Window decoration disappears with firefox

[SteveLW]

Binary package hint: firefox-3.0

Using Firefox 3.0b5 on Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. No "X" for closing the window appears in the upper-right-hand corner. Also, no minimize icon appears either, no the window restore icon. I upgraded from Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon and Firefox 2.x.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Apr 21 20:48:37 2008
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.04
Package: firefox-3.0 3.0~b5+nobinonly-0ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox-3.0
Uname: Linux 2.6.24-16-generic i686

WORKAROUND:
Disable the Legacy Fullscreen Support workaround with ccsm.

[Iulian Udrea (iulian)]

Thank you for your bug report. Do you have compiz enabled? Could you please attach a screenshot?

[SteveLW (stevelw)]

Here is a screen shot.

Iulian Udrea wrote:
> Thank you for your bug report. Do you have compiz enabled? Could you
> please attach a screenshot?
>
> ** Changed in: firefox-3.0 (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
>

[Domokun (net-domo)]

Hi there, i have the same problem too.

I use Hardy RC (not upgraded from 7.10 but installed on a new partition), compiz enabled on a ATI x1950pro (with Restrictd Drivers in use).
Looking at the image posted by SteveLW u can see that either the menu bar and the opened apps bar are disappeared too.

[Domokun (net-domo)]

found a little workaround for those who are interested:

- Close FF
- Open a terminal and write: metacity --replace &
- Reopen FF
- in terminal: compiz --replace &
- close terminal

This often works for me, i hope so for you.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Domokun wrote:
| found a little workaround for those who are interested:
|
| - Close FF
| - Open a terminal and write: metacity --replace &
| - Reopen FF
| - in terminal: compiz --replace &
| - close terminal
|
| This often works for me, i hope so for you.
|
This sounds more like a compiz issue than a firefox issue from what i
can tell from your work around
Im going to open compiz task and see what the compiz devs say about it.
- --
Sincerely Yours,
~ John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246
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[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Domokun wrote:
| found a little workaround for those who are interested:
|
| - Close FF
| - Open a terminal and write: metacity --replace &
| - Reopen FF
| - in terminal: compiz --replace &
| - close terminal
|
| This often works for me, i hope so for you.
|
Whomever looks at this from Compiz team if you reject this bug please
let me know why

- --
Sincerely Yours,
~ John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246
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[Domokun (net-domo)]

Obviously is a Compiz problem, but the strange thing is that this issue happen only with FF, and only sometimes at the opening of FF... i really can't understand...

Domenico

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 06:32:08AM -0000, Domokun wrote:
> Obviously is a Compiz problem, but the strange thing is that this issue
> happen only with FF, and only sometimes at the opening of FF... i really
> can't understand...

 affects ubuntu/firefox-3.0
 status invalid

 - Alexander

[Hew (hew)]

I can confirm this issue. Unfortunately I cannot provide good information on when it occurs, as I can often use firefox heavily in a session without it occuring. I removed my ~/.mozilla folder some time ago and started fresh, but the issue still occurs, so it's not a problem from there. I have only experienced this with firefox. It seems to happen when starting the program (I cannot remember/reproduce it happening at other times atm). Minimising/maximising resolves the issue for me.

[Hew (hew)]

I was just able to reproduce the issue a few times. Clicking on a hyperlink in thunderbird opened the page in a new firefox tab as is it meant to, but triggered the loss of window decoration. I could reproduce this every time, until I closed that instance of firefox and then reopened it. This would be why it seemed like I would experience the issue a lot at once, and then not for ages, since it must be firefox (or some firefox-related compiz thing) that 'breaks', and does not get 'fixed' until firefox is closed and reopened. I also want to correct my last post (as it was from memory), as minimising/maximising does not resolve the issue; F11/F11 to snap it back and forth from fullscreen is what restores the window decoration again.

Since I closed firefox during my testing just then, I have no idea when I'll again experience the issue. For anyone else with this issue, try and notice if there is anything unusual about the way firefox is opened when this occurs, or at least report how you opened it (via a hyperlink, from the applications menu etc).

