[Slackware 14.1 XFCE]

Hey Guys,

I was watching a youtube video and putzing around on the interweb, and my 'puter froze-up. Eventually it started working again; then froze again. I rebooted.

When I rebooted, some things are missing- like my wallpaper (I just get a black screen, except for the top toolbar); If I right click on the desktop, nothing appears; my desktop icons are gone (the ones that appear by default in XFCE)....and this is the case now every time I boot up!

What is going on?

I didn't change anything/do anything; didn't install any software; this just happened out-of-the-blue. Oh yeah, and when the 'puter initially locked up, I got a dialog box saying that my screen was locked, and had to enter my passsword to unlock it (I do not have screen lock or anything like that enabled).....

Help!

could be a hardware issue.
someone is shitting in you system (virus)
xfce gone wild, means through the reboot some defaults are screwed up and it starts now incopmlete

try an other DE or with an other user to eliminate reason 3

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Seems you haven't picked up slacking yet!
Gotta be a bit more layed back ha. I is at club now but describe all and everything you did the previous day and I'll try to fix your problems again (;P recovery day compliments slacking).. Think back, nothing occurs through magic.

Btw extra happy to see you're still around.

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A quick fix would be to create a new user account I bet.

Additionally check the state of your window manager...
Just today (my update rotation) the sbo protobuf update broke my compiz. If you did anything similar recentally and just hibernated or slept your comp, infomationing is helpful.

If problem ain't solved I'll invest some time tomorrow

A4z: Not hardware- as I have another OS dual-booted (which I am using right now) and it works fine. Will try a different DE in Slackware tomorrow.
EDIT: If I log in as root, I get the normal XFCE desktop with icons and right-click working and all..... [just tried that just now before shuitting down for the night]

Maciuszek; Naturally, I'z sure glad to see you here! No, I haven't really learned to Slack yet, 'cause Slackware just seems to work without a hitch...until tonight.

Believe it or not, I did absolutely nothing! Your Slackbuild was the last thing I installed (what, over a month ago?) and basically all I've been doing is browsing the same old [safe] websites I always browse; email; playing that pinball game; and charging my MP3 player. And [just in case], no one else has access to my computer [unless my dog's been taking lessons!]

The thing that really makes me wonder, is the fact that nothing happens when I right click on the desktop. Oh, and I had made it (a long time ago) so that I only have one workspace/desktop- but since it went haywire, I now have 2.... Very strange, eh?

See ya's tomorrow, I'm'a gonna hitta the hay! [I'm speaking pseudo-Italian....ya know it's late!]

When the computer hangs (could be that it heated too much), somtimes I get corrupted file in the configuration directory of my desktop environment, that would be for you ".xfce" in your home directory.
Try to rename it. XFCE should create a new one and return to default configuration.
This is annoying (it occurred to me once or twice with ".kde") as you need to reconfigure everything to your test. So now I keep a backup of ".kde".
I don't know how this could be avoided.

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A modern journaling file system, properly configured, in conjunction with better cooling, error correcting memory, and a UPS.

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Did any of your file systems fill up? (df -h)

Backing up the .XFCE file in the future is a good idea. I HATE when things like this happen for no apparent reason! I doubt that heat was an issue- as, ironically, the temperature didn't make it out the 60*F's yesterday- as opposed to the 90's that it normally is/had been.

I use Reiserfs if it matters (Anyone know what cell Hans is in, in case I need tech support?)

Good question! But no- the "use%" values range from 1% to a high of 49%.

I'll wait to hear from Maciuszek again, and others before deleting the .xfce file...

Thanks, everyone!

why not try fsck, just in case

then reboot

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:-D
I have the first part, using XFS everywhere, the rest is mostly missing.

Could be the culprit, I had some bad experience in the past with it.
You should consider using some newer journaling file systems (EXT4, XFS come to mind) as they are apparently quite a lot faster and better maintained.

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JFS is a good and stable file system and has good file recovery. If you have a lot of sensitives files, I'd recommend JFS rather than XFS and Ext4.

Here's a good run down on what to expect from Slackware's choices:

XFS is better suited for servers with an emergency power supply. While XFS is a fairly fast and stable file system, if you have a loss of power, it has a chance of data loss and corruption higher than most.

Ext4 is more or less a fair balanced file system, but there are times it doesn't perform as well as other file systems. It has decent read and write speeds, and it's data journaling is fairly average.

JFS is a bit slower than Ext4 and XFS in write speeds but it has much better journaling and data protection. It's read speed is fairly good however. This file system is highly recommended for long-term storage, sensitive systems, etc. but it does work very well for a general usage file system.

ReiserFS is stable but compared to modern file systems it does fall short in terms of data protection and journaling abilities. It's fast, but it's scalability is less on modern systems, even compared to JFS. I honestly can't recommend it.

BtrFS is experimental and still very unstable. To be honest, it's a would-be clone of Solaris, Illumos, and BSD's ZFS, and attempts to duplicate and surpass ZFS, but it's nowhere near ZFS in terms of usability. I've personally never had good results from this file system, and honestly if I had a gun to me to pick BtrFS or a blasted off pinkie finger, well... I think I can work with four fingers... It's got a long way to go, and I doubt it'll ever get there. The GNU has a better chance of drafting an amendment to GPL to allow CDDL licenses than BtrFS becoming stable. LOL

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I used to use JFS. Just thought I'd give Reiserfs a spin. File systems are like Ford vs. Chevy- everyone has a different opinion, and swears by the one they like. Me? I don't know....just thought I'd try JFS and Reiserfs to see if there was a difference compared to the ext4 I had been using. Can't say that I've noticed any differences between 'em; and I've never had a data loss with any (Assuming my current problem isn't data loss- which I don't think it is, as there wasn't a power failure or anything....).

I use XFS a lot and I've seen silent data corruption (I don't have emergency power on my systems.) on some XFS formatted logical volumes that are on top of software RAID.

I've had system lockups due to ReiserFS issues. I've stopped using it. After Mr. Reiser went to jail for murdering his wife, the filesystem hasn't been the same.

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Seems I posted here last night ;P wish memory served better ha.

If you want to investigate jump into an unused TTY. Drop into a multiuser runlevel that Isen't 4 (..too avoid X respawning) and start you're xfce session from here.

Output is necessary for help!

Something had to occur. I personally would be to curious to just remove my .xfce and or user account but you might need a working Slackware asap. If that's the case go for it.

Also go ahead and run an antivirus. Memtest and fsck.

The screen locking initially is very interesting.

You didn't do anything fun like hibernate your crunch and boot up slack? . I don't thing anything "scary" could happen but I'm no expert.

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