Hi all..
Having a strange problem with Zorin Education 17.2 (x11).
About a week or so ago when using the mouse to click on the Firefox shortcut (Taskbar Icon) to open Firefox the icon stuck to the mouse pointer and moved with it removing the icon from the Taskbar. I then realised the whole system had hung as nothing I did released the icon from the pointer or restored normal operation and the only option was to hold the power button to shutdown.
A restart did not fix the problem because as soon as I tried to open Firefox again the same way the system hung again and I had to shutdown on the power button again.
Thinking this was a Firefox problem I then restarted and instead tried to open Brave but got the same result.
Now worrying it was a hardware problem (fairly new ÂŁ2k high spec Pc!) I rebooted to Windows 11 (dual boot) to get my work done and everything worked perfectly for the next few days.
So after the computer hardware proving to be fine for 4 or 5 days I booted back into Zorin to try it. Everything was ok and worked as it should do for the rest of the week. However tonight when retrieving some work related photos from my phone the system hung again in a similar manner. I'd moved 3 photos and upon holding the left mouse button to drag the next photo from Nautilus displaying my phone photos.. the photo icon stuck to the mouse (hand) pointer and the same scenario as previouslty took place. I had to shutdown on the power button.
Not sure where to start on this problem.. and its so intermittent. I'm using Zorin to write this now with no problems..(!)
I did a forum search before posting but found nothing relevant to my problem.
In all cases the Mouse is the common denominator so...
Is this something to do with the mouse control software and something I can fix? The mouse is connected with WiFi.
Any help or advice would be appreciated..
regards
Tony
To me, this sounds like a libinput or evdev issue.
Have you checked your journalctl logs?
Hi Aravision and thanks for your reply..!
Ok well I was thinking of something to do with the Mouse input.. Is this what libinput does..?
I haven't checked the logs and doing a quick search for journalctl just now gave me no results. I have show all files ticked.
Can you direct me..?
Hah.. I now see journalctl is a command !
Taking a look now but not sure I know what to look for..
Sorry for the delay - I was caught up in reading and not actively watching the thread.
You can use
journalctl -b -1
Or we can pipe it to narrow the search for LibInput
journalctl -b -1 | grep -iE 'libinput|touchpad|mouse|pointer|drag'
Ok will try your pipe command as I have a whole lot of log here !
I keep seeing this line in yellow >>>Called "net usershare info" but it failed: Failed to execute child process ânetâ (No such file or directory)<<<
Unfortunately I did not note the time of the hang so I can look at that time in the log..
Thanks !
Ok I think I have isolated the log pertaining to the hang..
'Jan 30 23:36:31 who gnome-session-binary[5816]: WARNING: Unable to open shell end session dialog: GDBus.Error:org.gnome.Shell.ModalDialog.GrabError: Cannot grab pointer and keyboard
Jan 30 23:36:31 who gnome-session[5816]: gnome-session-binary[5816]: WARNING: Unable to open shell end session dialog: GDBus.Error:org.gnome.Shell.ModalDialog.GrabError: Cannot grab pointer and keyboard
Jan 30 23:36:31 who gnome-session[5816]: gnome-session-binary[5816]: WARNING: Unable to open shell end session dialog: GDBus.Error:org.gnome.Shell.ModalDialog.GrabError: Cannot grab pointer and keyboard
Jan 30 23:36:31 who gnome-session-binary[5816]: WARNING: Unable to open shell end session dialog: GDBus.Error:org.gnome.Shell.ModalDialog.GrabError: Cannot grab pointer and keyboard
Jan 30 23:36:32 who gnome-session[5816]: gnome-session-binary[5816]: WARNING: Unable to open shell end session dialog: GDBus.Error:org.gnome.Shell.ModalDialog.GrabError: Cannot grab pointer and keyboard
Jan 30 23:36:32 who gnome-session-binary[5816]: WARNING: Unable to open shell end session dialog: GDBus.Error:org.gnome.Shell.ModalDialog.GrabError: Cannot grab pointer and keyboard
Jan 30 23:36:34 who gnome-session[5816]: gnome-session-binary[5816]: WARNING: Unable to open shell end session dialog: GDBus.Error:org.gnome.Shell.ModalDialog.GrabError: Cannot grab pointer and keyboard
Jan 30 23:36:34 who gnome-session-binary[5816]: WARNING: Unable to open shell end session dialog: GDBus.Error:org.gnome.Shell.ModalDialog.GrabError: Cannot grab pointer and keyboard
..but this does not really point me in any direction to fix this..
Its likely an issue with Firefox. One of the internet browsers I have, is Firefox. I have had this issue happen to me, when I accidentally moved a tab, when I meant to just click on it.
