I'm not really sure which category this topic should go in..

I recently updated my video drivers to the latest Catalyst 9.1. Things didn't go smoothly. The hiccup I had was an error about a line "Disable dri2", which I removed in order to solve the problem and continue with "aticonfig --initial".

So now Kubuntu won't logout, restart, or shutdown successfully through the GUI.. It does the logout sequence (closes programs, chimes logout music), though at least once left Konqueror open, window decoration-less, against a blank background. Other times it's just a blank screen. Pushing the power button at this point on my PC initiates the real shutdown sequence, and the Kubuntu logo appears and reverses the loading bar, like normal, and shuts off.. I can also successfully shutdown with the "sudo shutdown -r now" command, which was suggested in my previous thread. Even with this method, it still takes significantly longer to shutdown than it used to. Pushing the power button will [i]always[/i[ successfully shutdown.

Installing the new driver may or may not have been the cause, though messing with Compiz/Emerald and their settings is what I concluded broke KDE the last time this happened. I didn't fix it last time; I just reinstalled Kubuntu.

Any ideas?

Does this happen under a new user?

Under a new user, I was able to logout, but upon logging back in and trying to restart, it hung. Something interesting to note: When I pushed the power button (while sitting at a blank screen during the failed restart), it initiated the shutdown sequence as expected, but actually restarted.

Also, the first login on the new user was WAY SLOW, and on the login and logout, there are white screens, whereas normally the blank screen would be black (while loading the DE). It's just kinda weird..

This definitely sounds like your driver is not compatible with your system ( software version, Hardware model, etc ) You may wish to revert to your previous graphics card driver.

bcooksley wrote:This definitely sounds like your driver is not compatible with your system ( software version, Hardware model, etc ) You may wish to revert to your previous graphics card driver.

Really? Okay, I'll revert.. But I don't know how to do that! Lol. If it's of any relevance, I can still play Quake Wars just fine. For now, I'm going to see if EnvyNG will take care of the reverting for me.

Is "Composite" mentioned in xorg.conf?

bcooksley wrote:Is "Composite" mentioned in xorg.conf?

Well, I've already tried to revert the driver with EnvyNG. EnvyNG is reporting "success!" but I have an X popup saying "Sorry, the package "xorg-driver-fglrx 2:8.543-0ubuntu4" failed to install or upgrade. I'm honestly afraid to restart at this point, which is what EnvyNG wants me to do.

Okay, found xorg.conf lol. No, it doesn't mention Composite. It's actually a lot shorter than I expected it to be..

Code: Select all

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "Default Screen"
   Device     "Configured Video Device"
   Monitor    "Configured Monitor"
   DefaultDepth   24
EndSection

Section "Module"
   Load   "glx"
   Disable   "dri2"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
   Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"
   Screen      0  "Default Screen" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "Configured Video Device"
   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
   Driver   "fglrx"
EndSection


Is it safe for me to restart, do you think?

I wouldn't. Don't even logout. Ensure that the package did install correctly before even trying anything. You might also wish to prepare yourself by knowing how to use a command line text editor to change xorg.conf ( vi or nano )

If it breaks change "fglrx" to "vesa" which should get you a minimally usable system ( no 3D )

bcooksley wrote:I wouldn't. Don't even logout. Ensure that the package did install correctly before even trying anything. You might also wish to prepare yourself by knowing how to use a command line text editor to change xorg.conf ( vi or nano )

If it breaks change "fglrx" to "vesa" which should get you a minimally usable system ( no 3D )

Thanks for the warning! I didn't know how to verify the install, though, so I just restarted. Luckily, it came back up.. But when I logged in, the background was default, and I don't have any widgets. Also, my desktop is blank. That could be something to do with the switching to folder view, though. EnvyNG says the right drivers are enabled, but how do I check? I know I should know how to do this..

Given that the X server managed to come online, I'd say you are safe if you have "Direct Rendering" available. This command will tell you if it is available.

Code: Select all

glxinfo | grep -i direct

The reason behind your default background / no widgets / blank desktop is likely that Plasma failed to save its configuration. The safest course of action is usually running these commands:

Code: Select all

kquitapp plasma
rm -rf $KDEHOME/share/config/plasm*
plasma &

bcooksley wrote:Given that the X server managed to come online, I'd say you are safe if you have "Direct Rendering" available. This command will tell you if it is available.

Code: Select all

glxinfo | grep -i direct

The reason behind your default background / no widgets / blank desktop is likely that Plasma failed to save its configuration. The safest course of action is usually running these commands:

Code: Select all

kquitapp plasma
rm -rf $KDEHOME/share/config/plasm*
plasma &

I don't know if that would have loaded the saved settings or not, as I had already switched back to folder view and added my widget. You were right, though, that it didn't save the plasma configuration!

Well, after all of that, I'm still having the same issue with shutting down.. I do want to thank you, though, for helping me through this! You are incredibly reliable and helpful! I like you so much, I don't even care if the problem gets fixed! I'm thinking about trying out openSUSE again..

I do recall having the crash when trying to logout / shutdown at some point when using KDE 4.2 Betas, but it resolved itself for me at some point. The only thing I can recommend is ensuring the "Logout / Shutdown" Desktop Effect is disabled if you have Desktop Effects enabled.

Just an update on this topic: this probably doesn't always happen, but just this morning I noticed that the shutdown hung at the Kubuntu logo, right as the loading bar was almost empty. Subsequent pushes of the power button did nothing. I Ctrl+Alt+Del'd and it restarted the loading bar, which unloaded to completion, at which point my computer restarted, even though I had done "sudo shutdown now". Also, the next time I turned the PC on, KDE auto-logged in, started loading, then suddenly flashed to the login screen, where I had to re-login.