Arch Linux

nixIT

Member

Registered: 2010-01-13

Posts: 548

xfce and weird desktop issue

Greetings gang,

I have a weird issue going on and with both my systems (at work and home) and they started about the same time....

Running Arch 64 with XFCE on both
Both systems have nvidia cards(nvidia drivers), the one at work is a bit older, the one at home is a nvidia GTX 660.
Both systems are up to date with pacman -Syyu and yaourt -Syyua
work system native resolution 1920x1200
home system native resolution 1920x1080

Both systems:
Sometime during the last 2 weeks, whenever I log in, the desktop looks like the normal resolution, and I can move windows all around, however, the icons that I used to have on the right side of my desktop are no longer there, they are lined up on the left.  When I try to move them to the right, I see they can be moved about 2/3 the way across the screen and when going to the right 1/3 they can't be moved, like the desktop isn't recognized. 

I go into Settings and display and the monitor resolution is set correctly, so I change the setting to 1680x1050 and save changes.  I can move the icons all around the desktop.  When I change the display settings back to 1920x1200 (at work), the monitor appears to change resolutions, even giving me the "keep or revert" option, but the display resolution clearly hasn't changed.  I selected "Keep" and I can see that the resolution option under Display is still set to 1680x1050.  I go to change it back to 1920x1080 and it does change this time, and I can move my icons to any part of the desktop.. YAY.  But this will only last until my next reboot.

Now, at home, the above is the same except that now when I log in, my desktop is the correct resolution, but my icons are not position on the right.  I can move them to the right side of the desktop and they stay...for that session, a reboot and they are back on the left.

Please note, that the goofy monitor resolution changing as described for my work system, I had to perform the same action on my home system, but only did it one time.

Not sure what update caused this to happen, and I would have assumed that if it affected only one system it is a fluke, but it's affecting both systems.

Any ideas what to look for?

[EDIT]  Added nvidia drivers to above.

Last edited by nixIT (2014-03-17 19:01:09)

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alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: xfce and weird desktop issue

With XFCE display issues, I always start by creating a new user. If I can get things working properly there, I figure out what config files are involved and go from there.

If you're using nouveau, the file related to resolution is ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/displays.xml . You could try renaming it (while XFCE is not running) then starting XFCE to see if that straightens things out. I don't really grok the icons issue so I can't help with that.

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But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

tinx

Member

Registered: 2014-08-08

Posts: 1

Re: xfce and weird desktop issue

Hi nixIT, hi community,

any solutions found yet?

I have a very similar problem. Most times my XFCE desktop just starts up fine, no problems whatsoever. Then again with no reason I can imagine it just moves some desktop icons from right to left an thereby messes my whole order up.

I even put them symbols only 2/3 to the right side but it still happens. Resolution and all is fine though.

I also use a GeForce GTX 660 with the BLOb driver. I have no idea what I can do and would be very sad to drop XFCE but this situation is unbearable. It is there for quite some time now and no upgrade brought relief.

Please help!

Last edited by tinx (2014-08-08 08:02:00)