program launcher going wild

[Gene Heskett]

On Friday 29 June 2012 16:07:29 Gene Heskett did opine:

> On Friday 29 June 2012 13:20:12 Gene Heskett did opine:
> > On Friday 29 June 2012 04:23:59 Colin Law did opine:
> > > On 29 June 2012 08:40, Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com> wrote:
> > > > Greetings all;
> > > > 
> > > > For the 2nd time I am going to have to reboot.
> > > > 
> > > > If I have a copy of firefox running, a click on an html link in an
> > > > email will hand the request off to firefox just fine.
> > > > 
> > > > But if firefox is not running, then whatever is in charge of
> > > > handling such link clicks tries to start at leasy 100 copies of
> > > > konqueror, so I wind up with a machine whose lower info bar has
> > > > buttons from processes trying to run lined up to as little as 1/8"
> > > > wide, which it will do for 2-3 minutes and then it will try to
> > > > kill them all, which it will do for perhaps 5 seconds, but will
> > > > eventually start fireing of another 100 or so copies, none of
> > > > which ever actually open a screen.
> > > 
> > > You have not said which version of Ubuntu you are running, but
> > > assuming it is 12.04 then in System Settings > Details > Default
> > > Applications make sure you have Firefox as the default web app.
> > > 
> > > Colin
> > 
> > Sorry, 10.04-4 32 bit on a 64 bit box.  This is so all my boxes are
> > running the same install, and 2 of the other boxes are frozen on 10.04
> > LTS because that is the kernel 2.6.32-122-rtai we have with rtai
> > support for realtime machine (lathes, milling machines etc) control.
> > 
> > That option doesn't seem to be in the list of pulldowns, so I've no
> > clue where to adjust that on 10.04-4.  System->Preferred Applications
> > however is set for firefox.  I think that is the same thing.
> > 
> > Cheers, Gene
> 
> A more kerosene on the fire PS:
> 
> Its done that 4 more times since I posted the above, and each time I
> reboot, things change.  Once I even got the default users gui setup
> which I was unable to change.  No keyboard response to even open a
> terminal screen.
> 
> When I reboot, long before the login screen appears, I get an error
> advisory popup, center screen, that says it "Could not update
> /var/lib/gdm/.ICEauthority"
> 
> If I sit and wait long enough I will finally get the big Xservers X
> mouse pointer so I can click on the close button.  Eventually.
> 
> The instant I close that, it is replaced by another error window
> advising me that "There is a problem with the config server -
> (/var/lib/libgconf2-4/gconf-sanity-check exited with status 256)
> 
> But if I re-execute that file right now, it gives a null return ANAICT.
> 
> Also, while on this reboot I did get some (not all, only that set I
> normally keep in workspace 5 of 10) of my terminal screens restored, it
> took several minutes after the boot was (theoretically) completed before
> those screens had a cursor, so I was either typing blind, or searching
> thru the shell cli history to find the command I normally run in that
> terminal/tab and re-execute it.
> 
> FWIW, memtest86 was run a full cycle earlier this morning, no errors.
> 
> This is turning into a right PIMA folks, what can I do?
> 
> Thanks all.
> 
> Cheers, Gene

I found a kill switch!

"killall kfmclient", as root, from any handy shell.  That stopped the 
launching of new konqueror's and in 30 seconds or so the taskbar at the 
bottom of the screen was all cleaned up.  konqueror itself never showed up, 
but seems to run ok from a cli.

However!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If I pull the menu down, goto internet, and try to 
run konqueror from there, I get a big error window that if copy/paste 
works, tells me this:

The requested operation could not be completed
File or Folder Does Not Exist
Details of the Request:
URL: file:///usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html
Protocol: file
Date and Time: Friday 29 June 2012 16:12
Additional Information: /usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html
Description:
The specified file or folder /usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html does not exist.
Possible Causes:
You may have encountered a bug in the program.
Possible Solutions:
Update your software to the latest version. Your distribution should 
provide tools to update your software.
Contact your appropriate computer support system, whether the system 
administrator, or technical support group for further assistance.

Now, /usr/share/doc/HTML does NOT exist and I didn't delete it.

Now what folks?

launchpad to file a bug?  No clue how that works, I am a ubuntu newbie in 
that regard.

Cheers, Gene
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> is up!
Real Men don't make backups.  They upload it via ftp and let the world 
mirror
it.
		-- Linus Torvalds