almost instantly.

Touchpad hypersensitivity has always been an issue (for me) with Ubuntu releases 8.04, 10.04 and 10.04. Tuning doesn't seem to make much difference. No other changes have been made to the system other than the updates. I have experienced this with this HP dv6 (purchased July, 2012) and a Dell Inspiron 1501, though the problem is worse with the HP..

Painting text for cut/copy-paste is very much problematical. It often takes five or six (or more) tries to paint (and keep painted) a block of text so that it can be cut or copied.

These are all serious productivity killers besides being extremely annoying.

[octalman (octalman)]

The two most recent updates to 12.04 have caused even more serious productivity problems than ever.

Autoclick timeout has decreased to near zero. I haven't had the time to try to discover how to adjust this, if it's even possible to adjust.

It's ridiculously easy to accidentally some magic key combination, performing an undesired, and almost certainly undesirable, action.

The latest update removed ability to copy/paste URL addresses from the address bar in Firefox. Ability to do so has been very useful to me in the past and I'm extremely annoyed that it is no longer available.

[octalman (octalman)]

And, what's more keyboard response has become excruciatingly slow.

[octalman (octalman)]

Update today to 12.04 restores URL bar copy/paste.

However, when the restart button on the update page is clicked, the computer does not complete the restart procedure, but hangs with a dark green screen. It can only be restarted by removing power and the battery. Manual retry works with no further problems (yet).

Upon completing the update, a pane displays with the message "failed to download extra data files" flashplugin-installer. This happened with the previous one or two updates also.

Very limited testing seems to indicate better keyboard response.

[octalman (octalman)]

The "failed to download extra data files" message doesn't seem to accomplish anything. It just keeps repeating, even though I click the "run this action" button and authenticate. This was the case with previous updates too.

THUNDERBIRD problem

About two or three weeks ago (perhaps a bit longer), Thunderbird started issuing notices that it could not save to the drafts file. About the same time it started creating a new subdirectory, "Drafts>>[Gmail]>Trash" (or Trash>>[Gmail]>Drafts, I forget which and have lost my notes). Although I can delete the (empty) directory, it reappears and the message persists.

Keyboard response is definitely better. Autoclick timeout seems more reasonable, but only with limited testing.

[octalman (octalman)]

Re: Thunderbird -- serious issue

The bogus directory is Trash>>[Gmail]>Drafts. When the main mail display is dismissed, Thunderbird continues to attempt to save a draft of any new message. It is then no longer possible to edit the message being prepared and it is no longer possible to access the main mail displays, though it is possible to prepare another new message.

Autoclick -- issue appears to be resolved.

Keyboard response -- now better, but overall system performance has been seriously downgraded by the most recent updates.

Wild cursor -- this has been a serious productivity issue for six years. It needs attention on a high priority basis.

[octalman (octalman)]

Following this latest update, when my system runs for an extended period -- over 72 hours -- cursor and keyboard response become so sluggish that the system is very, very frustrating to use, bordering on useless. Overall system performance is very poor.

[octalman (octalman)]

June 10 update restores keyboard and cursor response. Thank you.

[octalman (octalman)]

The bogus directory issue (Thunderbird) mentioned in my May 30 and June 6 reports remains unpatched. Its a real PITA.

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

I'm afraid your current report is impossible to act on for any developer so I will close it. Please open one ticket for each problem you face. Please use the provided tools such as ubuntu-bug to report your problems and have additional information included automatically.

[Andrea Azzarone (azzar1)]

Please open a different bug for each problem you face. Closing this.