[Tom Zimmermann (artist56)]

same thing happened to me and F11 sometimes solves it but not always. plus there seems to be more popups than ever suddenly covering the whole screen so I cannot even access my Ubuntu 8.04 menues....
It only started with installing firefox 3 !

[Hew (hew)]

I haven't experienced this issue with Intrepid, but since it's randomly occurring it's possible the bug is still present. I'll keep looking out for it. If someone experiences this bug on Intrepid, please post a comment.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Tue, Aug 05, 2008 at 09:04:18PM -0000, Tom Zimmermann wrote:
> same thing happened to me and F11 sometimes solves it but not always. plus there seems to be more popups than ever suddenly covering the whole screen so I cannot even access my Ubuntu 8.04 menues....
> It only started with installing firefox 3 !
>

please attach a screenshot of that situation.

 - Alexander

[Foppe Hemminga (foppe)]

@Hew McLachlan
First time I encountered the problem is just after upgrading to Intrepid alpha 5

[Domokun (net-domo)]

So Intrepid has not resolved the issue... bad

[HeelsFan (cngraham)]

I am also having the same issue with Firefox (Hardy) and Compiz. Firefox takes over the entire window. It covers both the top and bottom Ubuntu launch bars. I also don't have a Firefox title bar. As Firefox is one of the main programs I use, I can't use Compiz at all.

[HeelsFan (cngraham)]

It seems like this issue may be directly related to the Nvidia drivers and Compiz. The following thread describes potential solutions to the issue:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=835009

I used this solution and it seems to be working for me:

The following option is necessary to make window borders visible with nvidia driver versions prior to 100.xx.:

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Add -- Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True" -- under the section where you find your graphic card.

[Lars Düsing (lars.duesing)]

This bug does not only appear on NVidia - here on Intel 945GM.

[Lars Düsing (lars.duesing)]

running intrepid.

[Tom Zimmermann (artist56)]

Plus on ATI too and the popups do not stop at all and no way to close
the windo..only the whole browser. It does not matter
if I have Java and Javascript enabled or not. this started since the
3-Version of Firefox.

Lars Düsing schrieb:
> This bug does not only appear on NVidia - here on Intel 945GM.
>
>

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[Coran21 (coran)]

I can also confirm this issue, running Intrepid + NVidia graphic card. When Compiz is disabled, windows decoration appears and it works without problem, but when I turn Compiz on, decoration disappears. It started two weeks ago......

[Hew (hew)]

Finally, this issue has just appeared for me for the first time on Intrepid. It then occured every time I started firefox (technically abrowser). I managed to do some testing with ccsm, and narrowed the issue down to the Legacy Fullscreen Support workaround. I was able to reproduce the bug 100% of the time with the workaround enabled, and 0% of the time with it disabled, so I'm quite sure this is the cause.

What is this workaround actually used for? Perhaps it can be disabled/removed.

compiz 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu1~ppa1

[Lars Düsing (lars.duesing)]

By the way - on switching windows back to firefox all screen begins to flicker.

[Snaffta (snaffta)]

Same Fault.
Everytime FF starts, not full screen, but blocking decoration and bottom panel.

Turn on compiz = fail
Add -- Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True" -- under the section where you find your graphic card. = Fail
Press F11 x2 = fix
Restart FF = Fail
Turn off compiz = fix
Screen "flash's" when hovering over some links and popup note box appears, and swiching tabs etc...

Have a kernel and 18 various updates to do, but as that has also failed to be completed the first time round I guess I'll get back to you later on.

Thanks.

[Snaffta (snaffta)]

Immediately after posting (that above) installed ENVY and the newest 104.xx Nvidia drivers.
This has fixed that fault, and Compiz seems to be working correctly. I am not sure what drivers I was running beforehand.

[Tim Wiel (timwiel)]

Same issue occurs for me using Intrepid Beta/HP 6730b laptop/Intel Graphics/Compiz/Beryl

I concur exactly the situation Hew McLachlan wrote on 2008-06-21, this exact scenario works for me.

