Taskbar gone after waking from sleep

Hi all

Recently installed Tumbleweed on a laptop and a desktop. I’m experiencing an issue with desktop environment after waking from sleep; the login screen displays and works, when I log back in all my windows are there - but the desktop itself appears to have crashed; no task bar, no right click menu. This has happened on both devices. Both using Tumbleweed installed with defaults (bar language as UK English). I am able to launch terminal with ctrl+alt+T, but (a) I haven’t figured out how to restart the desktop process or whatever it is that’s crashed and (b) I shouldn’t have to obviously!

Rebooting brings it back, though obviously that’s not the proper answer. So:

  • What can I do as the quick fix to reload the taskbar etc
  • Where do I find more info that can diagnose this bug for the proper solution

Experience level: first time using OpenSUSE but fairly experienced with running Linux in general (mostly RHEL/CentOS and Ubuntu, I consult for a product that’s usually deployed on top of RHEL)

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Unclear to me.
When you “sleep” from a running desktop, on waking the desktop session is still there, but the user has to unlock the session. That is no login.

OK that’s fair, but partly this is because the exact mode of the computer isn’t made obvious to the user (since mostly they don’t need to know). The most precise description I can give: the desktop has locked and the display has turned off; when mouse/keyboard is used it presents the unlock screen with password prompt. So that’s maybe display sleep but not hibernate mode?

This is not about what the user knows or understands, but I assume you ask this as system manager. And for everybody it is good when it is clear what the situation is and what is done and seen. Else confusion and bad advise may emerge.

That said, you did not even mention which desktop environment this is about. Nobody here can look over your shoulder.

Ah no these are my personal devices, I cited my sysadmin experience so people know they can get a bit technical without confusing me too much.

The desktop is KDE/plasma - I probably should have said that, though I did say that I installed with defaults (and that was the default).

This is Unix/Linux, someone has to be the system manager, normally that is the person that knows the root password. The fact that the same person may also have a normal userid on the system for her/his day-to-day work is unimportant.

KDE maybe the one that is checked in the radio button list, but for most it is just a choice. Many here will run Gnome and never think of anything else. Others run Xfce or others.
It is always good to tell what one uses and any deviation from standard software, etc.

But now that we know more, let us hope there will come some good suggestions forward.

When you log in initially, are you using X11 or Wayland?

If Wayland, at the next log in session, choose “Plasma with X11” and test waking from Sleep mode. Any difference?

Appears to be X11. Is it worth testing the same in reverse?

Well, X11 is of course the one that is used for years and Wayland relative new. You could do (it is easy enough).

Another test could be creating a new user and trying from a session of that user.

.

Question … so, to be clear … you’re stating that you normally log in with the “Plasma with X11” option??

If yes, you could select the “Plasma with Wayland” option for a test. Or create a new user account and test with that login.

(sidenote: I assumed you might be using Wayland because it can be less reliable than X11, which is why we never use Wayland).

I have a second question … you wrote:
“all my windows are there - but the desktop itself appears to have crashed”.

Q 2: So, “what” windows are displayed??

If the desktop crashed, it’s unlikely any window would be visible.

Q1: I’ll confess I hadn’t looked at what options were available for alternative logins. I put in username and password and press enter… wahey logged in. I don’t explore the login screen for options until/unless that stops working!

Q2: by “all windows” I mean any open windows at the time I left the machine remain open in the positions I left them. In the current case, that’s several Firefox, one LibreOffice Writer, Thunderbird, Steam, and the terminal window. What’s gone is the task bar, and the desktop background is black and icons that were on the desktop are no longer visible. I also do not get a context menu if I right click outside of a window; whereas if I do so inside an open window I get the normal context menu for that application.

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ok, the option for Wayland is available but very not-obvious because I have a gigantic screen. Testing with Wayland now, will report back a bit later on results.

First test with Wayland did not exhibit the problem. One may not be enough but so far it’s 3 for 3 with X11 and 0 of 1 in Wayland.

Further testing - happens every time with X11, never with Wayland.

Maybe I should switch to Wayland?

Well … as some might say:
“if it works for you, use it”. :+1:

It’s interesting that X11 is not working as one would expect.

For me, I’d be inclined to do one other test - of course, you don’t have to, as you have a solution now.

Anyway, I’d create a brand new user account. Then log out of the normal user account, and log in with the new user with “Plasma X11”. Start some apps, then let it Sleep. Same problem?

(side note: sometimes, there are files under the user’s hidden sub-directory named ~/.config that become corrupt. The same goes for files under ~/.cache. - that’s why a test using a new user account may point to config corruption for the regular user account)

Well how about that. Test user does not exhibit the issue.

So apparently my config is corrupt less than 3 days after installing OpenSUSE… fairly impressive (and doesn’t make me feel very enthusiastic about my experience of this distro, but I’m patient enough to give it a couple more chances).

I haven’t done much messing around in settings, so I’m not worried I’m going to lose any kind of tricky customisation - if I delete these directories and reboot will they be regenerated at next login?

For issues like yours it is usually enough to remove ~/.config/plasma*
That will leave everything but the desktop appearance intact.

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(This Reply will be very brief, as I’m pressed for time)

First off, you have a solution (or workaround) … login using Wayland, vs X11.

My use of the word “corrupt” might be a bit extreme - the problem could be something misconfigured, or some option has changed, etc, that the desktop is not expecting.

Clearing out files and subdirs in the ~/.cache isn’t harmful. The content is only to “speed things up” when starting apps / etc. Why it’s called “cache”.

Stuff within ~/.config is more important - that’s where apps and the desktop stores settings for the user.

ok done that - initial test afterward did not have the problem. Good start!

Barring installing Steam and some OS updates, I don’t believe I’ve made any changes - as noted, this install is brand new and has the factory smell.

I might be encountering the same or related bug. The taskbar becomes malfunctioning after waking up from sleeping:

  1. I can no longer launch any app from the ‘launch application’ button on the taskbar. Clicking on any app from the launch app menu has no response, including ‘shutdown/logout etc’, except the apps from the fav menu.
  2. Right click on taskbar will flash the context menu and disappear by itself immediately.
  3. Right click on the tray icon on the task bar of ‘steam’ no longer shows the steam right click menu but the taskbar right click menu.

This bug starts about 1 or 2 weeks ago. It starts when I let OSS TW sleep and wake up.
OSS TW/KDE/X11.

I’m also in search of the command line to force logout if anyone can tell me.