After installing, there is no desktop. Only a pale blue screen with arrow pointer.

[Ron G]

I was able to install Xubuntu 9.04 beta with no problems, but after downloading the 155 packaged needed after installation, I rebooted, and came back to a blank light blue screen with mouse pointer, and no desktop at all. I am running it on a Compaq SR2023Wm, with a 160 gig hard drive, 1024 gig of ram, and an Nvidia graphics card. I run Mint 6.0, Zenwalk 6.0, and PClinuxOS 2009 on the same hard drive with seperate partitions, and have no problems with any og the other OS's.
I wish I could give more info, but with no desktop, there is little I can do with this OS.

[Sirix (sirix)]

I installed a Debian Lenny beta2 recently. For a few days xfce worked as it should and today it stopped: after logging in (using gdm) only a blue screen appeared. Right clicking didn't produce a menu.

I looked on the internet and found that this is a known issue related to dbus, but that it is supposed to be fixed in 4.4.2 which I'm using.

In my case restarting X.org several times (by ctrl+alt+backspace) didn't help, just as restarting a computer didn't.

What helped was pressing alt+f2, starting xfce4-panel and saving session.

[Olivier Fourdan (fourdan)]

Does not sound like a DBUS issue, simply the panel died and you saved your session w/out the panel running so it's not restored.

[Sirix (sirix)]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Does not sound like a DBUS issue, simply the panel died and you saved your
> session w/out the panel running so it's not restored.

Is this explanation consistent with not being able to right click for a menu? If so, then the bug can be closed for me.

[Olivier Fourdan (fourdan)]

(In reply to comment #2)
> (In reply to comment #1)
> > Does not sound like a DBUS issue, simply the panel died and you saved your
> > session w/out the panel running so it's not restored.
>
> Is this explanation consistent with not being able to right click for a menu?
> If so, then the bug can be closed for me.

right click is handled by xfdesktop, but the behaviour is consistent with a broken session (being able to rerun xfce4-panel shows that the WM and the keyboard shortcuts where working).

What I would suggest then would be to:

1) Check the content of the latest xfce4-session* file from ~/.cache/sessions
2) In doubt, remove the files completely, that will restore the defaults.

Make sure you do this while xfce4-session is not running (ie do this from the console or from a remote connexion).

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Thanks for reporting this issue. Unfortunately, without some more information, there is very little can be done to resolve the issue. Can you use Ctrl+Alt+F2 to go to a TTY terminal console? You should be able to login, and run the updates again using "sudo apt-get update" and "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade". It is possible one or more items did not complete. After the updates finish, run "sudo -r shutdown" to restart the system.

You can also go to /var/log/ and copy the Xorg.0.log to attach to this report if the updates don't allow you to login again.

[Ron G (gibbsre)]

I just installed another OS to try. Thanks anyway. I don't have the time or
aptitude for so many command line operations. Maybe once it is up and
running as something other than Beta, I will give it another look. Thanks
anyway.

On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 6:17 AM, Charlie Kravetz
<email address hidden>wrote:

> Thanks for reporting this issue. Unfortunately, without some more
> information, there is very little can be done to resolve the issue. Can
> you use Ctrl+Alt+F2 to go to a TTY terminal console? You should be able
> to login, and run the updates again using "sudo apt-get update" and
> "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade". It is possible one or more items did not
> complete. After the updates finish, run "sudo -r shutdown" to restart
> the system.
>
> You can also go to /var/log/ and copy the Xorg.0.log to attach to this
> report if the updates don't allow you to login again.
>
> ** Changed in: ubuntu
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> After installing, there is no desktop. Only a pale blue screen with arrow
> pointer.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/351293
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Ubuntu: Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> I was able to install Xubuntu 9.04 beta with no problems, but after
> downloading the 155 packaged needed after installation, I rebooted, and came
> back to a blank light blue screen with mouse pointer, and no desktop at all.
> I am running it on a Compaq SR2023Wm, with a 160 gig hard drive, 1024 gig of
> ram, and an Nvidia graphics card. I run Mint 6.0, Zenwalk 6.0, and PClinuxOS
> 2009 on the same hard drive with seperate partitions, and have no problems
> with any og the other OS's.
> I wish I could give more info, but with no desktop, there is little I can
> do with this OS.
>

