Cinnamon taskbar not showing

[Mackattack]

I recently downloaded the 32-bit version of Linux mint 13 with cinnamon. When I tried to load into cinnamon the desktop loads fine but there is no taskbar. I have no idea what might be wrong. I can access files fine, run the Internet and everything, there is just no taskbar. I logged out of cinnamon and logged back in with gnome and the taskbar was there with no problems. I don't know if I installed it incorrectly or what but I need some help with this.

Also if it helps I am using an IBM thinkpad t42

Thanks in advance!

[iulian_ice]

I have to a weird problem ( sorry for my english ).... I downloaded the iso image of Linux Mint Maya with cinnamon and 32 bit version and put it on a usb drive with unetbootin, and when i run it, all the buttons and text is not there....i can`t install or run something, because i don`t see anything, just blue squares.....I have a Intel pentium 4 2.4 Gh , 512 Ram, Hdd 80 Gb and Nvidia Geforce Fx 5500.
Tanks in advance

[mikeglaz]

I also just installed Linux Mint 13 and everything was fine. I installed alacarte to add a menu item and my taskbar disappeared as well as all window frames. I tried changing into Gnome Classic but that gave me a blank screen. Finally choosing Gnome Classic(no effects) works. I uninstalled alacarte and tried Cinnamon again and no taskbar.

mike

[mank_in]

Cinnamon 1.4 still need 3d capable hardware with correct driver.
Check your 3d hardware with this command :

Code: Select all

inxi -Gx

@mikeglaz
maybe you can try reinstall your vga driver ( in additional driver try deactivated driver ,reboot, activating again )

@iulian_ice
I am try geforce FX5500 with cinnamon in LM12 and it's not work , my suggestion is use MATE version.

[mikeglaz]

I have an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT card. I downloaded the Linux driver from the Nvidia site. And still, no taskbar.

[ElectricRider]

I have same problem. Just installed a fresh install of Cinnamon and the task bar disappeared. Using the correct ATI drivers. Everything worked fine until I configured Ctrl Alt Delete to point to the system monitor and on first using it, Poof, taskbar is gone. I cant see it being a driver issue, it's just a taskbar and isn't graphics intensive. I'll either reinstall the OS or try Mate and install KDE. It looks like this is an issue that there is no clear understanding of or a clear fix for judging by the lack of helpful responses and the number of people with this problem. Seems Cinnamon still needs time to bake in the Beta oven.

[miserableman]

I have an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT card. I downloaded the Linux driver from the Nvidia site. And still, no taskbar.

I don't believe it's a hardware issue. Try logging out, reselected the Session as "Cinnamon" and logged back in. Can't promise it will work, but it's worth a try.

[fgg2001]

Subject: Taskbar missing after the latest updates on 14.1 CINNAMON version.

I dowloaded the ISO Linux Mint MATE and CINNAMON (64 bit version) on 03/07/2013.
I did a fresh install of Linux Mint 14.1 MATE and also went through the same process with the CINNAMON version.
The installation worked fine for both versions, but the troubles started with the CINNAMON version after it went through all the updates downloaded by the Update Manager. Had no problems with the MATE updates, everything is still working after all the updates were applied on MATE.
Update Manager downloaded about 267 files for CINNAMON and installed them all, but after it rebooted, the task bar at the bottom of the screen was gone completely and I could not access the menu.
If I login a session using GNOME Classic it seems to work fine and the task bar is there, but when using any of the other options it comes up with a desktop that has no taskbar and no menu. Keep in mind that before the updates the taskbar was working fine with any CINNAMON session.
The PC is a DELL XPS Gen 4, with NVIDIA GeForce 6800, the latest driver NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.84 is loaded and everything worked fine untill the update manager downloaded and installed the updates.
I may try to isolate which of the updates is causing the problem, but it may take a while to figure that out.
From what I see on the thread I'm not the only one experiencing this bug.
Any information for a fix will be wellcome.
Thanks, F.G.

[fgg2001]

It took some time to isolate this out of 267 packages applied by the update manager.
I found out which updates are causing the problem with the missing taskbar and menu in Linux Mint 14 Cinammon. The problem starts after upgrading the following packages from 9.0 to 9.0.2

libgl1-mesa-dri 9.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 from 9.0-0ubuntu1
libgl1-mesa-glx 9.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 from 9.0-0ubuntu1
libglapi-mesa 9.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 from 9.0-0ubuntu1

If I leave the older 9.0-0ubuntu1 version, I have no problem with the task bar and the menu.

Also I'd like to know the procedure on how an update package can be removed once it is installed to revert back to a previous level.
I tried to use "sudo synaptic" , but I could not figure out how to downgrade to the older level.
I had to reinstall the whole package again and just avoid installing those 3 updates.
The process to downgrade a package is unclear.
Thanks, F.G.

[Chris_Z]

The process to downgrade a package is unclear.

