My PCLOS

Wed Jun 11 14:04:55 CDT 2008

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You're right, it is hard to follow your text without the pics....

Anyway, sounds like you may have killed the program or config that gives
you window decorations. This is actually fairly easy to break if you are
using compiz and start poking around with the wrong packages, I've done
it a handful of times myself.

Is it fixable without a reinstall? Yes. Would it probably be faster to
reinstall? Depends on what custom stuff you have rigged up. You could
try removing and reinstalling all of the x11/kde/compiz related packages
and purging the config files, but then you might as well do a full
reinstall at that point. You could dive into your logs and try to figure
out why the window decorator isn't starting, but you will need to be
fairly knowledgeable about your system config in order to know where to
look and how to troubleshoot it.

The only reason not to reinstall is if you have some really complex
config running for some specific application or task. For example, I've
had painfully complex wine environments where I would prefer days of
troubleshooting instead of having to recreate them from scratch. Files
are easy to move, so if that is your only concern then just backup and
reinstall.

Just my opinion :)

Julie wrote:
| June 11,
| Christopher and others,
|
| I didn't post details because the mere words are a bit moot _without_
| the pix to go with them. That is why I have a "Draft" saved (as
| previously stated) to send anyone who may be interested. But here is the
| TEXT anyway, since you asked for it:
|
| --->OK, this is what lead to what you see in those pix:
|
| I tried to turn on my Screen Saver again. I had turned it off for the
| meeting the other night. I got pic #1.
|
| SO, I went into Synaptic, searched for "Screen Saver" (minus the "
| marks, of course), updated the ones that had gold star (see pic #2 for
| error I got during that operation) and reinstalled the "kdeartwork" file
| (see pic  #3. for error I got during that operation).
|
| Then I rebooted and got an error about the Desktop that I could not save
| cuz it popped up half way through loading the OS. Notice the 2nd Floppy
| Drive Icon added to the Desktop. I did NOT put it there myself but did
| add the 2 for ID purposes. Also notice my System Tray at the bottom of
| the screen. It's missing my FOUR desktop options as well as the
| Clipboard and Volume controls.
|
| In addition, I can not get these tiny windows to move or expand and if I
| have two up at the same time like I did earlier at the writing of the
| main part of this explanation with Firefox open and my Error msgs Folder
| open the windows will not exchange being on top so I can close the
| folder. (I'm presently on my Windhozed machine.) I must click File and
| then Exit to get out of Firefox and then the same with the Folder window.
|
| Also, my Mahjongg and Shisen-Sho games open small and are unplayable. I
| haven't tested any other apps. I feel lucky to be able to have done what
| I have so far.
|
| AND... when I shut the thing off the screen goes weird looking and
| Verbose mode looks like so much snow with a few colored dashes thrown in.
|
| $64,000 QUESTION: Is all of this fixable?...or do I have to start all
| over again with a fresh install of the
OS???????????????????????????????????
|
| Thank you in advance for any help you can try to give me.
|
| Julie
|
|  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
|
| --->UPDATE:
|
| Billy answered with this:
|
| "pic 1 shows a missing library.  Have you recently "yum remove"'  d
| something or removed something with the pagkage manager?  Add it back,
| and stay out of the package manager.  It's a dangerous place.
|
| pic 2 does not show an error.  redhat package manager recognises when
| you have already configured something.  If you already have, but a
| package update provides a config file with the same name as one you
| the user have touched, it keeps yours in place so that your settings
| don't change.  The 'new' config file that rpm installs will be named
| <file>.rpmnew.
|
| pic 3 shows the result of a package maintainer including a message to
| be displayed with the install of their package, but not filling
| anything in.  This error is nothing to worry about.  It's just some
| PCLinuxOS developer who wasn't watching what he was doing, and another
| package maintainer that missed the error.
|
| firefox FUBAR does not show any problem with firefox.  What 'looks
| FUBAR' is the absence of a window decorator.  Firefox does not have a
| border of its own.  (Because I can tell it is firefox, it is hardly
| beyond all recognition.)  It does not have a title bar, or the
| close/minimize/maximize buttons on its own.  These graphical elements
| are called "window decorations" and are provided by the window
| decorator.  In your case, the window decorator and window manager are
| one program, called kwin, which is a core element of KDE.  You don't
| explicitly say, but I'm willing to bet no other windows at the time
| had their decorations either.  It's hard to say why the window
| decorator died.  It may have been because of the library from pic1
| being missing.  It may be because of propriatery plugins, like
| Yahoo's.  You can easily get your window decorator back by logging out
| and back in.  If the problem persists, before reinstallign the system,
| try logging in as root, removing your normal username, deleting the
| /home/username directory, and making a new user.
|
| Once rebooted does not appear to show any error.  Please clarify
| what's wrong in this picture."
|
|  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
|
| NOW:
|
| What Billy said about pic 1 _*I*_ did not do. THAT is what prompted me
| to try fixing this on my own.....
|
| However, there where some of the guys who worked on this computer at the
| meeting the other night and I have no idea what may have happened then
| as they were all using command line stuff. (You guys know who you are
| and maybe you can shed some light on what you tried and why?)
|
| What Billy said about Firefox is inexplicable to me since I have
| absolutely no way to resize the window when it opens nor can I move it
| by any means. All other windows appear and act the exact same way.
|
| Yahoo has nothing to do with it. I installed the Yahoo stuff on there a
| long time ago with _*NO*_ resulting problems. As a matter of fact, I've
| been using the laptop exclusively for internet browsing and e-mail for a
| couple of months now until this current problem showed up.
|
| The "Once rebooted" jpeg shows my desktop. It shows an EXTRA "Floppy"
| icon that just showed up there all by itself. I guess Billy forgot my
| explanation of that when he responded to me on that issue.
|
|  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
|
| NEXT:
|
| When I tried to do what Billy suggested I found that I could NOT do it.
| Somewhere a while back I mistakenly set a 'log box' to come up when I go
| into "Root". NOW that 'log box' hides where I need to navigate, appears
| as a BLANK box containing NOTHING, and hides the place to manually exit
| the Root window that is open.
|
| Because of this, I made the mistake of trying to boot into SAFE MODE.
| I'd didn't know it was yet another place where nothing but command line
| is allowed. In order to get out of it I had to MANUALLY shut off the
| computer by pressing the Power Button.
|
| NOW the computer will NOT even turn on!!! Every once in a while it makes
| a noise so my guess is that it is in a sort of 'sleep mode' or
| something. I have it UNplugged and am waiting for the battery to run out
| if this is the case. Otherwise I'll try to reboot the thing again
| tomarrow to see what happens then.
|
|  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
|
| SO:
|
| Now you have all the sordid details that I can give at this point.
|
| Remember, Christopher ASKED for me to "try posting a more detail
| description of the issues" I'm having.
|
| Again, THANK YOU all in advance for any help you may be able to try to
| give me.
|
| Julie
|
|
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| _______________________________________________
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| Kclug at kclug.org
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- --
~Bradley Hook
Education Systems Administrator
Kansas State School for the Blind
1100 State Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66102
Voice: (913) 281-3308 ext. 363
Mobile: (913) 645-9958
Facsimile: (913) 281-3104
http://www.kssb.net

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