[Ken K (ken-satisfiedcomputing)]

Charlie,

Same thing happened to my ThinkPad T20. The install went fine but after doing the first round of updates, The computer boots to a light blue background screen and Update Manager comes up. I have followed your directions and I ran the two apt-get commands. It updated the sources and then reran four Gnome packages (Gnome games, and a few others soory but didn't note what they were.)

Rebooted using the shutdown now -r and it came up again into the light bluebackground and update manager. Running the apt-get commands again gets me nowhere. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed.

Can I be of any help with this bug? I've attached my Xorg.0.log file

Also, Control-Alt-Backspace no longer restarts the GUI?

Ken

[Ron G (gibbsre)]

Well I am certainly glad it wasn't only me. I'll probably give it
another try somewhere down the road if it gets fixed.

On 4/14/09, Ken K <email address hidden> wrote:
> Charlie,
>
> Same thing happened to my ThinkPad T20. The install went fine but after
> doing the first round of updates, The computer boots to a light blue
> background screen and Update Manager comes up. I have followed your
> directions and I ran the two apt-get commands. It updated the sources
> and then reran four Gnome packages (Gnome games, and a few others soory
> but didn't note what they were.)
>
> Rebooted using the shutdown now -r and it came up again into the light
> bluebackground and update manager. Running the apt-get commands again
> gets me nowhere. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed.
>
> Can I be of any help with this bug? I've attached my Xorg.0.log file
>
> Also, Control-Alt-Backspace no longer restarts the GUI?
>
> Ken
>
> ** Attachment added: "Xorg.0.log"
> http://launchpadlibrarian.net/25472952/H%3A%5CXorg.0.log
>
> --
> After installing, there is no desktop. Only a pale blue screen with arrow
> pointer.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/351293
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Ubuntu: Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> I was able to install Xubuntu 9.04 beta with no problems, but after
> downloading the 155 packaged needed after installation, I rebooted, and came
> back to a blank light blue screen with mouse pointer, and no desktop at all.
> I am running it on a Compaq SR2023Wm, with a 160 gig hard drive, 1024 gig of
> ram, and an Nvidia graphics card. I run Mint 6.0, Zenwalk 6.0, and PClinuxOS
> 2009 on the same hard drive with seperate partitions, and have no problems
> with any og the other OS's.
> I wish I could give more info, but with no desktop, there is little I can do
> with this OS.
>

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Control-Alt-Backspace was removed from the shortcuts in Jaunty. According to the beta release notes:
"Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is now disabled, to reduce issues experienced by users who accidentally trigger the key combo. Users who do want this function can enable it in their xorg.conf, or via the command 'dontzap --disable' "

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Was this an upgrade from 8.10 or new installation. Did you keep the existing /home directory?

[Ken K (ken-satisfiedcomputing)]

This was a new installation.

I added dontzap. I can now control-alt-backspace and I get a login screen. However, picking XFCE gets me right back to a blank light blue screen and Update Manager runs yet again.

FYI, a sudo apt-get autoremove (or remove) xubuntu-desktop removes 1 package and frees 45.1 kb of space. That seems a little small for xfce. Can the updates have removed most of the xfce packages that make up xubuntu?

Ken

[Ken K (ken-satisfiedcomputing)]

A sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop also installs one package ( 2.82 ) that is 45.1 kb in size. Seems to me that the package is broken. How can I install a correct Xubuntu desktop to check?

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

xubuntu-desktop is a meta-package, that is, it pulls in all the packages needed to make xubuntu. After it does its job, it can be removed without changing the system. So, it is not removing all the packages needed by Xfce, but only the meta-package. 'dpkg -l xfce* ' will show the packages for Xfce, and 'dpkg -L xfce* ' will show the files and their locations on your system.

