[SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

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zaworka

[SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by zaworka »

Dear community!
I'm using Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon on my new notebook and I REALLY like it! But now I have some issues:

All of a sudden Cinnamon seems to be broken or at least switched its design, looks like some 1990's revival...take a look: http://www1.xup.to/exec/ximg.php?fid=10940380

This happened several times before, at first when I used the notebook on my flat screen tv, after a reboot the problem was fixed. However it occured more often and then the "real" Cinnamon didn't start anymore. When I log in to Mint, at first there is a very long black screen (10-30secs although using an i5 with SSD and 4Gb Ram), then this "broken" design is loaded. Like the system is searching for the right one but can't load it...I have no performance issues and can play on linux, I can work on linux.
In this "broken" GUI the Power Management Applet misses, although it is activated. Probably because it is made for Cinnamon which I have troubles with. Using a notebook it is highly important to have such an applet. I have already reinstalled Linux Mint 17 because of this bug, but now I have the same problem on a different system :-S

What I have already tried is:
Changing graphics card driver (different NVIDIA AND the nouveau driver)
Restarting Cinnamon (of course)
Reset to system defaults (right click on panel => trouble shooting)
Deleting and reinstalling of Cinnamon (via Terminal using apt-get)

The hardware I'm using:
Acer Aspire V5-573G
Intel Core i5-4200U
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M (4GB Ram...for whatever it is useful to have 4GB Ram with this graphics card ^^)
4 GB DDR3 L Memory
120 GB Samsung Pro Evo 840 SSD (mSATA)
Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon 32-Bit

The same problem I described here appeared on my first installation with the 64-Bit version of LM17...when I decided to reinstall I had the 32-bit on bootstick so I just used this one...

I'm relatively new to linux, so tell me what i can do or what you need as further informations!

*edit*: I've just tried again the nouveau-driver again and after a reboot everything is back to normal. But when I then choose the Nvidia Driver again and reboot, same problem as before. So obviously it is a trouble with the Nvidia driver, but what exactly can I do to fix this? Any ideas :cry: ?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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karlchen
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Re: Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by karlchen »

Hello, zaworka.

Sorry, I cannot really offer any helpful piece of advice at this moment.
I have not seen the effect which your screenshot illustrates on any of my older Linux Mint Cinnamon systems: Mint 13 (Cinnamon 2.0.14), Mint 16 (Cinnamon 2.0.14).
I cannot really tell whether it would happen on my Linux Mint 17 Cinamon 2.2.13, because I stuck with the Nouveau driver. Not because of the problem that you report, but because of an unresolved conflict between Wine 1.6.2 and the nvidia.331 driver software. [1]
To me it looks as if Cinnamon drops from its default icon set back to some genuine Gnome icon set. Yet, no idea why, and no idea why the genuine nVidia driver software should cause this to happen.
(Oh, yes, the mentioned Mint Cinnamon systems all have got an nVidia graphics card and use the nvidia.319.32 driver software, except LM17 which uses Nouveau.)

Is there a good reason (e.g. performance) for switching to the proprietary nVidia driver and not sticking with Nouveau for the moment?

Kind regards,
Karl
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eanfrid

Re: Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by eanfrid »

karlchen wrote:Is there a good reason (e.g. performance) for switching to the proprietary nVidia driver and not sticking with Nouveau for the moment?
+1 Proprietary drivers/software are black magic. Only the manufacturer can solve problems encountered with its own software.
zaworka

Re: Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by zaworka »

karlchen wrote: Is there a good reason (e.g. performance) for switching to the proprietary nVidia driver and not sticking with Nouveau for the moment?
Yes, unfortunately there is, i don't have the full 3d support with the nouveau driver, so gaming doesn't work =( I haven't tried everything yet, so I can only speak of some games (HL2 e.g.).
But what you said about the wine-nvidia 331-problems...it could be that the problem occured after installing wine...i dont USE it actually, was just trying some things, that didn't work. So I guess I will delete wine and every related stuff and then try it again with the nvidia drivers (it worked perfectly before these strange probs occured).

Worst case: I have to switch drivers and reboot when I want to play games, but that's not that dramatic having a SSD 8)

Thanks for your feedback,
zaworka

*edit*: I already don't have WINE etc. on my system anymore so I can't remove it again ^^, BUT is there any way how I can remove and reinstall the nvidia driver in the same version (331.38 i think)?
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karlchen
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Re: Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by karlchen »

Hello, zaworka.

