[SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

samtech09 · 2014-12-10 18:08:15

I did a fresh installation of Arch with KDE desktop.

Often KDE stop opening windows/applications and it's happening frequently.

I login to arch, do startx, KDE desktop shown, now if i try to open File Manager, Web browser or any other application it does not open. Even it doesn't show bouncing cursor notification.

I tried to open system settings, it was also not opened.
Any settings window from system tray also not shown/opened.

I did Alt+F2 and tried to run Konsole but it says

KDEInit could not launch '/usr/bin/konsole'

To make it working again, i have to logout from X then again do startx.

What could be the problem?

Last edited by samtech09 (2014-12-11 15:21:52)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-12-10 18:19:53

Have you actually installed any of these packages?

You can check with:

pacman -Q <name of package>

samtech09 · 2014-12-10 18:30:59

Yes of course those packages are installed
I wrote, often it doesn't open applications but not always.

Once it logout and again do startx, it works normally and open applications.

samtech09 · 2014-12-10 18:35:44

Problem i not with any specific package, it is with entire system.
When problem occurs, it does not open any window even 'System Settings'.
Even it doesn't open logout/shutdown window if i right click over desktop and choose 'Leave'.

Only i am able to logout from 'Application Menu -> Leave'

drcouzelis · 2014-12-10 18:39:22

Wow, this is a strange issue...

How long does it take for KDE to "break"? Is it the same amount of time every time? Does it happen after you perform a specific action? (Start an application, insert a flash drive...)

You said you reinstalled Arch Linux, correct? Are you using your configuration files ("dot files") from your previous installation? Try removing your configuration files (or better yet, creating a new user). Does the problem still occur?

Also, will you please post your "~/.bashrc" file? (Although it's probably not the problem...)

samtech09 · 2014-12-10 18:52:03

How long does it take for KDE to "break"? Is it the same amount of time every time? Does it happen after you perform a specific action? (Start an application, insert a flash drive...)

It happens as soon as i do login and then do startx

You said you reinstalled Arch Linux, correct? Are you using your configuration files ("dot files") from your previous installation?

I did a fresh installation by formatting drive so there will not be any old files.

Here is content of ~/.bashrc

#
# ~/.bashrc
#

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
[[ $- != *i* ]] && return

alias ls='ls --color=auto'
PS1='[\u@\h \W]\$ '

drcouzelis · 2014-12-10 18:57:12

samtech09 wrote:

How long does it take for KDE to "break"? Is it the same amount of time every time? Does it happen after you perform a specific action? (Start an application, insert a flash drive...)
It happens as soon as i do login and then do startx

Now I'm more confused. You said:

samtech09 wrote:

Often KDE stop opening windows/applications and it's happening frequently.

samtech09 wrote:

Once it logout and again do startx, it works normally and open applications.

Does the problem happen often or always?
How do you encounter the problem? Is it "startx... broken... startx... broken... startx... OH good, it's working this time" or "startx... use computer for 10 minutes... broken... logout... startx"?

Here is content of ~/.bashrc

Sorry, I'm an idiot! I meant, please post your "~/.xinitrc" file.

samtech09 · 2014-12-10 19:09:20

Sorry, if i confused you, it's a very strange issue.

Let me clear
1. Problem doesn't occur always but occur 8 times out of 10.
2. Problem occurs at the very beginning. Sequence is startx...broken...logout_from_x...startx...working

Here is ~/.xinitrc

#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
  for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do
    [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
  done
  unset f
fi

# exec gnome-session
exec startkde
# exec startxfce4
# ...or the Window Manager of your choice

drcouzelis · 2014-12-10 19:30:46

How about a test: Install xterm, then add "xterm &" in your "~/.xinitrc" file BEFORE the "startkde" command, and then try starting applications from the command line. Are there any error messages?

By the way, does this problem ONLY happen with KDE? How about Openbox?

samtech09 · 2014-12-11 03:46:50

I added 'xterm &' before startkde.
After startx, xterm window shown over kde desktop.

First i tried to open applications from menu to confirm problem exist in current session. No any window open.
Now i tried through xterm, here are commands and their output

[samtech@localhost ~]$ konsole
Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keySegmentation fault (core dumped)
[samtech@localhost ~]$ dolphin
Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keydolphin: cannot connect to X server :0
[samtech@localhost ~]$ echo $DISPLAY
:0
[samtech@localhost ~]$

Thanks for being with me on this strange issue.

Trilby · 2014-12-11 03:52:23

That is a very googleable error message. But all the results are from users either trying to run programs as root (which from the shell prompt doesn't seem to be the case here) or using some sort of remote X session. Are you loging in to a remote machine, or is this all local?

What does `loginctl` show?

samtech09 · 2014-12-11 03:56:34

One more thing i notice is that, when problem occurs, it display [samtech@localhost ~]$ in terminal and in kde app launcher 'samtech on localhost'.

But when it works, it display [samtech@M4800 ~]$ in terminal and in kde app launcher 'samtech on M4800.Home'.

samtech09 · 2014-12-11 05:42:04

I am running it all local. No remote sessions.
And using normal user account (not root).

Here is output of 'loginctl'

[samtech@localhost ~]$ loginctl
  SESSION           UID   USER             SEAT
       c1           1000  samtech         seat0

1 sessions listed.
[samtech@localhost ~]$

drcouzelis · 2014-12-11 05:42:13

Oooh, possibly a hostname issue then? How did you set your hostname? What is the output of "hostname"? What is your hostname supposed to be set to?

Do you have your hostname entered in your "/etc/hosts" file?

