Bug 246498

When the 'Apply' button is pressed in certain sytemsettings sections (including all sections under 'Workspace Appearance and Behaviour'), it stops rendering anything on screen. Disabling compositing (Alt-Shift-F12) and re-enabling it makes everything work again, until the next time a setting is changed.

It happens at other times too - for example, sometimes when loading pages in Firefox I see the previous page until I switch tabs and back again.

I have Intel 945 graphics and am using KDE 4.5 on Arch Linux.

Thanks fetidfrog. At least I'm not the only one checking this bug report. I discovered the Alt+Shift+F12 trick from the Arch forums. If you posted it, thanks again.

I am also running on an integrated Intel card, 4500M. But I have seen others having this problem with Nvidia cards as well. So this is clearly not a driver issue... even if you ignore the host of other regressions on Intel cards from 4.4 to 4.5.

As for the refresh problem, it might be related but I don't think it is the same bug. This is also a regression from 4.4 to 4.5 regardless of whether I use kernel 2.6.34 or .35. One thing that could point to it not being a driver issue is that the refresh bug appears when using Compiz-fusion as well. However, with Compiz, running with the following options solves this problem.

compiz --replace ccp --sm-disable --indirect-rendering

So I would say this is a separate bug.

Anyway, I find it amazing that such a bug could make it unfixed into the final release. If some other OS had a similar bug in the final release we would be ROFL all over the place. For now though, I am using Compiz as my WM. KWin just took a few leaps backwards with this release.

This is clearly a regression: I've upgraded from KDE 4.4.5 to 4.5 and I've reproduced this exact bug.

I've not upgraded the kernel and the video drivers.

So is this a kwin or plasma bug?

In case of plasma, what you could try is
kquitapp plasma-desktop
and then
plasma-desktop
from a console, to get some output, if there is any useful.

I ran plasma-desktop from the console and got the following output as it started (I have replaced some duplicate lines with '...'):

<unknown program name>(10759)/ kdemain: !!{} STARTUP TIME 67734379 START (line: 48 )
QDBusObjectPath: invalid path ""
QDBusObjectPath: invalid path ""
plasma-desktop(10760)/libplasma Plasma::FrameSvg::resizeFrame: Invalid size QSizeF(0, 52) 
link XMLID_34_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_34_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_36_ hasn't been detected!
QFont::setPointSize: Point size <= 0 (0), must be greater than 0
QFont::setPointSize: Point size <= 0 (0), must be greater than 0
QFont::setPointSize: Point size <= 0 (0), must be greater than 0
QFont::setPointSize: Point size <= 0 (0), must be greater than 0
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
ERROR from solid predicate parser: syntax error
ERROR from solid predicate parser: syntax error
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
...
Invalid D-BUS interface name 'org.kde.plasma-desktop.PlasmaApp' found while parsing introspection
plasma-desktop(10760)/libplasma Plasma::FrameSvg::resizeFrame: Invalid size QSizeF(0, 38) 
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
...
Couldn't find node center. Skipping rendering.
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
...


Then I opened sytemsettings and applied a change to produce the freeze, and got the following output:


plasma-desktop(10760)/libplasma Plasma::FrameSvg::resizeFrame: Invalid size QSizeF(127, 0) 
QGraphicsLinearLayout::removeAt: invalid index 1
plasma-desktop(10760)/libplasma Plasma::FrameSvg::resizeFrame: Invalid size QSizeF(127, 0) 
Couldn't find node center. Skipping rendering.
Couldn't find node center. Skipping rendering.
plasma-desktop(10760)/libplasma Plasma::FrameSvg::resizeFrame: Invalid size QSizeF(127, 0) 
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/StackDialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
Couldn't find node center. Skipping rendering.
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/StackDialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/StackDialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/StackDialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
link XMLID_34_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_34_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_36_ hasn't been detected!
QFont::setPointSize: Point size <= 0 (0), must be greater than 0
...
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
Couldn't find node center. Skipping rendering.
Couldn't find node center. Skipping rendering.
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
...

