Nautilus Does not Display Menus

[Karl Johnson]

Nautilus (file manager) working fine, then not.

What happens is the menus stop displaying.

You select a menu item expecting a list of actions and you get about four pixel wide little bump where the list normally displays.

I suspect it is there but being displayed under the menu bar where it is not visible on the display.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: firefox 10.0+build1-0ubuntu0.11.10.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-15.26-generic 3.0.13
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-15-generic x86_64
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: karl 1898 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: karl 1898 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20120129141257
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfe8f8000 irq 44'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC1200'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0888,103c2a5d,00100101'
   Controls : 38
   Simple ctrls : 21
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'Set'/'C-Media USB Headphone Set at usb-0000:00:1a.1-1.1, full speed'
   Mixer name : 'USB Mixer'
   Components : 'USB0d8c:000c'
   Controls : 7
   Simple ctrls : 3
Channel: release
Date: Fri Feb 17 07:39:17 2012
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110427.1)
IpRoute:
 default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0 proto static
 169.254.0.0/16 dev eth0 scope link metric 1000
 192.168.1.0/24 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.6 metric 1
 192.168.1.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.102 metric 2
Plugins:
 Shockwave Flash - Lib=libflashplayer.so, Location=/usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin
 DivX® Web Player - Lib=libtotem-mully-plugin.so, Location=/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
 Windows Media Player Plug-in 10 (compatible; Totem) - Lib=libtotem-gmp-plugin.so, Location=/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
 QuickTime Plug-in 7.6.6 - Lib=libtotem-narrowspace-plugin.so, Location=/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
 VLC Multimedia Plugin (compatible Totem 3.0.1) - Lib=libtotem-cone-plugin.so, Location=/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=10.0/20120129141257 (Running)
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2012-02-12 (5 days ago)
WifiSyslog:

dmi.bios.date: 10/24/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 5.13
dmi.board.name: Berkeley
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.04
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr5.13:bd10/24/2007:svnHP-Pavilion:pnGN553AA-ABAm9040n:pvr:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnBerkeley:rvr1.04:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: GN553AA-ABA m9040n
dmi.sys.vendor: HP-Pavilion

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please answer these questions:

* Is this reproducible?
* If so, what specific steps should we take to recreate this bug?
* Could you take a screenshot showing the issue?

This will help us to find and resolve the problem.

[Karl Johnson (lvkarl)]

On 02/20/2012 08:19 AM, Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make
> Ubuntu better. Please answer these questions:
>
> * Is this reproducible?

Sorry, it has happened two or three times in the last couple weeks.
But I have not figured out the combination of actions and programs that
cause the issue.
Mind you now that I think about I probably pointed at the wrong logic,
if nautilus is just the file manager logic it is probably a victim
rather then a perpetrator, though it is the only place where I have
encountered this issue.
Well maybe not do not know how the menus always appear in the desktop
header line.
I suppose I just wasted my time and yours, probably just a screen
position fakeout.

> * If so, what specific steps should we take to recreate this bug?
Tried a handful of normal actions to no avail, so guess today the answer
is no I can not recreate.
If I figure it out I will rely my findings referencing your ID 934288.

> * Could you take a screenshot showing the issue?
No can do I do not know how to take a screen shot without changing the
desktop header, where the menus are "not" displayed.
>
> This will help us to find and resolve the problem.
>
> ** Changed in: nautilus (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>
> ** Changed in: nautilus (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Karl Johnson (lvkarl)]

On 04/09/2012 06:05 AM, Launchpad Bug Tracker wrote:
> Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.
>
> ** Changed in: nautilus (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Confirmed
>
I had this failure of the menu to display sub menus happen on another
application the other day.
I has happened many times in Nautilus over the last couple months, but
it happened the other day "to" Firefox.

I have only seen it once on Firefox.

"My solution is restart the "Os", I suspect I would only need to restart
the window manager, but have not scrounged around to figure out how to
do that. Restart the Os and every thing is fine for a while (couple
days to a week) until Nautilus changes something an triggers the failure.

The failure usually occurs after I get three or four windows of Nautilus
up and I am using all of them reasonably heavily (couple dozen uses an
hour ). Not a normal user activity, probably why it took so long for
the confirmation.

It seems Nautilus is not the real culprit, looks like the logic to
display the menus is actually part of the window manager.