[Ken K (ken-satisfiedcomputing)]

the meta-package is a little light.

dpkg -l xfce* shows many many packages

dpkg -L xfce* gets me "Package 'xfce*' is not installed"

This is after I verified that xubuntu-desktop is installed.

Is this info helpful?

Ken

[Ken K (ken-satisfiedcomputing)]

If you look at the package contents:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/xubuntu-desktop

It doesn't include the base-desktop or xfce.

That seems wrong to me.

Ken

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Thanks for reporting this bug and any supporting documentation. Since this bug has enough information provided for a developer to begin work, I'm going to mark it as confirmed and let them handle it from here. Thanks for taking the time to make Ubuntu better!

[Don Nelson (gnulinux4christ)]

I can't believe Xubuntu Jaunty Jackalope 9.04 final was released with a MAJOR bug like this. Especially since it was a known issue since the beta release. It seems Xubuntu is always treated like the ugly stepchild. Six days after Mr. Kravetz finally confirms it and Xubuntu is still released with this HUGE bug. Unbelievable. I think the Ubuntu team is great and has the best overall product. But if this sort of thing continues to be an issue I may have to look for another XFCE distro.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

@Don Nelson:
This is not a forum or mailing list. Comments of this nature do not help anyone to resolve a bug. You do not add anything to the bug report that might help, so please do not add a comment. I do not see anything says you experienced the bug. I is very hard to confirm and resolve bugs withouth information needed. Over 600 people downloaded Xubuntu 9.04 when it was released. Two people have experienced this bug. That is not considered MAJOR bug by any means. Perhaps you could do be more constructive, like trying to help fix the bug.

If you experienced this bug, attach your /var/log/xorg.0.log and the logs in /var/log/installer. Tell us if this was an upgrade or fresh install, give some information about your system.

Thank you.

[Ron G (gibbsre)]

I am the one that originally posted this bug, and today I installed the
final release. It did fine on install, and the desktop come up. As I do with
all ubuntu distros, the first thing I did was to install the recommended
driver for my nvidia video card, which is now the 180, before it was 177.
After rebooting, I got the same pale blue screen, and no desktop. I would
like to give you the files you want to look at, but I am not well versed
with the command line, and with no desktop, it seems impossible to me to
send them. You see, not all of us can do all the things that seem so simple
you folks that are so fimliar with the command line. Sorry I can't be of
more help, but I have installed and removed at least 20, or more, distros
between to pc's, and I have never had this happen. I have to believe there
are more than just two of us with this experiance, but many like myself, may
not even know how to post the required information for a bug report, and may
just uninstall the os, and move on. I don't like to even complain, as I
fully realize that this as most all Linux distributions are free of charge,
and cost me no more than a very small amount of time, most especially when
compared to the amout of time invested by the developers. I always try and
remember this when mentioning any problems. Maybe some others need to think
of this before complaining about something that cost nothing.

Sincerly,

Ron Gibbs

On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 6:41 AM, Charlie Kravetz <email address hidden>wrote:

> @Don Nelson:
> This is not a forum or mailing list. Comments of this nature do not help
> anyone to resolve a bug. You do not add anything to the bug report that
> might help, so please do not add a comment. I do not see anything says you
> experienced the bug. I is very hard to confirm and resolve bugs withouth
> information needed. Over 600 people downloaded Xubuntu 9.04 when it was
> released. Two people have experienced this bug. That is not considered MAJOR
> bug by any means. Perhaps you could do be more constructive, like trying to
> help fix the bug.
>
> If you experienced this bug, attach your /var/log/xorg.0.log and the
> logs in /var/log/installer. Tell us if this was an upgrade or fresh
> install, give some information about your system.
>
> Thank you.
>
> --
> After installing, there is no desktop. Only a pale blue screen with arrow
> pointer.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/351293
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “xfce4-session” source package in Ubuntu: Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> I was able to install Xubuntu 9.04 beta with no problems, but after
> downloading the 155 packaged needed after installation, I rebooted, and came
> back to a blank light blue screen with mouse pointer, and no desktop at all.
> I am running it on a Compaq SR2023Wm, with a 160 gig hard drive, 1024 gig of
> ram, and an Nvidia graphics card. I run Mint 6.0, Zenwalk 6.0, and PClinuxOS
> 2009 on the same hard drive with seperate partitions, and have no problems
> with any og the other OS's.
> I wish I could give more info, but with no desktop, there is little I can
> do with this OS.
>