In all cases F11 x2 restores the window border.

Things I have found to cause window border to disappear:
- Starting firefox from launcher after a reboot makes window border disappear
- click on a link from within Thunderbird email (to open in new tab)
- firefox already going after a suspend/resume comes back with no border

[Nosrevelk (kleverson7)]

What worked for me was:

On CompizConfig>Utility>Workarounds

Disable the first option(Legacy Fullscreen support)

[Brezhonneg (fricompte)]

I confirm:

- the bug
- the F11 trick
- the efficiency of the workaround suggested above by Nosrevelk (so far so good)

I am using Ubuntu 8.10 with all the latest updates. The last firefox extension that I installed was SyncPlaces, though the bug only appeared a couple of days after the installation, so the relation is not clearly established.

Also note that bug #251617 seems to be a duplicate of this one.

[Domokun (net-domo)]

Yeah, I can confirm too that the workaround suggested by Nosrevelk works very good.

Maybe the compiz team should work on the function that the workaround disable...

[Adrian Moya (adrianmoya)]

Hi there,

On CompizConfig>Utility>Workarounds
Disable the first option(Legacy Fullscreen support)

This worked for me too. 8.10 on a Nvidia 7150M

[acm321 (acm3212002)]

I'd say this bug is officially fixed with the legacy fullscreen support thing. Setting to Fix Released.

[Hew (hew)]

There's a workaround for the problem, but definitely not a fix. A fix would be that the problem no longer occurs with the default settings at least. Please familiarise yourself with https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status and be more careful when changing the bug status in future.

[Emiliano (emiliano-perulli)]

Same problem here, with the last Firefox update (3.0.5) and Intrepid 64-bit; that's curios, before this update everything worked correctly. This issue happens with Firefox only, downgrading didn't solve. Double-clicking F11 is the only action that works, in my case.

[Hew (hew)]

This is a bug in Compiz, not Firefox. There is no need to downgrade, the workaround is already provided in the bug description, which is to disable the Legacy Fullscreen Support workaround with ccsm.

[Sebastian Busch (webmaster-thamnos)]

Same thing here. Both, F11 and Legacy Fullscreen workarounds work.

Best,
Sebastian.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log:
Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller rev 3

uname -a:
Linux macbook 2.6.27-9-generic #1 SMP Thu Nov 20 22:15:32 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Dan Bishop (danbishop)]

Deleting localstore.rdf worked for me, I've seen this issue on two computers now and I'm fairly certain that it's using F11 to enter fullscreen in the first place that causes this problem.

If you delete localstore.rdf then DON'T use full screen mode ever again, then you'll never have the problem again. Obviously that's not a fix, but hopefully this observation can help someone in properly fixing it. This also suggests it is indeed a firefox bug and NOT a compiz bug...

[Rob Smith (r-a-smith3530)]

That's funny, because when it happened to me, it thereafter affected every window that I opened, Firefox or not! If I were to open Nautilus or Gedit, I would see the same thing, no title bar. Changing the setting in Compiz, not Firefox, corrected the problem for me. I'm not saying that Firefox definitely didn't cause the issue, but rather that I would not discount the possibility of a cause outside of Firefox.

Rob Smith

--- On Sat, 1/10/09, Dan Bishop <email address hidden> wrote:
From: Dan Bishop <email address hidden>
Subject: [Bug 220443] Re: Window decoration disappears with firefox
To: <email address hidden>
Date: Saturday, January 10, 2009, 6:42 AM

*** This bug is a duplicate of bug 99740 ***
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/99740

This also suggests it is indeed a firefox bug and NOT a compiz bug...

[Ghita (gheorghe-marinca)]

actually this kind of issues happen in my Ubuntu 10.4 installation quite often now. After restart they get solved but every now and then appear -- very annoying indeed considering that it happens in 2-3 of 10 restarts. This one solves the issue:
metacity --replace &

It affects all application windows and not specific to firefox