Huge Gnome startup delay

[William Chapman]

On 7/13/05, Jeff Peeler <jpeeler at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 12:20:49 +0800, Chua Wen Kiat wrote:
> 
> > On 7/13/05, William Chapman <jeddahbill at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On 7/12/05, Jeff Peeler <jpeeler at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 08:50:49 -0400, Jeff Peeler wrote:
> >> >
> >> > > I'm having about a 2 minute and 30 second startup delay every time
> >> > > gnome starts. Everything loads as expected until gnome-panel loads.
> >> > > It then just shows the two "bars" and then sits there and finally
> >> > > loads everything. It would be helpful if I knew where gnome stored
> >> > > its startup logs if it has any like X does. Also, on occasion I get
> >> > > the following four separate errors:
> >> > >
> >> > > The panel encountered a problem while loading
> >> > > "OAFIID:GNOME_WindowListApplet". The panel encountered a problem
> >> > > while loading "OAFIID:GNOME_Panel_TrashApplet" The panel encountered
> >> > > a problem while loading "OAFIID:GNOME_WorkspaceSwitcherApplet". The
> >> > > panel encountered a problem while loading
> >> > > "OAFIID:GNOME_ShowDesktopApplet".
> >> > >
> >> > > If these errors appear, my bottom panel doesn't load anything above
> >> > > which is everything on it.
> >> > >
> >> > > I'm not using the back ports repository on this machine. My laptop
> >> > > that is using it is running fine.
> >> > >
> >> > > Here's what I have tried so far:
> >> > >
> >> > > I tried a new .gnome2 directory with no success.
> >> > >
> >> > > I tried logging in with another user and the same delay occurs.
> >> > >
> >> > > I tried removing everything in the /tmp dir. I saw a Breezy post
> >> > > about this and thought it might be worth a shot.
> >> > >
> >> > > I tried deleting everything in the
> >> > > .gnome2/panel2.d/default/launchers directory. This fix actually
> >> > > worked temporarily and startup occurred a few times normally. Upon
> >> > > restart though the same delay returned.
> >> > >
> >> > > I'm really not too sure where to go from here...
> >> >
> >> > Well, thanks for everybody's help. None of the posted solutions
> >> > worked. However the problem actually just went away. Maybe it was
> >> > network related and by my switching networks one "stuck" setting got
> >> > corrected. I switch networks pretty regularly though.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> Jeff,
> >>
> >> FYI, I have the exact symptoms you described.  I have a small
> >> home-network behind a broadband NAT router, with two Ubuntu systems. One
> >> always exhibits the behavior you describe; the other never does. I
> >> haven't spent any significant time analyzing the problem - as you
> >> obviously have - but do have this to add:
> >>
> >> (1) If I delay my logon for, say, one minute, the problem is avoided; or
> >> (2) after the symptoms occur, logging off and back on avoids the
> >> problem.
> >>
> >> Both my systems are fairly "stock," and new, but I do have all the
> >> normally-commented-out repositories enabled.
> >>
> >> Since I just joined this list today, I haven't read the previous,
> >> related posts, but will do so, and track future ones.  (I do hope I
> >> haven't broken protocol for correctly using this list.)
> >>
> >> Bill Chapman
> >>
> >> --
> >> ubuntu-users mailing list
> >> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> >> http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
> >>
> >>
> > I've encountered GNOME startup delays once in a while too... i suspect
> > it could be most likely when my internet/network is having problems
> > (slow or not connected)
> >
> > What I did was to go to Applications -> System Tools -> Terminal then $
> > killall nautilus
> > This will refresh the desktop immediately...
> >
> > Another thing I suspect is a Ubuntu Update Manager issues, try disable
> > auto check for updates in synaptic. After disabling it, i din get the
> > startup delays any more
> >
> 
> Well, when gnome hangs before nautilus is started there isn't any way to
> start a terminal. Perhaps the update manager is responsible, but what
> would cause the sudden problem?
> 
> I encourage you to not top post. I moved your post from the top
> to the bottom. Regardless of whether or not this practice should be done
> elsewhere, top posting makes the least amount of since on a newsgroup.
> 
> 
> --
> ubuntu-users mailing list
> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
> 

Jeff,

Thanks for your suggestion re top/bottom posting.  I try to remember,
but am still getting used to my gmail account.  I think using the
small reply/forward window provided by gmail results in a top-post; so
I'm editing directly into the message window above it, but - hopefully
- posting low!

Re the Gnome delay:

I read Robbo's post, and checked the related configuration (/etc/hosts
& /etc/nsswitch.conf) of my two systems (one which always exhibits the
delay, and one which never does), and - except for hostnames - they
are identical.

Also, re Chua's earlier post, executing "killall nautilus" did not get
back the panel applets; I still had to log-out/log-in to recover.

Have you tried delaying your log-in to see if it affects the symptoms?
 Your delay (2'30") is longer than mine (<=1'); also, the probability
of getting one or more of the errors with my "bad system" is probably
about 70%, if I log-in immediately; it sounds like you're situation is
"every time."

Also worth noting, perhaps, is that the errant applets are all in the
bottom Gnome panel (as configured in Ubuntu).

Would it be worth comparing hardware configurations?

Still pondering...

-- Bill