[Don Nelson (gnulinux4christ)]

Charlie,
Sorry. had an extremely difficult and stressful day yesterday and am in the middle of changing some psyc meds. I know that is no excuse, but it was the proverbial straw that broke this camels back. I think death by firing squad would be appropriate for me. I will try a fresh install again and supply the logs you recommended. Perhaps I can help solve this bug issue for all 4 who have reported it(I know, mine was a rant, not a report but I will change that). I wouldn't blame you if you ban me from Launchpad. I am an idiot. I will, however, be back with a bug report . Please accept my apologies.

don

[Don Nelson (gnulinux4christ)]

OK. I performed another fresh install with a new burn of a new download. The MD5sum checked out. The disk error check on the install cd said all was ok. So, I went ahead with the installation. After the install, the system re-booted to the default Xubuntu desktop. Update manager said there were 6 updates. I opened up the update manager and installed the updates. Then I decided to re-boot to see what would happen. As soon as clicked on the log out icon on the upper right panel, the entire desktop disappeared. No panels, icons, background, or right click. So I had to hard re-boot. Still no desktop. I used a live cd to access Thunar, terminals, the log files, and the internet.

[Don Nelson (gnulinux4christ)]

OK. I performed another fresh install with a new burn of a new download. The MD5sum checked out. The disk error check on the install cd said all was ok. So, I went ahead with the installation. After the install, the system re-booted to the default Xubuntu desktop. Update manager said there were 6 updates. I opened up the update manager and installed the updates. Then I decided to re-boot to see what would happen. As soon as clicked on the log out icon on the upper right panel, the entire desktop disappeared. No panels, icons, background, or right click. So I had to hard re-boot. Still no desktop. I used a live cd to access Thunar, terminals, the log files, and the internet.
I hope this helps.
don

[Steve Dodier-Lazaro (sidi)]

Do the people having this trouble have a Nvidia GPU card ? Can you please check that this happens after a Nvidia proprietary drivers update, but not if you keep the openSource ones or if you keep the old ones ?

Thanks in advance.

[Steve Dodier-Lazaro (sidi)]

Also, please indicate if you run a 64 or 32 bit architecture, and if you have a Nvidia card, please tell us exactly which model. Also, please attach your /etc/X11/xorg.conf before driver update, and after, and also please attach your .xsession-errors file.

If you don't know how to do this, the following should be aproximately good :

- Ctrl+Alt+F1
- login
- type :
    sudo mkdir /media/myusb
- plug your USB key
- type :
    sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/myusb -- here i assume you have only 1 HDD, thus the 'b' stands for second disk : your usb key.
    cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /media/myusb/newxorg.conf -- i assume you already saved the one when your desktop was still booting properly
    cp ~/.xsession-errors /media/myusb

Then you can grab your files from the USB key.

Thanks in advance if you can do this. It'll very likely help us to track the bug down.

[Don Nelson (gnulinux4christ)]

Steve,

My current graphics card is a Radeon 9250se.
I'll attach my xorg.conf and xsession-errors files.
I am also going to try a proprietary radeon driver and report my results.
I will also try to fire up a pc tower I am preparing for sale(replacing with laptop)that has a nvidia 8800GTS card and post those results as well.

