Bug 372994

I was trying to make a script automatically start on system bootup using the autostart module of the system settings menu. I clicked 'add script', which opened a dialogue that asked for a path to the script file, along with a button to open dolphin's file chooser dialogue box. However, the script I wanted to use was hidden (started with a .) and so it didn't show in the file list. Upon opening the mini settings dropdown with the button in the top right, the dropdown menu appeared, but the entire system became unresponsive.

I haven't seen anything like this before. The system didn't actually lock up. Programs and widgets kept running in the background, the youtube video I had playing kept playing, at the full 60fps, no audio or video stuttering or cutouts. I could move the mouse cursor, too. But buttons didn't glow when I hovered over them, clicking had absolutely no response, I couldn't scroll, the caps and num lock buttons wouldn't toggle the lights on the keyboard (even after moving it to a different USB port), and F2 wouldn't open my Guake terminal. I couldn't even open the logout countdown with control-alt-delete.

There was only one thing that worked (sort of): control-alt-F# to switch to a console. The audio from the youtube video would cut out, the video would 'pause', and the screen would cut out entirely. There wasn't even a signal, so my monitor decided to go to sleep. But after desperately flipping between consoles and the F7 graphical environment, eventually a dialogue popped up asking to update the SMART data on my secondary hard drive, which wasn't in use. This popup made everything start working again, so after I typed in my password, I could click on things and move windows.

But if I clicked inside the file chooser dialogue, the system would become unresponsive again, and I would have to switch between terminals until the SMART dialogue popped up again (which it did, every time). I tried the entire thing 3 times, and this happened every single one until I gave up and typed in the file path manually.


TL;DR: Don't touch the menu button in the file chooser dialogue, it's cursed with an evil black magic.

Plasma 5.3 on Kubuntu 16.10.