the problem was not really a bug, but finding the solution took up several hours of research which didn't get me anywhere. finally, i just blank mindedly right clicked the gnome panel, clicked add to panel selected notification area, and VOILA! the sought after icon appeared. that was it.
[SOLVED]
the problem was not really a bug, but finding the solution took up several hours of research which didn't get me anywhere. finally, i just blank mindedly right clicked the gnome panel, clicked add to panel selected notification area, and VOILA! the sought after icon appeared. that was it.