[Don Nelson (gnulinux4christ)]

My previous report was on a 32 bit system.
This time I fired up my 64 bit monster that I am preparing to sell(it is liquid cooled and I had already drained and flushed the system so I had to hook up the pump and hoses and fill it with coolant in order to test a Xubuntu install). Everything went perfectly fine so I guess something in Xubuntu doesn't like something with my temporary old timer hardware. I tried Mandriva 2009.1 with XFCE 4.6 and ext4 with no problems. Of course Mandriva is using the 2.6.29 kernel which could maybe make a difference. I forgot how much I don't like the Mandriva package manager. Yikes.
Anyhow, I'll upload the files from this latest install on my big machine(even though everything worked fine), and try some other Ubuntu/Debian based distros as well as Ubuntu 9.04 just to see what happens. If I get a repeat of the bug I'll report it.

[Don Nelson (gnulinux4christ)]

I just realized that I forgot to mention in an earlier post(2009-04-26)that after accessing Thunar with a live cd, I opened a terminal and typed *xfce4-panel*. This brought the panel back. I then got in to the XFCE Settings Manager and opened Sessions and Startup and made certain *Automatically save session on logout* was checked. Then, when I re-booted I did have the XFCE Panel. So the system is usable, just not very convenient.

[Steve Dodier-Lazaro (sidi)]

I had a look at your .xsessionerrors file, and according to it, the panel / window manager fail to launch on session opening because there would already be another running. I really don't know how this kind of bug can occur, but thanks for the feedback, this should help to identify the problem.

Could you also please give us the output of the command "ls .config/autostart", just incase ?

[Clark Dunson (cdunson)]

I have the same problem with Xubuntu on an Advantech PCM3353 PC-104 with a 500Mhz Gedode LX and Frame buffer. Have been unable to restore.

1. Install 9.0.4 CD Image, login, looks fine.
2. Take all updates, reboot.
3. Login screen fine, but only pure light blue after (mouse pointer moves, though)
4. None of the sessions types work, (except ctrl-alt-F[1234, etc.])
5. Followed F2 workaround suggested above, cannot change desktop, window frames are maroon.

We must press forward, so I will be re-installing, will post more if I learn anything.

Thanks.

[Clark Dunson (cdunson)]

Forget the comment about the maroon window frame, my IT buddy chose it.
More system info: 500Mhz Geode LX, 1Gb RAM, 32Mb Frame Buffer setting.

Now we have re-installed from scratch. First login worked fine, except that the
system required a long minute to clear the light blue screen and achieve the desktop.
Seems way too long.

This time taking no updates, we simply logged out and back in.
Menu bars appear, but desktop is blue no icons. 2nd log out/in, same.
Rebooting produces the same result.

.xsessionerrors file attached, Output of "ls .config/autostart" ::

xfce4-settings-helper-autostart.desktop
xfconf-migration-4.6.desktop

Will test further.

[Steve Dodier-Lazaro (sidi)]

Do any of you please mind providing us the /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc file ?

[Clark Dunson (cdunson)]

Please forgive my noise, I hope it is helping.
The complaint in my .xsession-errors about line 59:

/etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc: 59: source: not found

Line 59 is the fi at end of the if block. But
the file exists, I can cat it out from xinitrc

This is the only 'source' command in the xinitrc
file. Interestingly "shopt" is also not found...
Okay, /bin/sh points at dash, not bash

changing "source" to "." on line 59 fixes the fact that apparently
"dash" does not contain "source" ?!? That seems whacky,
but there it is.

Has not fixed blue screen problem yet, contuining ....

[Clark Dunson (cdunson)]

Steve:

Here's mine...

[Clark Dunson (cdunson)]

Oops it has my debugging in it around lines 36-38

[Clark Dunson (cdunson)]

Not line 59, D'oh!! Line 36, change "source" to "."

Echos show that line 134 "$xfcesm" aka: /usr/bin/xfce-session does not return
to xinitrc. Don't know if that's normal. But it will take me awhile to find that src.

Gotta run for now.

