Version: 4.6 (using KDE 4.6.5) OS: Linux Hello ... Got a problem with start-stop-daemon not starting cron and at on bootup so I wrote an admin script which has two lines, cron start and aptitude update/full-upgrade and lodged it in autostart folder. Unfortunately with this arrangement KDE never fully completes loading. I usually end up with a partial freeze and a partially populated system tray. I can secondary click the desktop and get the menu but clicking Leave does nothing. KDE fully locks up. The bottom panel with autohide never shows. Hard reboot (power off/on) necessary to recover. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: Power up KDE with admin autostart script Actual Results: KDE freezes at some stage prior to fully loading all apps in the system tray. It appears that the script with a request for password stops KDE fully loading and thus crashes KDE. Expected Results: KDE should load normally and does fully load when the startup script is removed. I suspect that the problem is when the autostart item loads. I assumed, incorrectly that the item started after everything was loaded but that is not the case. Many of the items that I have in the system tray are loaded after the main KDE component is loaded so my admin script loads prior to some of the items in the system tray thus causing the crash. My workaround is to manually start the script with a click after everything is loaded. Kalarm seeems to load last on my setup so I tried it but the option to start a script on startup is non-existent.
"It appears that the script with a request for password stops KDE fully loading and thus crashes KDE." Well, if a script needs to ask password then it needs to run in a terminal emulator to be able to interact with users. Your autostart script ("cron start and aptitude update/full-upgrade") is run silenetly(without invoking a terminal emulator), and that is the problem. Solution: do not do it. Or, write something like "xterm -e command-need-interaction"