Assuming that the main nVidia software package which has been installed is named "nvidia331", version string "331.38-0ubuntu7", you might proceed like this:
  • From the Mint Menu launch Synaptic Package Manager.
  • Mark the following already installed software packages - if one is not marked as installed - mark it nonetheless:
    + nvidia331, version string "331.38-0ubuntu7"
    + bbswitch-dkms
    + libcuda1-331
    + libvdpau1
    + nvidia-libopencl1-331
    + nvidia-opencl-icd-331
    + nvidia-prime
    + nvidia-settings
    + screen-resolution-extra
  • Right-click and select "mark for re-installation"
  • Click the [Apply] button.
  • Once the installation has completed, personally I would reboot and keep my fingers crossed.
Kind regards,
Karl
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zaworka

Re: Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by zaworka »

I have installed the 64-Bit version auf Mint Now (as I was supposed to do either way) and at first I had - no surprise - no problems.
Today I was playing a game and wanted, while still in-game, connect the notebook to my flat screen. The picture was extended, but I wanted it to be mirrored but when I tried to apply the changes I got the message "Failed to apply configuration: %s - GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.cinnamon.SettingsDaemon was not provided by any .service files" I tried it via Nvidia X Server Settings but there only one Display was detected with a resolution of 3840 x 1080 o.O
In the end the system hang up (didn't even answer to strg+alt+backspace). After a restart everything was wrong again and I got the following message after login:
"no >>exec<<-command found in sessionscript >>log-in password<<. Therefore safe mode GNOME-session is loaded" as I am German, using German as system default this is just a translation of the message.
After that a second message appeared saying about GNOME-default-session => no start scripts => just for troubleshooting.

Any ideas?

@Karlchen:
Thx for your suggestion, I will try it now and post the result

*edit* ok, i have reinstalled all the packages you mentioned above. same problem remains :(

*EDIT* Now the problem is solved...for the present at least...i deleted the ".config" folder from my home folder and restarted...and violá no "bugs" anymore. A least now I know how to solve this - without reinstalling - when it occurs again.

*EDIT* Ok, just had this problem again and all I had to delete was the "Monitors.xml" from the home directory...any idea how to fix this problem once and for all?
kartik0025

Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by kartik0025 »

Thanks man, I was suffering from the same problem, but now I atleast know that deleting Monitor.xml will solve it.
ack0329

Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by ack0329 »

I have had so many screw-ups with a slow login resulting in a lack wallpaper and everything odd ... invariably after using a hdmi monitor.

Just fixed it - if only I can remember it the next time
I simply deleted /.config/monitors.xml

wow Nothing on google helped except this post 2 -weeks of ongoing issues - I can't be the only one!

ThANKS - LOOKING IN.CONFIG LED ME TO THE ANSWER.
g90

Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by g90 »

Just registered to say Thanks.

Been facing the same issue for the last month or so and had to stop using cinnamon due to this.

Thank you :D :mrgreen:
ack0329

Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by ack0329 »

OK A New Similar problem SOLVED by not just deleting the /home/ack/.config/monitor.xml ...

I also had to delete the cinnamon-session and linuxmint FOLDERS in /home/ack/.config/ and reboot, and what seems to be the culprit was the /home/ack/.config/linuxmint/mintUpdate.conf

well SOLVED again
FirewallSystem

Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by FirewallSystem »

Many thanks for this information! I also had this problem earlier and saw no other option but to install a fresh system. I recently connected my notebook (with a nVidia GeForce GTX 860M) per HDMI to a projector and had the issue again. I'm using prime; the funny thing is everything worked perfectly with the intel card but totally broke when switching to the nvidia card. Deleting the monitors.xml instantly fixed it! :)

So thanks again, and for everybody else with problems with their nVidia card, try this!! :D
klorenzo

Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by klorenzo »

I had this problem today after installing a few updates. Deleting the monitors.xml file and the two folder above did not help.
I eventually solved this deleting the files/folders as above and ALSO disconnecting the external HDMI monitor and rebooting. In this way the notebook started with no problems. Then I plugged the ext monitor and configured it with no issues.
So I suppose it is always better to solve this kind of problems starting with a minimal setup. Thanks to everyone for your useful answers.
Alkadia
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Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by Alkadia »

Hi,
in my case, I have had to remove this file
~/.local/share/applications/cinnamon-settings-deamon.desktop

This is the content :
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Cinnamon Settings Daemon
Exec=/usr/lib/cinnamon-settings-daemon/cinnamon-settings-daemon
OnlyShowIn=X-Cinnamon;
NoDisplay=true
X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=Initialization
X-GNOME-Autostart-Notify=true
X-GNOME-AutoRestart=true
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=cinnamon-settings-daemon
Hidden=true

Can someone explain the reason ?
Thanks
Alkadia
Mythili3093

Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by Mythili3093 »

Hello,
I'm a Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon user.
I'm facing the same issue. I'm not able to set new themes and icons.
I deleted
1. .config/monitors.xml
2. .config/linuxmint/mintUpdate.conf
and
there is no file called cinnamon-settings-deamon.desktop in .local/share/applications in my system.

Could someone please tell me if there is any other way to fix this ?
I do not want to do nemo -q everytime.
I do not use dual monitors, did not install or remove any drivers recently.

Any suggestion would be really helpful.
Thanks.
Cosmo.
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Posts: 22968
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 7:34 am

Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by Cosmo. »

To jump into a thread, which is marked as solved since nearly 2 years is not a good idea. You should create your own thread (see also the forum rules).

Create a fresh new user account. Same problem there?
Mythili3093

Re: [SOLVED]Cinnamon switched design or is broken?!

Post by Mythili3093 »

Hello,
Thank you for the suggestion. I will create a new thread.
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