No panel shadows on boot [fixed]

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Cobber

No panel shadows on boot [fixed]

Post by Cobber »

When my system boots in KDM, I should see shadows around panels as seen below:
a.png
But it doesn't. Instead I get no shadows as seen here:
b.png
The only way I have found to get the shadows back is to logout and login again.

So my question I guess is, what happens during reboot or shutdown that does NOT happen in logout?

I have tried everything I can think of, which is not a lot really, and have no clue what is causing this. This happened when I first installed Mint 17 a year ago and has returned with a fresh installation after Acronis bricked my Mint installation.

Any suggestions will be welcomed.
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.
angry_elf

Re: No panel shadows on boot

Post by angry_elf »

I'm new here, and you will forgive me if this sounds like a stupid comment, but could this possibly have something to do with your graphics display resolution?
Cobber

Re: No panel shadows on boot

Post by Cobber »

There is no such thing as a stupid comment or question. We all learn by asking, no matter how silly we may feel.

I just tried several different resolutions, but the problem still occurs. I know it eventually went away last year, but cannot remember how or why.
Cobber

Re: No panel shadows on boot

Post by Cobber »

I still have not found a solution to this, but did manage to brick my Mint installation.

In System Settings>Startup and Shutdown>Autostart>Pre-KDE startup, I changed it to "startup" instead. That totally wrecked my system. Never do that!

Luckily I had downloaded the Redo Backup and Restore program from http://redobackup.org/ to prevent the problems Acronis caused me (no good for Linux). I had made a backup before I bricked my system and did a restore of it, which worked painlessly. Redo is much better than Clonezilla and uses a graphical interface, much like a Live CD - and it is free.

I then checked the "Missing Recommends" in Synaptic and it showed the level 4 and 5 updates. So I enabled them in Update Manager and updated them (no new packages were added). Didn't notice any change in how the system worked.

So I am still none the wiser, but glad I at least have a good imaging program now to fall back on.
Cobber

Re: No panel shadows on boot

Post by Cobber »

One thing I have noticed that is not happening with my installation, that did with my previous one is the bouncing cursor.

Normally while the splash screen is loading things after I login, there is a bouncing cursor when you move it over the splash screen. Once everything is loaded, the bouncing cursor disappears and the splash screen does too.

The "bouncing cursor" option is enabled, and works when launching applications. It just doesn't appear on login. Maybe this might help pin down the problem.
Cobber

Re: No panel shadows on boot [fixed]

Post by Cobber »

As happened last year, this problem simply went away and everything is working again. I even get the bouncing "gear" icon in the splash window.

I always use BleachBit, being careful not to have it be too aggressive (no deep scans or disk overwriting). Maybe it eventually clears whatever is mucking it up.

The only thing I changed today that could have affected it, was to set the "small" font to 8 instead of 9. Maybe the smaller taskbar height triggered something. Changing back to 9 didn't break it again.

I guess I'll never know for sure why it fixed itself, but at least this post will be here for me next time - and someone else may even find themselves in the same boat.
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