And because of the lack of intention to move the tab, it somehow locks the browser. Once that happens, the only way I could fix my computer, was to...
ALT F2 Then put an R in the box, and click enter. This restarts the desktop, and releases the seized browser back to you.
Now, I will admit, the last time I was experiencing this issue, was when I was using my old Logitech G502 wired mouse. I had other issues with using that mouse, so yes, it might have been mouse related.
Having said that, it never happened with another internet browser though. Personally, I think the OP should uninstall Firefox, and then re-install Firefox. Call me crazy, but I don't you lose anything by trying.
Hoepfully, you can get to the bottom of this. But this issue is failure with I've had to go through in the past. Also, even using my new mouse, I've noticed, if I don't mean to click and drag something, I have to keep that super sensitive mouse steady as a rock!
So, this narrows it to a Gnome Shell interaction with the compositor - Mutter, since you are not using Wayland.
You might try disabling Gnome Shell Animations
gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['disable-animations']"
or checking which Gnome Shell Extensions you have installed.
Checking merely means disabling extensions, then replicating the problem to see which extension is likely causing it.
You can use journalctl piped to mutter, the same way as above to check if any errors were logged
journalctl -b -1 | grep -i mutter
But... to me, It looks pretty solidly in the Gnome Shell. When you get a freezem you can tap alt+F2 then enter into it just r to refresh the shell, hit enter and the shell should reload. This should prevent the need to hard restart.
Yes I was also thinking it is a Shell problem since I've done some reading up (I'm a novice in Linux compared to you)..
The problem is that I can't replicate this problem. It just happens randomly.
Alt F2 did nothing during tha hang. keyboard was inoperable except the Enter key deleted my Downloads folder (!).. Luckily I have that back now as it's loaded..!
Right now I'm going off ot get some sleep (3:43am!).. as need to work tomorrow.
@Startreker
Thanks for the input but it happened with Brave too and then my phone in Nautilus so it can't be a Firefox problem. I did think that at very first time too.
G'night and I'll continue tomorrow.. but not sure really what to do next. Reinstall Desktop ?
Update..
Just to outline first that when this mouse Grab problem happens it is random and I canât replicate it as the only common denominator in this is the mouse being used.
It is not related to me using any specific software app and it happens randomly and rarely.. but is a nuisance when Iâm heavily in the middle of some electronics design or testing procedure and lose everything and need to start again.
Alt+F2 and the whole Keyboard becomes unresponsive except sometimes randomly one key may work. One time it was the âEnter keyâ and another time Alt+F1 logged me out and I was then able to log back in BUT.. the mouse was still stuck in Grab and the keyboard still unresponsive again except for Alt+F1..(!)
Feeling that the problem is caused by the Mouse Grab.. I thought as a workaround that perhaps I can edit âxorg.confâdâ to add an âAllowDeactivateGrabsâ option to my X server config defining Ctrl+Alt+another keyâ to undo the Grab and regain control back to my keyboard and mouse.. but when I looked there was no config file for Xorg and stopping âgdm serviceâ did not produce one for me to edit..(!)
So that killed that idea..
I then thought maybe I can do similar by creating a keyboard shortcut using Xkill via Settings > Keyboard > etc.. to be able to kill a process to undo the Grab. (Aravisian Tutorial that I found online!)
So in the âView and Customise Shortcutsâ tab in keyboard settings I searched in the Popup for Xkill but got the response âNo keyboard shortcut foundâ. Tried âkillâ with the same result so that ended that idea too..(!)
I donât know what else to try to solve this problem as this computer is loaded with data I use for my Electronics work. I know I can back that up and start again.. as my Home folder is a separate partition anyway.. but to get all the software I use back to how it is now would take me months and maybe never.. so I donât want to go down the reinstall road.
I have one practical idea and that is that when it next happens I will turn off the WiFi mouse just to see if that releases the Grab.. as this mouse+keyboard combo is fairly recent and the keyboard often mixes up characters and omits some when Iâm typing so perhaps both are a bit dodgy.
Any helpful input appreciated..!
Tony
The Xkill command is part of the package deal, so it is included in Zorin OS. But, it will only work on Xorg Display Protocol. It will not work on Wayland.
If using Xorg, you can just assign a shortcut. The command is xkill and I use the shortcut ctl+alt+k.
If you activate Xkill but then change your mind and decide to spare the wee little defenseless apps life, you can cancel by one right click.
You did not mention if you have tried the other suggestions like disabling experimental features or checking your Gnome Shell Extensions.
Using Zorin Education Core straight out of the box with no animations or themes.. no widgets and no extensions added. Set for speed rather than appearance.
