main menubar disappears

My box was upgraded to 8.10 on Wednesday. All was running smoothly. this morning (Friday) I went to work, left the screensaver on as at all other times, came home, flicked away the screensaver and found no toolbar.

The bar is not on autohide, as far as I can tell.
It does not disappear when the screensaver comes on. The latter is set for 3 minute switch-on.

After 5 or 10 minutes the toolbar vanishes. I can only get it back by switching my box off and then on again.

can you advise?

Thank you,
ant.

Can you right-click on a taskbar before it vanishes and look at the properties box? Try setting the "Auto0hide" Ok it (or just close the properties box) and then get back into properties and un-tick the "Autohide". Try the same with the hide-buttons.

Sorry this is a very Windowish type of answer but it might work
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom,

Thank you! I have tried that. I don't know yet. At the same time a friend suggested I turn the screensaver to blank and then try to enter first via the keyboard and then via the mouse. I tried that too and the toolbar did not disappear.

Next step is to switch the screensaver on again and test access via keyboard and then mouse. If keyboard works and not the mouse, it could be the mouse. If neither works the problem could also be with the screensaver.

If the toolbar doesn't disappear then I am not sure where I will be, having tried two different medicines at the same time..

My friend also removed and reinstalled screensaver in Synaptic Package. That programme(synaptic) is totally not for beginners(myself).

Bear with me; I'm still at it.
Sincerely,
ant.

I usually try 2 or 3 different things to fix a problem too. I'm usually less interested in who or what fixed it - i just want it fixed quickly.

I quite like Synaptic but you might prefer "Add/Remove Applications". It's a bit more clear because it uses a tick rather than a green splodge to indicate a program you already have got on your machine. I think it's only got 1 search tool though. They both read the same info but just present it slightly differently. I think these things just look a lot scarier than they really are but they are both quite powerful tools.

Good luck and lets hope that something you did fixed it :)
Regards from
Tom :)

Take a look at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-panel/+question/59061

Try it ^-^

 anthony burman said 3 minutes ago:

I didn't realize until someone told me, it's not the main menubar but the entire desktop that is disappearing. The only other item on desktop, apart from the menu bar is a backup folder created when we upgraded to 8.10. Everything disappears.
When screensaver is switched to blank-as opposed to off- the desktop does not disappear. When the screensaver is turned back on, the desktop disappears and I have to reboot.
So, it's the desktop and it may be related to the screensaver.
Should I still try what you suggested?

In the meantime I am gonna switch the desktop to blank again.

Kind wishes,

Anthony Burman.

Hi,
first, please avoid to hard reset your computer.
If the desktop disappears try
Ctrl+Alt+Backspace

it will usually restart the XServer.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X

Another option to avoid hard reset:
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-use-magic-system-request-keys-in-ubuntu-linux.html

After a disappeared desktop please check for related errors, e.g. last 10 lines,
/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old

What happens if you change the theme?
System -> preferences -> appearance

Are you familiar with the terminal?

Thank you!

I changed the theme. We'll see.
The desktop disappears when screensaver is on.

I do not understand your suggestion "check for related errors".
Where do I type in /var/log/Xorg.o.log.old?

I have been into terminal once or twice via
applications>accessories>terminal. (my Function keys are naughty).

When screensaver is on blank I do not lose the desktop.

Please advise.

Sincerely,
ant.

On Sun, 2009-02-15 at 02:01 +0000, Sam wrote:

> Your question #60906 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/60906
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Sam proposed the following answer:
> Hi,
> first, please avoid to hard reset your computer.
> If the desktop disappears try
> Ctrl+Alt+Backspace
>
> it will usually restart the XServer.
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X
>
> Another option to avoid hard reset:
> http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-use-magic-system-request-keys-in-ubuntu-linux.html
>
> After a disappeared desktop please check for related errors, e.g. last 10 lines,
> /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old
>
> What happens if you change the theme?
> System -> preferences -> appearance
>
> Are you familiar with the terminal?
>

The theme is changed. I switched on the screensaver, left all alone for an hour and a half and the desktop has Not disappeared.
I also hit Cntl/Alt/Backspace earlier. Neat trick!

Am I cured or should I wait and see?
I don't understand how a changed Theme might be helping.
I also haven't yet tried /var/log/Xorg etc because I'm not sure where or how to do that.

I am holding thumbs; thank you!

ant.

Oh my goodness!! I think you fixed it.

How did a change in Theme solve the problem?

Sincerely,
anthony.

lol, nicely fixed :)
Congrats and regards from
Tom :)

Hi anthony,
a little late, but here for the record:
logfiles are in system -> administration -> system log
Path in Nautilus (filebrowser) is /var/log
Further explanation here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LinuxLogFiles

Output from a terminal with commands e.g.
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | tail -10

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old | tail -30

grep -i error /var/log/Xorg.0.log

grep -i error /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old

### In simple terms, everything is working through a script, e.g. a theme, if a script isn't written well it can cause problems on cooperating with other scripts, e.g. deppendencies, other applications.