- Clark

[Clark Dunson (cdunson)]

Our Xorg.0.log

Thanks again

[Don Nelson (gnulinux4christ)]

Steve,
Sorry for my late response to your question from 2009-05-01.
This is my terminal output for "ls .config/autostart".

don@don-desktop:~$ ls .config/autostart
bluetooth-applet.desktop xfce4-settings-helper-autostart.desktop
jockey-gtk.desktop xfconf-migration-4.6.desktop
print-applet.desktop
don@don-desktop:~$

I also wanted to mention that my screen sometimes goes blank for a second when I press the enter key or left click on the screen.
p.s. attached my xinitrc file

[Clark Dunson (cdunson)]

Our IT buddy was able to apply the workaround
of re-stating that we have US default keyboard,
(given in another bug) and now we are up and
running again. That is an easy workaround.

[dusktrader (dusktrader)]

Hello, I am having the identical problem described here. I will add additional information/clues that may be helpful.

I have an older computer at home that I recently did a fresh install of Xubuntu 9.04 on, and it did not have any of these problems. I have applied all apt-get upgrade's since then also with no problems.

Today I've begun a fresh install at my work computer, which is a Dell Dimension 9150 with onboard ATI video card. Per my notes from the Gutsy Xubuntu install, the video string is identified as this:
Radeon X300/X550/X1050 Series

Under Gutsy, I used the ATI proprietary driver because of problems with the default provided mesa drivers. But during initial testing of the Januty Xubuntu LiveCD, I did not have any problems at all and had planned to not install the proprietary driver.

So the install went like this (to reiterate what others have said):
1. Fresh install from Xubuntu Jaunty LiveCD
2. After install, everything is fine, works great
3. I first checked /etc/apt/sources.list and uncommented the Canonical partner repos
3a. then did "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade"
4. While updates were running, I also setup Pidgin for my Jabber network and added it to the autostart apps under Settings->Session and Startup
5. After updates completed, I did a full reboot
6. Screen comes up to a pale blue background with mouse, but no other XFCE desktop. Also, Pidgin window pops up and works fine.

Other things that work:
CTRL-ALT F1, F2, F3, etc
CTRL-ALT-DELETE locks screensaver and lets me "switch user", but after logging back in I just get the pale blue screen again

One thing I will try is to apply the ATI Proprietary drivers at this stage and report back. I can do this by downloading them onto my USB stick then using commandline to launch then. I may need to add the terminal app to my autostart applications so when I get the pale screen I have a way to navigate and launch the driver installer GUI.

[dusktrader (dusktrader)]

As a temporary workaround, here is how you can get your panel to start. This is not a "fix" because other items are missing... background image is still pale blue (incorrect) and no icons appear on the desktop.

1) Boot from the LiveCD

2) mount your main harddrive ... for example:
mkdir /mnt/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mount/sda1

3) add an autostart app to start the panel in your home directory ... for example:
Create file: /home/kevin/.config/autostart/xfce4-panel.desktop

CONTENTS OF FILE:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=0.9.4
Type=Application
Name=xfce4-panel
Comment=TEMP kevin xfce4-panel
Exec=xfce4-panel
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Hidden=false

4) reboot your system ... panel will start after bootup

I'm also attaching the most frequently requested files so hopefully some developers can get better clues as to what went awry during the apt-get upgrade process:
xinitrc
xorg.conf
.xsession-errors

[dusktrader (dusktrader)]

As a followup to this issue, I have gone through the Xubuntu 9.04 reinstall procedure once again (fresh install) and noticed a new clue.

This time after completing the install and rebooting to a successful desktop, I went to System-> Synaptic Package Manager and reviewed the packages eligible for upgrade.

Since there were reports from others that seemed to specifically indicate a video issue, I told Synaptic to "lock" the 3 mesa files that were about to upgrade. These files are:
libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-glx libglu1-mesa

There were 58 other updates that were performed (everything else). After applying all these updates but holding back the mesa drivers, the system has rebooted and is A-OKAY!!

I think this could indicate a problem with the mesa driver update. I will do some more testing to see if the ATI proprietary driver installs without problems. This would probably negate the need for the mesa drivers.

[dusktrader (dusktrader)]

FYI, according to the unofficial ATI driver wiki:
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Jaunty_Installation_Guide

the only option for my video card (ATI Radeon pre-X1000) is the open source mesa drivers. This is because ATI is no longer providing support for these video cards, and as such the last supported proprietary driver is Catalyst 9.3. However, v9.3 is not compatible with Jaunty because it doesn't support xorg-xserver 1.6.