As for experimental features.. tbh I have no idea what this refers to. I came from using Windows OS which I started using when it was Dos 3.1 (!).. and as an ex Machine Language software writer/programmer for the 8086 processor series onwards know my way around computers.. but Linux OS is new (about 2yrs) to me and it is made more difficult because searching online I always see conflicting answers to people's problems making it confusing.
For example searching to see if I can add an Xorg.conf'd of my own I saw a reply to someone where it was said they could add their own config because it's normally omitted from distros now. Then 6 other replies said different with the last one saying the original config is there and will override any config made after it !.. So Linux is difficultâŠ
I have no idea where to start to disable experimental features (if I have any!).. and really don't want to mess up anything that might affect the almost normal running of my system. No disrespect to your suggestions.
Regarding Xkill. I can see it is there in Zorin but following your guide to set the Ctrl+Alt+k (good idea to use k).. Xkill is not found in the Popup for customising keyboard shortcuts. See attached pic.
Running this command in terminal:
I use XFCE, not Gnome. Perhaps a Gnome User can shed more light on how the Keyboard Shortcuts are added.
Things can get confusing. Different distros can package things differently - which is less common, actually.
You can create your own xorg.conf. It must be placed in the correct path - which is as true on Windows OS or MacOS - for the system to see and utilize it.
If there is one that is default - and you place another one in a different path that can be seen, then the system default will take priority - this is also true on Windows OS or MacOS.
We can ignore other Distros for this purpose - You are using Zorin OS on the Zorin OS forum. Here, you can safely apply an xorg.conf file in /usr/share/x11/xorg.conf.d/ which would end up a full path of /usr/share/x11/xorg.conf.d/xorg.conf
That is the default or Prioritized location. You can also place one in /etc/x11 And as long as there is not one already in /usr/share/x11/xorg.conf.d/, then the new one placed in /etc/x11 will work. And as it is, you should not have any xorg.conf file on a fresh install of Zorin OS.
Not wanting to disable anything as I said previously so I started to make my own Xorg.conf file in the Terminal so I could include a âDeactivateGrabsâ field only to have Xorg probe the system and fail with the following error:-
âNumber of created screens does not match number of detected devices.
Configuration failed.â
I have only one Graphics card.
The probe result listed AMDGPU (0) & AMDGPU (1) but my AMD Ryzen 9 7950x processor does not have onboard graphics.
My conclusion is that my Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 - GA102 GPU is not yet supported producing this error.. so once again any attempt to produce a workaround for this Grab problem is thwarted !
Immediately before the problem appeared everything was working fine.
Then during an update I noticed it said the Nvidia 550 driver was removed . Wondering why.. I checked and found the 550 proprietary driver was still listed as being used.
This same thing happened with the next 2 updates also.
Then the error appeared.
Wasting too much time on this and need to concentrate on work.
Thread can be closed.
You can check if you have an .Xauthority file in your home directory. Files or folders with a (.) in the front are hidden system files and can be revealed with ctl+h and rehidden with ctl+h - or in the file manager preferences, you can click Show hidden files.
If you do have that file, right click it and delete it, then reboot and test your xorg.conf.
It is certainly supported. I am also using an RTX 3060 and my sons machine uses RTX4070.
If not using DKMS - it is possible that a driver was removed or reinstalled. For this reason, I use DKMS
sudo apt install --reinstall nvidia-driver-550 nvidia-dkms-550
I don't have an .Xauthority
Nvidia driver in use:-
I thought the Open driver could be worth a try as you suggested but the Terminal output didn't look promising so I wasn't sure if the DKMS driver was installed or not.
Checking in USR/SRC I see Nvidia 550.120 but I'm not sure if the proprietary driver was v.120 or if this could be the DKMS driver. There is a DKMS.Conf pkg file there though. I copied it to the desktop and added.txt so I could open it to read but it didn't mention anything to verify the 550 DKMS driver was installed.
To me it looks like the the existing Kernel files may have stopped the DKMS version from being installed.. but I'm not sure about that.
Best thing I can do is show the Terminal output.
Blockquote$ sudo apt install --reinstall nvidia-driver-550 nvidia-dkms-550
[sudo] password for .....