Hope it helps to find the issue to know that though very rare the issue
has occurred while displaying another application. Mind you it is not
the case that Nautilus is malfunctioning and other applications are also
malfunctioning.
I have had many instances where one window of Nautilus is malfunctioning
but other windows of nautilus and all other applications are functioning
normally. I have had many instances where I just do not use that
window. Also when I get to this state all new windows of Nautilus that
I open will be broken.

Karl Johnson

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

nautilus is not a window manager it's a filebrowser, firefox being buggy can't be blamed on it ... do you mean it's rather a compiz or unity issue?

[Karl Johnson (lvkarl)]

On 04/10/2012 08:47 AM, Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> nautilus is not a window manager it's a filebrowser
Yes I understand that, but is it nautilus that manages the menus when
they are placed in the window manager header line?
> , firefox being buggy
Same point, is it firefox that manages the menus when they are placed in
the window manager header?

> can't be blamed on it ... do you mean it's rather a compiz or unity
> issue?
>
What is compiz?
I thought unity was the name of a version of the Ubuntu OS, is it also
the name of some piece of code?

This problem did indeed appear when I installed Unity.

The problem is associated with the movement of the menu bar from within
the application window into the header of the window manager. It is not
apparent from the outside how this GUI revision was implemented, hence
my confusion about the source of the problem. If the application was
just told the window address of the menu bar as being at the position of
the window manager header, then I blame Nautilus ( and my one occurrence
of Firefox error is a similar error inside Firefox, unlikely but possible).
If instead the menu logic in an application is revised to pass a-menu
data structure to the window manager and the window manager logic is
used I blame the window manager. I suppose by your reply that this more
complicated method of implementing the GUI is not in use and the prior
method is how this was implemented.

None the less, the bug is still displaying it's ugly head in Nautilus
from time to time. I have only seen it once in Firefox and that would
be with thousands of executions.

If I see it any where else I will let you know.
I did try for a couple hours to force it to happen so I could give you
the steps but I am still unable to generate on demand sorry.

If I can do any thing to help I will just ask.

Keep up the good work,
Karl

[Jim J (morlockhq)]

I can' consistently make this happen, but I notice it most often when I have a Nautilus file browsing window open and then insert a USB device (my Sansa Fuze Clip MP3 player) and then try to open it from the Unity dock.

If I do this, my original Nautilus window, that was open before, still functions normally AND has drop down menus. However, the Nautilus file browsing window that I launched for the USB device still funtions normally, but DOES NOT have drop down menus.

The only way I can get them to come back is to close all open Nautilus Windows, open a terminal and type "killall nautilus". Then when I open a new nautilus window, it functions normally AND has drop down menus again.

This is a VERY annoying bug.

Thanks for looking into it.

Jim

[Karl Johnson (lvkarl)]

On 04/04/2013 10:54 AM, Jim J wrote:
> I can' consistently make this happen, but I notice it most often when I
> have a Nautilus file browsing window open and then insert a USB device
> (my Sansa Fuze Clip MP3 player) and then try to open it from the Unity
> dock.
>
> If I do this, my original Nautilus window, that was open before, still
> functions normally AND has drop down menus. However, the Nautilus file
> browsing window that I launched for the USB device still funtions
> normally, but DOES NOT have drop down menus.
>
> The only way I can get them to come back is to close all open Nautilus
> Windows, open a terminal and type "killall nautilus". Then when I open a
> new nautilus window, it functions normally AND has drop down menus
> again.
>
> This is a VERY annoying bug.
>
> Thanks for looking into it.
I'm not looking just reporting hoping somebody might look.
>
> Jim
>
Thanks for the work around.
Your USB device cause could be likely, as I transfer to my MP3 player
nearly every day.
Your kill, restart nautilus window probably better then my work around.
I just shut every thing and restart.
I only encounter this issue about once a month now, was more common, I
suppose I changed my usage.
Oh I know, when I had this issue a lot I was listening to books while
recovering from an operation.
I was on the computer with the MP3 player probably five times normal.
Good catch on the USB plug in.
Maybe somebody will find it.

Karl Johnson

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

There has been no activity here or mention of similar issues in years and it's likely resolved, closing but feel free to open a new report if you still have problems in newer versions