You may find these resources worthwhile:

http://www.howtogeek.com/117929/how-to- ... on-ubuntu/

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PinningHowto#Apt/Dpkg

Disclaimer: I never needed to perfom these on Mint, so your mileage may vary.
Incidentaly, I run Mint 14 Cinnamon 64 bit on nVidia 8800 video hardware (driver 304.84) and the very same package versions you have found breaking your system work OK on mine (Tout theme)...

[fgg2001]

Chris_z, I tried to follow the instructions for downgrade of a package with no luck. I just managed to lock the old packages to avoid another unwanted upgrade, but could not downgrade after the latest level was installed.

As for the problem with the taskbar missing, you have the same driver installed as mine which is the latest one available from NVIDIA for this hardware, but the hardware is different. I have a GeForce 6800 while you have a GeForce 8800.
I have no idea of what can be different from 6800 to 8800, but in my system the bug is solid when installing thos 3 Mesa packages at level 9.0.2.
Also I tried leaving the nouveau driver instead of installing the NVIDIA, but that is even worse and gets many other problems with screen resolution etc.
I've seen many other people reporting problems with the taskbar missing in Cinammon, I hope they will come out with a solution.
Anyway, thanks for your reply.
F.G.

[fgg2001]

Chris, here is another update on the problem with the missing taskbar and menu.
I went through the install procedure again today, the problem is now gone even with the 9.0.2 version of those 3 files, not sure if something was fixed from my previous installation attempts or just the installation sequence made the difference.

Previously I was installing the NVIDIA driver before getting all the upgrade packages with update manager, now I reversed the sequence:
1) Fresh install of Linux Mint Cinnamon
2) Got all the update packages with Update Manager and rebooted
3) Installed the NVIDIA driver 304.84.
4) Rebooted and everything worked fine, the taskbar and the menu are now there.
The resolution is now 1600x1200 as you can see below from inxi command.

Previously it failed every time I tried the installation, but step 2 and 3 were reversed.
1) Fresh install of Linux Mint Cinnamon
2) Installed the NVIDIA driver 304.84. and rebooted
3) Got all the update packages with Update Manager
4) Rebooted and the taskbar and menu were missing every time.

Perhaps installing NVIDIA driver before the updates would build an older version of the kernel ? Below see the current one running.

fggcin@fggcin-Dimension-XPS ~ $ uname -r
3.5.0-17-generic
fggcin@fggcin-Dimension-XPS ~ $


fggcin@fggcin-Dimension-XPS ~ $ inxi -xG
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA NV41.1 [GeForce 6800] bus-ID: 01:00.0 X.Org: 1.13.0 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1600x1200@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: GeForce 6800/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 304.84 Direct Rendering: Yes
fggcin@fggcin-Dimension-XPS ~ $ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 4096 x 4096
Unknown-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Unknown-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Unknown-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Unknown-3 connected 1600x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 367mm x 275mm
1600x1200 60.0*+
1280x1024 75.0 60.0
1152x864 75.0
1024x768 75.0 60.0
800x600 75.0 60.3
640x480 75.0 59.9
fggcin@fggcin-Dimension-XPS ~ $

Anyway, it looks like my problem is now solved, I may give it another try reversing the sequence just to see if I get the problem back. Apparently installing the NVIDIA driver before the updates makes a difference.

Thanks, F.G.

[fgg2001]

I finally figured this out, to confirm the theory I tried yet another installation with the sequence that creates the problem of the missing taskbar and menu.
If I install the NVIDIA driver before the Update Manager downloads and installs all the latest available updates, the problem reoccurs each time.
So the correct sequence is to let the Update Manager install all the up level packages first and then finally install the NVIDIA driver 304.84.

Rather than going through another full installation again, an easier way for recovering from the problem is by uninstalling and reinstalling the driver following the steps below:

1) Temporarily login using GNOME Classic session which does not have the problem of the missing taskbar.
2) Uninstall the NVIDIA driver previously downloaded:
cd /home/userID/Downloads
sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-64-304.84.run --uninstall
3) Reboot and follow the procedure to install the driver again.
The NVIDIA installer recompiles the kernel interface with the latest updates and that fixes the bug.
4) Reboot again.
At this point the taskbar and the menu show up correctly using Cinnamon session or the default Xclient script.
Problem solved.
F.G.

[foo]

I found the solution, and it was quite simple!

Symptom

The taskbar disappears, and the system seems to be frozen.

Cause of the problem

The system is not frozen; what happened is that the screensaver and the screen unlock dialog were activated in the background, and are waiting for your password to unlock.

Solution

Just type your password!

You can't see the unlock dialog, but it is there, waiting for your input.

Works in

Linux Mint version: 14 (nadia) with Cinnamon, 64-bit

[solar72]

I have a simple solution for my similar problem....
1 monitor and 1 beamer connected so I had to mirror the screen