[xubuntu-users] 14.04 stopped working

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Thu, 2015-11-12 at 08:45 -0800, John R. Sowden wrote:
> Now, when I boot this computer, I get the sign on, then I get the gui 
> screen with moving mouse pointer, but no icons, nothing in the top
> bar, etc.  I can ctrl-alt F1 and I can move to various locations in
> the text mode, but my business information is in the gui world.

There could be several reasons for this issue. The missing panel
unlikely happens due to missing disk space.

How did you upgrade? Did you use apt-get upgrade or apt-get dist-upgrade 
from command line? "dist-upgrade" is what Synaptic calls "smart
upgrade".

Perhaps we need to take a look at your repository list by the commands

  cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*
  cat /etc/apt/sources.list

but this is not necessary yet.

You still might have the old packages in /var/cache/apt/archives/ so if
need be, even downgrading might be possible.

When you're on the empty desktop, then the shortcut Alt+F3 likely opens
xfce4-appfinder. Type xfce4-terminal to start the terminal, so you don't
need to use CTRL+ALT+Fx and you can stay in the graphical desktop.

The command

  df

shows disk usage.

The command

  xfce4-panel --help

shows how to use the panel.

Run the command

  xfce4-panel &

to launch the panel.

Launch the command 

  xfce4-panel -q

to quit the panel.

Can you launch the panel?

You can check Xfce4 settings by running the command

  xfce4-settings-manager  &

Does the settings manager open?

Regards,
Ralf