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
cpp-12 dctrl-tools dkms gcc-12 libasan8 libgcc-12-dev libtsan2
Suggested packages:
gcc-12-locales cpp-12-doc debtags menu gcc-12-multilib gcc-12-doc
The following NEW packages will be installed
cpp-12 dctrl-tools dkms gcc-12 libasan8 libgcc-12-dev libtsan2 nvidia-dkms-550
0 to upgrade, 8 to newly install, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
Need to get 40.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 139 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 Index of /ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 cpp-12 amd64 12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04 [10.8 MB]
Get:2 Index of /ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 libasan8 amd64 12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04 [2,442 kB]
Get:3 Index of /ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 libtsan2 amd64 12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04 [2,477 kB]
Get:4 Index of /ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 libgcc-12-dev amd64 12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04 [2,618 kB]
Get:5 Index of /ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 gcc-12 amd64 12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04 [21.7 MB]
Get:6 Index of /ubuntu jammy/main amd64 dctrl-tools amd64 2.24-3build2 [66.9 kB]
Get:7 Index of /ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 dkms all 2.8.7-2ubuntu2.2 [70.1 kB]
Get:8 Index of /ubuntu jammy-updates/restricted amd64 nvidia-dkms-550 amd64 550.120-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 [36.3 kB]
Get:9 Index of /ubuntu jammy-updates/restricted amd64 nvidia-driver-550 amd64 550.120-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 [490 kB]
Fetched 40.8 MB in 1s (50.6 MB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package cpp-12.
(Reading database ... 388148 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../0-cpp-12_12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking cpp-12 (12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libasan8:amd64.
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Unpacking nvidia-dkms-550 (550.120-0ubuntu0.22.04.1) ...
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Unpacking nvidia-driver-550 (550.120-0ubuntu0.22.04.1) over (550.120-0ubuntu0.22.04.
Setting up nvidia-driver-550 (550.120-0ubuntu0.22.04.1) ...
Setting up cpp-12 (12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04) ...
Setting up libasan8:amd64 (12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04) ...
Setting up libtsan2:amd64 (12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04) ...
Setting up dctrl-tools (2.24-3build2) ...
Setting up libgcc-12-dev:amd64 (12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04) ...
Setting up gcc-12 (12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04) ...
Setting up dkms (2.8.7-2ubuntu2.2) ...
Setting up nvidia-dkms-550 (550.120-0ubuntu0.22.04.1) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
INFO:Enable nvidia
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/lenovo_thinkpad
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/put_your_quirks_here
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/dell_latitude
Loading new nvidia-550.120 DKMS files...
Building for 6.8.0-52-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 6.8.0-52-generic
Can't load /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/.rnd into RNG
40D7FA31F77E0000:error:12000079:random number generator:RAND_load_file:Cannot open f
ile:../crypto/rand/randfile.c:106:Filename=/var/lib/shim-signed/mok/.rnd
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Secure Boot not enabled on this system.
Done.
nvidia.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
Good news! Module version 550.120 for nvidia.ko
exactly matches what is already found in kernel 6.8.0-52-generic.
DKMS will not replace this module.
You may override by specifying --force.
nvidia-modeset.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
Good news! Module version 550.120 for nvidia-modeset.ko
exactly matches what is already found in kernel 6.8.0-52-generic.
DKMS will not replace this module.
You may override by specifying --force.
nvidia-drm.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
Good news! Module version 550.120 for nvidia-drm.ko
exactly matches what is already found in kernel 6.8.0-52-generic.
DKMS will not replace this module.
You may override by specifying --force.
nvidia-uvm.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
Good news! Module version 550.120 for nvidia-uvm.ko
exactly matches what is already found in kernel 6.8.0-52-generic.
DKMS will not replace this module.
You may override by specifying --force.
nvidia-peermem.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
Good news! Module version 550.120 for nvidia-peermem.ko
exactly matches what is already found in kernel 6.8.0-52-generic.
DKMS will not replace this module.
You may override by specifying --force.
depmod...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.35-0ubuntu3.9) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.10.2-1) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.140ubuntu13.4) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-52-generic
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/ip_discovery.bin for module amdgpu
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/vega10_cap.bin for module amdgpu
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/sienna_cichlid_cap.bin for module
amdgpu
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/navi12_cap.bin for module amdgpu
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/aldebaran_cap.bin for module amdgp
u
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/gc_11_0_0_toc.bin for module amdgp
u
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/sienna_cichlid_mes1.bin for module
amdgpu
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/sienna_cichlid_mes.bin for module
amdgpu
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/navi10_mes.bin for module amdgpu
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/gc_11_0_3_mes.bin for module amdgp
u
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/smu_14_0_2.bin for module amdgpu
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/dcn_3_5_1_dmcub.bin for module amd
gpu
I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/nvme1n1p6
I: (UUID=b4fc5e41-dcdb-4820-a2ee-86e2c1e33e1d)
I: Set the RESUME variable to override this.
Your output shows that you have Secure Boot enabled in your BIOS and it is blocking your Nvidia driver.
It's definitely not enabled..
Terminal output says that too..