OpenOffice Upgrade failed (Now solved!!!!!)

[The Liquidator]

Hi

Since accepting the update to OOo2.2 I can't run it. When I run (say) OOo writer I get the splash screen and then it loads and then immediately closes.

Launching from a terminal gives the following error message:

"ian@ian-laptop:~$ /usr/lib/openoffice/program/swriter
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 145
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 145
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
libGL warning: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x5b

(process:14483): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: gtype.c:2242: initialization assertion failed, use IA__g_type_init() prior to this function

(process:14483): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_screen_get_font_options: assertion `GDK_IS_SCREEN (screen)' failed

(process:14483): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: gtype.c:2242: initialization assertion failed, use IA__g_type_init() prior to this function

(process:14483): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_screen_get_font_options: assertion `GDK_IS_SCREEN (screen)' failed

(process:14483): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: gtype.c:2242: initialization assertion failed, use IA__g_type_init() prior to this function

(process:14483): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_screen_get_font_options: assertion `GDK_IS_SCREEN (screen)' failed"

At the risk of stating the obvious, is this an X problem?

Ian

[Mulder]

I know it's a long shot and it's totally just a guess because I have no idea what's going on...But have you got the latest GFX drivers for your card?

[The Liquidator]

according to adept, yes I think so.

It's an Intel 915 with i810 driver. However, there is a driver for the card which seems to allow configuration of the card but I've not installed it, as it's shown as "experimental".

Ian

[Mulder]

That's gonna me my guess anyway, but like i say, I'm not 100% sure

[The Liquidator]

Thanks- might give it a whirl

Ian

[The Liquidator]

Just for further info - The only OOo applications that create the effect are writer and calc. Impress, draw, base and the OOo suite itself all run with no problem, but even within the suite if I select new/text document or spreadsheet the whole thing zaps!

Weird. However, Calc and writer are the applications I need. I cannot see any easy way of going back to 2.1. Is there a way please?

[penguin.ch]

I cannot see any easy way of going back to 2.1. Is there a way please?


Officially spoken: no - the only version available from the official repositories seems to be "two dot two" ... which, prior to anything more extreme, you may try to "--reinstall install" or even "--purge remove && install" (with the whole bunch at once, respectively).

The alternative, as illegal as obvious, would be to install the original version (http://download.openoffice.org/2.1.0/index.html) ;D

[The Liquidator]

Now, this is interesting. I have installed the gnome desktop and running gnome it works! So it seems to be a question of how the latest version of OOo plays with KDE (on my laptop in any event). Is this something I ought to bring to the attention of developers, or do you suspect they will already be aware of it.

The main thing is, I can work this morning without having to resort to Window$ :)

[caryb]

Am running latest oOo with Beryl on a ATI 7500 laptop with no probs.



Cary

[The Liquidator]

Actually, running in Gnome failed when I attempted to open a password-protected document, so I've had to resort to Uncle Bill's offering for the time being :(

[The Liquidator]

OK - the latest. It fully works on gnome, so it's now only a KDE issue, if that's any clue..

Making the basic assumption that the error messages may point to things that are missing, I installed a number of packages referable to gdk and glib. That seems to have narrowed things down a bit. The error message when launching writer or calc in KDE is:

ian@ian-laptop:~$ /usr/lib/openoffice/program/swriter
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 145
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 145
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
libGL warning: 3D driver claims to not support visual 0x5b

(process:6444): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_screen_get_font_options: assertion `GDK_IS_ SCREEN (screen)' failed

(process:6444): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_screen_get_font_options: assertion `GDK_IS_ SCREEN (screen)' failed

(process:6444): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_screen_get_font_options: assertion `GDK_IS_ SCREEN (screen)' failed

(process:6444): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_screen_get_font_options: assertion `GDK_IS_ SCREEN (screen)' failed
ian@ian-laptop:~$

So there now seems to be only 1 thing stopping it. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

Ian

[The Liquidator]

Apparently, this is a known bug over at the ubuntu site. Typing in the error message into google took me straight there.

For anyone else.... Rename your user file (which somehow gets corrupted) and on launch OOo will create a clean new one. You can then copy from the old file into the new file stuff like autotext and macros so you don't lose the important stuff. I did not do this with the profile file, however, as I suspected that to be the culprit.

Ian

Subsequent update. The actual cause was actually rather silly. I have always run OOo with toolbar icons set to "small". It would seem that whilst this setting was honoured by Gnome in KDE it caused an immediate crash of writer and calc. I suspect that the kubuntu OOo themes may not have a "small" icon option. I found that out because after I had got it running as above whilst running writer I reset toolbar icon size to "small". Result - instant shutdown of OOo and a refusal to reload writer and calc apart from a split second flash.

To confirm the position, I reinstated my old user file, and sure enough the issue had returned. I loaded impress which has always worked and from the tools/options menu reset the icon size to "large" and the problem disappeared immediately. So that was it. Very silly, and incredibly frustrating. Thanks to all those who tried to help.

Ian

[FyreBrand]

I tested it too and can confirm the behavior. Do you know if this is a known bug and if a report has been filed? Normally I use the standard icon size, but still a bug should be filed.

[The Liquidator]

I've narrowed it down still further. The issue relates only to the Crystal Icon set (ie the KDE default) which is why it worked in gnome (which uses another one). Also, when using crystal, if you select "visible buttons" on the format toolbar it shuts OOo down instantly. Very weird! A pity too because crystal is the smartest looking icon set on offer.

I've certainly not filed a bug (in fact I'm not sure how to) but now I think I can specifically pinpoint it I suspect it would be realtively easy to fix.

Ian