Invisible window blocks mouse interactions with visible windows after upgrading to 11.04

[TennSeven]

Binary package hint: xorg

Using the Ubuntu classic desktop and looking through my documents, pictures, music files and other files through xorg I noticed that in every directory there are now a few files that I cannot click on at all. To reproduce:

- Click on "Places" at the bottom of the desktop, and open "Documents," "Music," "Pictures," or any other place with a lot of files.
- Click on each file, one at a time, and find that eventually you will run into a file that will not respond to left or right clicks (the file will not highlight when you click on it, nor will a context menu appear when you right-click on it).

Usually there will be two files in a row that you cannot click on, or there will be one file that will only to, say, one out of every five clicks and a file right below it that will never respond to clicks. Sometimes opening a terminal window and renaming the unresponsive file (via the "mv" command) will make it responsive again. Rebooting x-windows (ctrl + alt + backspace) does not fix the problem. If one file is made to be responsive usually another will become unresponsive.

Even when a file is unresponsive you can still highlight it using the arrow keys, and open it by hitting enter.

The unresponsive files are no different in permissions, ownership or file types of the files in the same directory that are still responsive.

I know this description may be hard to follow; a video of the behavior is included.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic-pae 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 270.41.06 Mon Apr 18 14:54:25 PDT 2011
 GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-8ubuntu4)
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,imgjpeg,decor,firepaint,move,shift,cube,regex,compiztoolbox,water,mousepoll,resize,animation,rotate,obs,put,switcher,td,cubeaddon]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Thu May 5 04:41:57 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-05-02 08:38:30.093857
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38-8-generic-pae, i686: installed
 nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.35-28-generic, i686: installed
 nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38-8-generic, i686: installed
GraphicsCard:
 nVidia Corporation G80 [GeForce 8800 GTX] [10de:0191] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device [3842:c831]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
JockeyStatus:
 xorg:nvidia_173 - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
 xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, Not in use)
MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic-pae root=UUID=17854eae-d294-4ffe-a9e5-962a838245cf ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-05-02 (2 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 08/04/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 0602
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P5Q PRO TURBO
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev 1.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0602:bd08/04/2009:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP5QPROTURBO:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7

[TennSeven (tennseven)]

It seems to be more than just files that are unresponsive. For instance, there will be random pieces of text on a webpage that are unresponsive to mouse clicks (I have included another video), and even areas of the text box I am adding this comment into are also unresponsive (the mouse pointer will turn from a text mouse pointer to a simple arrow when I hover over specific areas of this text box, and clicking in these areas will produce no result).

It appears that from window to window it may be the exact same space that is unresponsive. Maybe there is some kind of invisible dialog that is blocking mouse input when the pointer is over it?

[TennSeven (tennseven)]

This is definitely the same dead space over and over again on my desktop. It seems that there is some kind of invisible dialog box that is covering up part of the desktop, not allowing me to click on items underneath it.

[TennSeven (tennseven)]

I have attached output from xwininfo -root -tree. The window appears to stretch from 420,494 to 1092,264 on my screen (1920x1200), which seems odd, but I am just reading from the information in xwininfo. I do not yet know how to use the information in the output file to figure out more about the window, but hopefully someone else will (if anyone ever gets around to looking at this bug).

[TennSeven (tennseven)]

Running xprop and clicking on the affected area yields only:

_NET_WM_ALLOWED_ACTIONS(ATOM) = _NET_WM_ACTION_ABOVE, _NET_WM_ACTION_BELOW

Running xkill and clicking on the affected area does nothing.

[TennSeven (tennseven)]

I finally got rid of this problem by reverting Compiz to its default settings. I disabled Unity again and re-enabled many of the plugins I was using and the problem has not reappeared. Attached is the backup I made of my Compiz settings *before* I reverted. My guess is that the problem is in one of these plugins.

[Dimitrios Ntoulas (ntoulasd)]

I have the same problem, when I play video, with vlc,totem even in youtube.

My nvidia is
nVidia G84 [GeForce 8600 GT] [10de:0402] (rev a1)
Driver 260.19.06

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hey tennseven,

You filed this bug report against natty, but I see it's still open and
doesn't appear to have much activity recently. So, now that oneiric
is released and stable, this may be a good point for you to upgrade
and re-test if this issue is still present there.

If it's solved in the new release and you think it's worth backporting
the fix, please indicate that. Or if having the fix in the new release
is good enough, feel free to close out the bug (or let us know and we'll
close it.)

If it's not solved, leave the bug report open. I can't promise we'll
get to it (we get way more bugs filed than we can usually get to), but
your testing and feedback can help out if and when we do.

[timmy (timmy-cc)]

yeah so this invisible window problem seems to have been fixed for me when i upgraded to oneiric. it made natty totally unusable. btw, i think i could see the invisible windows when i restarted compiz or the unity. but i never found out how to get rid of them without restarting X.

[dino99 (9d9)]

That version is no more supported; please open a new bug report if the actual archive found version also has the same issue.