Last edited by drcouzelis (2014-12-11 05:43:11)

samtech09 · 2014-12-11 06:06:07

I didn't set hostname, it's taking default.
Here is /etc/hosts content

#
# /etc/hosts: static lookup table for host names
#

#<ip-address>	<hostname.domain.org>	<hostname>
127.0.0.1	localhost.localdomain	localhost
::1		localhost.localdomain	localhost

# End of file

...and output of command hostname is

M4800.Home

The hostname 'M4800' i set in another OS (Debian Wheezy) on same machine but that is on different partition. However both are using same SWAP partition.
I can boot into one OS at a time so i think sharing SWAP partition should not be the problem.
It is also strange that from where it is taking 'M4800' as hostname.

samtech09 · 2014-12-11 06:27:01

I check swap usage but surprised, swap is not mounted in arch

[samtech@localhost ~]$ cat /proc/swaps
Filename				Type		Size	Used	Priority

I checked fstab, there is entry for SWAP

# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>	<dir>	<type>	<options>	<dump>	<pass>
# /dev/sdb4
UUID=3213b55d-d1aa-4fd5-9fa7-2b1018a788d6	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 1

# /dev/sdb1
UUID=4d280259-767d-409b-89a7-a115a087889b	none      	swap      	defaults  	0 0

Now i did following to make swap on

sudo mkswap /dev/sdb1
...
sudo swapon /dev/sdb1

Restart, again check swap, still it is not showing SWAP

[samtech@localhost ~]$ cat /proc/swaps
Filename				Type		Size	Used	Priority

samtech09 · 2014-12-11 07:41:55

SWAP issue is resolved. There was wrong UUID in fstab. Second OS changed UUID for swap partition.
Now cat /proc/swaps is correctly reporting swap.

However still it is taking 'M4800' as hostname. From where ? i don't know.

Actual problem of not opening window is still there.

samtech09 · 2014-12-11 09:04:44

drcouzelis wrote:

By the way, does this problem ONLY happen with KDE? How about Openbox?

I installed openbox.
When i run openbox-session, no such problem appear.
But if i run OpenBox with KDE openbox-kde-session problem occurs.

After tying multiple things, i found that it is happening after Wifi connection.
Here is the sequence

startx...KDEWallet ask for Pwd...Enter Pwd...Wifi Connected...broken system

However if do not enter pwd in KDEwallet and cancel it, then no wifi connection made (in absence of password) then i am able to open applications/windows.

startx...KDEWallet ask for Pwd...DO NOT ENTER PWD CANCEL IT...system works fine but there is no Connectivity.

So there is something with NetworkManager.

samtech09 · 2014-12-11 12:31:37

Confirmed!! it is not the KDE issue, it is with NetworkManager.

I installed GNOME desktop and it is also showing same behavior, after connecting WiFi it stop opening windows.
If i do not connect WiFi then it works fine.

May be i have some mis-configuration. How do i check ?

samtech09 · 2014-12-11 15:19:52

drcouzelis wrote:

Oooh, possibly a hostname issue then? How did you set your hostname? What is the output of "hostname"? What is your hostname supposed to be set to?
Do you have your hostname entered in your "/etc/hosts" file?

You are correct. It was all hostname issue.

I didn't set hostname in arch and it was default 'localhost'
But in Debian on same machine i set hostname to M4800. My router caches that Hostname with IP/MAC.
When i run arch and NetworkManger connects WiFi it gets hostname from router.

It was a small thing, but took much time to figure out (for me as a novices for Arch).
I am using Debian from last 2 years but never get such issue.

But it all helped me to learn a lot of things. And that's the reason i am switching to Arch from Debian

Thank you all for your great support!!

For anyone (like me) getting any such issue or getting issues with Networking, first check if you have properly set hostname then do other checks.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-12-11 15:28:39

Just for the sake of completeness, you need to add you new hostname to /etc/hosts or you may experience delays when opening (eg) firefox.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … e#Hostname

Also, in respect of the swap issue -- the swap partition is re-formatted by other distro's when they install; to save yourself having to alter your fstab every time this happens, I recommend using the PARTUUID instead (`blkid`).

drcouzelis · 2014-12-11 16:35:34

Yay!

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Just for the sake of completeness, you need to add you new hostname to /etc/hosts or you may experience delays when opening (eg) firefox.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … e#Hostname

Hehe, it was me who added that section to the Beginner's Guide after reading thread after thread of people have strange issues due to hostname problems. Who would ever think "dolphin takes 20 seconds to open a window!" would be because of a hostname problem?

Also, in respect of the swap issue -- the swap partition is re-formatted by other distro's when they install

Good catch. I didn't know that. But I guess it doesn't matter now. samtech09 installed Arch Linux so his days of distro hopping are over.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-12-10 18:08:15

[SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#2 2014-12-10 18:19:53

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#3 2014-12-10 18:30:59

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#4 2014-12-10 18:35:44

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#5 2014-12-10 18:39:22

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#6 2014-12-10 18:52:03

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#7 2014-12-10 18:57:12

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#8 2014-12-10 19:09:20

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#9 2014-12-10 19:30:46

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#10 2014-12-11 03:46:50

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#11 2014-12-11 03:52:23

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#12 2014-12-11 03:56:34

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#13 2014-12-11 05:42:04

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#14 2014-12-11 05:42:13

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#15 2014-12-11 06:06:07

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#16 2014-12-11 06:27:01

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#17 2014-12-11 07:41:55

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#18 2014-12-11 09:04:44

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#19 2014-12-11 12:31:37

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#20 2014-12-11 15:19:52

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#21 2014-12-11 15:28:39

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

#22 2014-12-11 16:35:34

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot open any applicaiton, any window in KDE

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