You can also check under System-> Hardware Drivers. If there is a restricted (proprietary) driver that is compatible and available, Ubuntu will download it for you (and could thereby replace mesa).

[Steve Dodier-Lazaro (sidi)]

Thank you for this, dusktrader.

I didn't have much time for this lately but i'll try to reproduce the bug here, and try installs with those drivers in a VM.

To the users who suffer from this bug, read the comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xfce4-session/+bug/351293/comments/37 and the comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xfce4-session/+bug/351293/comments/28 for restoring your xinitrc to a likely working state.

I'll dig into this (eventhough i doubt i'm understanding it all) as soon as I can manage too. Thanks again to all the people who took the time to help the Xubuntu developers solve this bug.

[Steve Dodier-Lazaro (sidi)]

Please ignore my above comment. The problem seems not related directly to /etc/xdg/xfce/xinitrc's changes, since source $XDG... and . $XDG... do the same bash command, according to the bash manual.

I'm adding mesa to the bug report so maybe they can find out what's wrong.

[Ron G (gibbsre)]

I just downloaded the Karmic Xubuntu test ISO, and the problem isn't in this
one. I installed it, and updated with no problems as of yet. As a matter of
fact I am sending this via the newly installed Karmic test version. This is
one of the pc's that I reported the original problem about. I also had the
same result on my home pc, so tonight I may give the Karmic version a try
and see how it flys. I don't know if this will be of any help or not.

Ron

On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:12 PM, Steve Dodier <email address hidden> wrote:

> Please ignore my above comment. The problem seems not related directly
> to /etc/xdg/xfce/xinitrc's changes, since source $XDG... and . $XDG...
> do the same bash command, according to the bash manual.
>
> I'm adding mesa to the bug report so maybe they can find out what's
> wrong.
>
> ** Also affects: mesa
> Importance: Undecided
> Status: New
>
> --
> After installing, there is no desktop. Only a pale blue screen with arrow
> pointer.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/351293
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Mesa: New
> Status in “xfce4-session” source package in Ubuntu: Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> I was able to install Xubuntu 9.04 beta with no problems, but after
> downloading the 155 packaged needed after installation, I rebooted, and came
> back to a blank light blue screen with mouse pointer, and no desktop at all.
> I am running it on a Compaq SR2023Wm, with a 160 gig hard drive, 1024 gig of
> ram, and an Nvidia graphics card. I run Mint 6.0, Zenwalk 6.0, and PClinuxOS
> 2009 on the same hard drive with seperate partitions, and have no problems
> with any og the other OS's.
> I wish I could give more info, but with no desktop, there is little I can
> do with this OS.
>

[Ron G (gibbsre)]

OK, I don't know if this will help or not, but as I stated in my last post,
I down loaded the Karmic Xubuntu 9.10 test version, and installed it on my
work PC, and it works just fine. Last night I downloaded it in the amd64
version for the computer I originally posted this bug report about, and it
also works just fine. I assume that either the bug was fixed, or that
somehow it doesn't exist in the newest version under testing. At any rate,
it works beautifully on both pc's , where as the 9.04 version did not work
on either of them. I am sorry I am not better versed in Linux to be able to
help more, but perhaps there is something that can be deduced from the
difference of the two ISOs.

Ron

On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:12 PM, Steve Dodier <email address hidden> wrote:

