[PLASMA 5] Scrollbar problems!

[DarkLord]

Hi. I just got a new HP Pavilion laptop and installed Kubuntu 16.04 on it.

I had been using 10.04 on a desktop up to this point so it's a pretty big
jump. I loved 10.04. So far, 16.04 has been the worst experience I've had
with Linux.

1. Scrollbars. Every so often (quite often) the scrollbars in an open app go
away. I mean literally disappear. When this happens, you can't do much with
the app except find a quit option from within the app and close it. It affects
other things as well. You can't put data into fields, it won't accept it. The menu
bar at the top is also gone. It even affects opening up /home and any other
file directory. Some apps seem to do it more often than others, kmail, firefox
and hero lab do it a lot.

The only thing I can find to fix the problem at this point is to logout and then
log back in - after that, at least for a little while, it's okay again.

I tried to do a little research and it seemed that gtk3 is the problem. I used the
advice from some website and from the command line did this:

echo "GTK_OVERLAY_SCROLLING=0" | sudo tee -a /etc/environment

and for awhile I thought that had done it but I guess it was just random because
it is in fact, still doing it.

Also, for some reason, pasting with the middle mouse button, which I always
loved, is not working. I can do it with the menu copy/paste and control c/v/x
etc, but I really prefer the middle mouse button.

Thanks gang, any and all help is really appreciated.

[GreyGeek]

For starters I'd check to see if your installation was complete:

sudo apt-get -f install
sudo dpkg --configure -all

Repeat those two until neither gives an error report. IF they find and fix installation errors then reboot after you get a clean pass.


IF those two commands don't find anything wrong on their first pass then I'd REINSTALL the desktop
sudo apt-get install --reinstall kubuntu-settings-desktop plasma-desktop plasma-desktop-data xdg-utils
Then reboot.

[DarkLord]

For starters I'd check to see if your installation was complete:

sudo apt-get -f install
sudo dpkg --configure -all

Repeat those two until neither gives an error report. IF they find and fix installation errors then reboot after you get a clean pass.


IF those two commands don't find anything wrong on their first pass then I'd REINSTALL the desktop
sudo apt-get install --reinstall kubuntu-settings-desktop plasma-desktop plasma-desktop-data xdg-utils
Then reboot.

Okay, first command gave this:

darklord@darkforce-mobile:~$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 76 not upgraded.

Second command gave this:

darklord@darkforce-mobile:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -all
[sudo] password for darklord:
dpkg: error: conflicting actions -l (--list) and (--configure)

Type dpkg --help for help about installing and deinstalling packages[*];
Use 'apt' or 'aptitude' for user-friendly package management;
Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag values;
Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options;
Type dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb files;

Options marked[*] produce a lot of output - pipe it through 'less' or 'more' !

Thanks.

[Snowhog]

Type sudo dpkg --configure -a

[DarkLord]

Hi thanks for the replies. I can't get that command to work. It gives this:

darklord@darkforce-mobile:~$ Type sudo dpkg --configure -a
No command 'Type' found, did you mean:
Command 'pype' from package 'pype' (universe)
Type: command not found

And as to the problem, it continues unabated, sometimes exhibiting
itself with every single secondary popup window that another application
opens up. For example, kmail or thunderbird, have either running then
try to send an e-mail to someone - when the new window opens up, it
is crammed/jammed hard up against the upper left monitor and the
title bar/scroll bars are missing. Closing those apps does not help. From
then on, every window now displays the same behavior. Noticed another
thread about the tittle bar missing. I think its the same problem and the
OP there said there had been multiple reports about it but as yet no fix.

it's really annoying. Basically, it happens every single session and as
soon as it does, you have to stop what you are doing and logout and then
back in, which resets it until the next time.

Thanks.

[Snowhog]

Type means you 'type' the specified command. So, in the konsole, type:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

[DarkLord]

My apologies. I cut and pasted my (obviously) bogus first attempt on that.

Here is what it does when performed correctly:

darklord@darkforce-mobile:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
[sudo] password for darklord:
darklord@darkforce-mobile:~$

There is no other output, just goes back to the prompt. I'm not familiar enough
with this to know what it was supposed to do?

Thanks.

[Snowhog]

If there was nothing remaining to be configured, then nothing happens.

Make sure that everything is actually fully up to date. Type:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

[DarkLord]

If there was nothing remaining to be configured, then nothing happens.

Make sure that everything is actually fully up to date. Type:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Okay, done that - lots of stuff updated on the dist upgrade. Will run it for awhile and
see what happens. Thanks for the help!

[Snowhog]

My guess is that you've not been using the CLI (konsole) to maintain your system; that you wait for the Taskbar notification of available updates and then just click on it to 'do the deed'. If that is so, then the underlying process is running apt upgrade (apt-get upgrade). There is a significant difference in the handling of package dependencies performed by apt upgrade (apt-get upgrade) and apt full-upgrade (apt-get dist-upgrade). You can review those differences by reading the man page for apt or apt-get.

Using the CLI (konsole) for package management using apt full-upgrade or apt-get dist-upgrade (either one after running sudo apt update or sudo apt-get update) will serve you much better and is far less likely to result in problems with your system.

[DarkLord]

Just wanted to follow up here what I've found out. I searched various other threads and tried:

deleting the user file in /.config/dconf

installing unity and turning the unity plugin on

None of these helped over time. Oddly enough, they *seemed* to fix the problem for awhile
after each change was made.

I did something horribly wrong while installing unity and lost the ability to get to the desktop.

(start x from a command line would work but I couldn't seem to find a way to get to the bootloader
and change anything)

So (and this was actually recommended by other people as well), I went ahead and reinstalled.

After the reinstall, the problem didn't show up for a very long time. Then today, it started again.

Only change I made from this time since the last session when I used the laptop was that I enabled
the plastique window decoration. With it enabled, the windows in some apps (especially thunderbird!)
would immediately go to the top right desktop corner and lose the title bar.

I disabled plastique and went back to oxygen. Logged out, logged back in and it's not done it since. Even
in Tbird.

I'll report back here if it does it again but for now, it seems that something in my install and some apps
definitely does not like using plastique.

Thanks again everyone for all the help. 'Nix rocks.