When I submitted the bug it appeared as though plasma had crashed... hence the title of the report. However, now I think it is a KWin issue.

I also ran plasma-desktop from terminal and got this. (unedited)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[me@arch ~]$ plasma-desktop 
<unknown program name>(9544)/ kdemain: !!{} STARTUP TIME 85838175 START (line: 48 )
QDBusObjectPath: invalid path ""
QDBusObjectPath: invalid path ""
Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
plasma-desktop(9545)/libplasma Plasma::FrameSvg::resizeFrame: Invalid size QSizeF(125, 0) 
plasma-desktop(9545)/libplasma Plasma::FrameSvg::resizeFrame: Invalid size QSizeF(125, 0) 
QGridLayoutEngine::addItem: Cell (1, 1) already taken
plasma-desktop(9545)/libplasma Plasma::FrameSvg::resizeFrame: Invalid size QSizeF(125, 0) 
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
ERROR from solid predicate parser: syntax error
ERROR from solid predicate parser: syntax error
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
Invalid D-BUS interface name 'org.kde.plasma-desktop.PlasmaApp' found while parsing introspection
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
link XMLID_34_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_34_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_36_ hasn't been detected!
[me@arch ~]$ QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible
QWidget::setMinimumSize: (/Plasma::Dialog) Negative sizes (-1,-1) are not possible

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I recorded  short screencast of what exactly happens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8osoDGU_XTs

I have edited the bur report title to better describe the problem.

Original title is "Plasma desktop crashes on changing various desktop settings"

I think this is an upstream bug (intel driver bug). See this:
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=597078

Hi Zayed,

The bug you link to seems to be quite different from what I am experiencing. User Stefan Dirsch remarks, "Indeed that sounds like a seperate issue."

A driver issue will not explain why this bug appears when running KDE SC 4.5 on both kernel versions 2.6.34 and 2.6.35... and does not appear when running KDE SC 4.4 on both kernels as well. By elimination, I think we can safely say that something has changed from 4.4 to 4.5 that is causing this. I am not excluding driver involvement but I am positive it is not solely an upstream issue.

Another piece of evidence... Though the reviewer in the following video is not the most knowledgeable, he does make a comment at 8:40 that sounds a lot like this bug. And he is using an Nvidia card with the Nouveau driver. Again, by elimination... you can see where I'm heading...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr_MlWnGn4o

Please do excuse my insistence... but I find it frustrating when we wash our hands by pointing upstream... (this is neither the first time nor the last)... and end up having to live with it. What, then, is the point of having a bug reporting system? Again, no offence intended.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 241402 ***

@Shane: you should move your vote from this bug  to bug #241402 :-)

Created attachment 54281 [details]
screenshot1

i'm running kde 4.5.3 with nvidia 8400gs
When i change something in the style or effects plasma becomes unusuable (screenshots) 
i dont loose the keybord or mouse but i cant see anything

Created attachment 54282 [details]
screenshot2

(In reply to comment #13)
> i dont loose the keybord or mouse but i cant see anything
you mean like you can still move windows?

a) this bug is a dupe, posting to it is like posting /dev/null, use the main bug instead ;-)
b) do you use the nouveau driver? (this bug is upstream, ie. a bug in mesa/dri which is not used by the closed source nvidia driver)
c) if you can still move windows (and esp. you're using the cs nvidia driver) this would be another bug

(In reply to comment #15)
> (In reply to comment #13)
> > i dont loose the keybord or mouse but i cant see anything
> you mean like you can still move windows?
> 
> a) this bug is a dupe, posting to it is like posting /dev/null, use the main
> bug instead ;-)
> b) do you use the nouveau driver? (this bug is upstream, ie. a bug in mesa/dri
> which is not used by the closed source nvidia driver)
> c) if you can still move windows (and esp. you're using the cs nvidia driver)
> this would be another bug

Thanks for the suggestion, i opened a new bug
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=259230