Arch Linux

Naorax

Member

Registered: 2014-02-27

Posts: 7

Strange GNOME bug

Hi everybody.
First excuse my poor english. I didn't know where to post so I post here because I know archlinux has a great community.
I'm pretty sure I found a bug in GNOME because my problem happend only with GNOME 3.10 and never with KDE or older GNOME version.
So what's my bug ? Actually when I start a xsession (manually with startx or by gdm), I can open firefox, terminal etc, BUT randomly (sometimes never but more often in a couple of minutes or since the start) all my windows freeze in a certain way. I can't do anything with my mouse (can't move or close the window, can't click on buttons or link in firefox...). However I can always type text or close app with keyboard. It is already strange but that's not all !!! If I start a second xsession in an other tty, there will be no problem in this session but moreover the bug in the first session dissapear. I'm going to be mad... About my graphic card, I've got a HD 7950 and I tried with open and proprietary driver.
I'm not here to find a solution (for the moment I use KDE) but to know the opinion of more powered user and, if it is really a bug, how can I report it to the GNOME project because their bugtracker seems to be a little bit complicated.

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: Strange GNOME bug

It's quite impossible to tell if this is upstream GNOME bug, arch linux bug, or something happening only in your system. You should try to figure out what could be causing it, because if you report a bug about random freezes without any additional info, there's no way anyone could find the cause for it.
for starters, check out journalctl when the freeze happens..

welcome to the forums

EDIT: Are you using arch linux or some other distro? couldn't really tell from your first post.

Last edited by ooo (2014-02-27 13:11:43)

Naorax

Member

Registered: 2014-02-27

Posts: 7

Re: Strange GNOME bug

Sorry I din't say that I tried on many distro. At the begining I thought it was a ubuntu bug because the problem was introduced with ubuntu 13.10. But in fact I had also the same problem in every disto with GNOME 3.10 and also when I install GNOME separately like on arch. So my conclusion is that the problem comes from GNOME 3.10. Am I right ?

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: Strange GNOME bug

Yeah, you've pretty much ruled out all the other possibilities I can think of.

It could still be just something with your user's configuration.
Have you tried creating new user, an tested if this happens with it also?

If it still happens, check journalctl (assuming you're testing this on arch) if you can see any errors there.

Last edited by ooo (2014-02-27 20:17:39)

Naorax

Member

Registered: 2014-02-27

Posts: 7

Re: Strange GNOME bug

I'm pretty sure it don't come from my user's configuration. I create multiple user and all have the same problem (root too). However I will check journalctl as you said. I don't know what it is but I will look at the wiki this week-end. I'll keep you up to date. And thank you for your help.

cris9288

Member

Registered: 2013-01-07

Posts: 348

Re: Strange GNOME bug

if you've tried with fresh installs on different distros, then it's possible it's a GNOME bug relating to your hardware. Do you have another laptop or desktop to test?

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: Strange GNOME bug

I will check journalctl as you said. I don't know what it is but I will look at the wiki this week-end.

journalctl is tool for viewing system logs in systemd based systems.
In short, run journalctl -r after the "freeze" and you'll see latest log items on top of the screen. Hopefully there will be some error message(s) indicating what could be causing the issue.

Naorax

Member

Registered: 2014-02-27

Posts: 7

Re: Strange GNOME bug

Yeah the bug is relating to my hardware because I can install arch, ubuntu etc on other PC. Now the qestion is : where does it come from ? In my opinion, I suspect two components : the graphic card (HD 7950) or the CPU (intel core i5 4670). You must know that core i5 have a graphic part too. So there is maybe a conflict between them. As I said before I installed graphic's driver so normally it kick out the cpu rendering but I can't be sure. Actually even if I've got a fresh install without gpu's driver, the problem is still here. About journalctl, I must unfortunately wait until monday to check it because I'm not at home.

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: Strange GNOME bug

If you only have this issue in GNOME, and KDE & others work, it's highly unlikely this is in any way caused by your gfx card or cpu.
Do you have any special or uncommon input devices (wacom tablet for example) that could be messing things up?

anyway, best way to start diagnose issues is finding if there are any error messages. so again, you should check your system logs first. :)

Naorax

Member

Registered: 2014-02-27

Posts: 7

Re: Strange GNOME bug

I only have keayboard and mouse so no special input device. The thing very stange is that there is no problem when I start a second xsession. I really don't understand because if something during the initialization of xorg fail why would it work if you launch a second time xorg ??? But you're right, we need system logs to diagnose more so see you Monday .