> Please ignore my above comment. The problem seems not related directly
> to /etc/xdg/xfce/xinitrc's changes, since source $XDG... and . $XDG...
> do the same bash command, according to the bash manual.
>
> I'm adding mesa to the bug report so maybe they can find out what's
> wrong.
>
> ** Also affects: mesa
> Importance: Undecided
> Status: New
>
> --
> After installing, there is no desktop. Only a pale blue screen with arrow
> pointer.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/351293
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Mesa: New
> Status in “xfce4-session” source package in Ubuntu: Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> I was able to install Xubuntu 9.04 beta with no problems, but after
> downloading the 155 packaged needed after installation, I rebooted, and came
> back to a blank light blue screen with mouse pointer, and no desktop at all.
> I am running it on a Compaq SR2023Wm, with a 160 gig hard drive, 1024 gig of
> ram, and an Nvidia graphics card. I run Mint 6.0, Zenwalk 6.0, and PClinuxOS
> 2009 on the same hard drive with seperate partitions, and have no problems
> with any og the other OS's.
> I wish I could give more info, but with no desktop, there is little I can
> do with this OS.
>

[Steve Dodier-Lazaro (sidi)]

Hello Ron G,

dusktrader actually gave us a serious hint : he said he didn't have the
problem if not upgrading the vesa drivers. And in Karmic Alpha 1, it's
likely to be another vesa driver version. As Charlie didn't run into the bug
while testing Jaunty, we just learnt about it right now. I will speak with
the Xubuntu developers during / after UDS to see if we can bring the latest
vesa into 9.04 in order to get the bug out.

Thanks for your help.

[dusktrader (dusktrader)]

If you are able to get the latest mesa drivers added to the 9.04 repo, please let me know and I will be happy to reinstall Jaunty on a separate harddrive on my hardware and confirm if it helps.

Also, when I have time next week I will install Karmic and confirm the results with my hardware.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

The issue that you reported is one that should be reproducible with the live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Lucid Lynx. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can work on getting it fixed in the next release of Ubuntu. You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ . Thanks again and we appreciate your help.

[Clark Dunson (cdunson)]

Ok Charlie I'll see what I can do tomorrow

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 26, 2010, at 6:49 PM, Charlie Kravetz <email address hidden>
wrote:

> The issue that you reported is one that should be reproducible with
> the
> live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Lucid
> Lynx. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can
> work
> on getting it fixed in the next release of Ubuntu. You can find out
> more
> about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ .
> Thanks
> again and we appreciate your help.
>
>
> ** Changed in: mesa
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> After installing, there is no desktop. Only a pale blue screen with
> arrow pointer.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/351293
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Mesa: Incomplete
> Status in “xfce4-session” package in Ubuntu: Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> I was able to install Xubuntu 9.04 beta with no problems, but after
> downloading the 155 packaged needed after installation, I rebooted,
> and came back to a blank light blue screen with mouse pointer, and
> no desktop at all. I am running it on a Compaq SR2023Wm, with a 160
> gig hard drive, 1024 gig of ram, and an Nvidia graphics card. I run
> Mint 6.0, Zenwalk 6.0, and PClinuxOS 2009 on the same hard drive
> with seperate partitions, and have no problems with any og the other
> OS's.
> I wish I could give more info, but with no desktop, there is little
> I can do with this OS.
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/mesa/+bug/351293/+subscribe

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

This bug has been reported to the developers of the software. You can track it and make comments at: http://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4399

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Can anyone reproduce this issue using Xubuntu 9.10 or Xubuntu 10.04 releases? It would help us greatly to know for sure whether or not this issue has been fixed.

[dusktrader (dusktrader)]

I have just done a fresh install of Xubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx today and also all updates that were available. I can confirm that this problem seems to be resolved: I did not have any problems with video at all, and all the updates are applied and system working correctly.

I have a Dell Dimension 9150, which is the same system as I reported above. No new hardware changes or firmware updates have been done since the original video problem reported above related to the Mesa driver.

Hope this helps.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

We are closing this bug report because it appears to have been fixed in the latest release, Xubuntu 10.04. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

[8-nick (8-nick)]

Reassign to <email address hidden>.

[Steve Dodier-Lazaro (sidi)]

Hi,

This bug is 6 years old and an update is necessary. Does the issue still occur? If so, on what distribution? If using Debian/Xubuntu, can you please also report to your distribution's maintainers so they can comment on patches they maintain?

Olivier, is there anything that can be done to make Xfce session more consistent? I.e. for people who do run a full Xfce session, is there a way to tell that the panel is missing from a session resume?