11.10 - system not responsive

[kooldino]

I just ran updates to make sure my 11.10 kubuntu install was current. It asked me to reboot and I did so. Upon logging in, I noticed that it change my wallpaper. Odd.

I then noticed that the majority (but not all) of things I try to interact with in the GUI do not respond. Dragging the windows that I had left open during my last session won't work. I click on the K Menu to no avail. I can, however, minimize and restore the open dolphin windows.

Using CTRL+ALT+F6, I dropped into a shell, and ran "top". Nothing seems to be hogging resources.

I don't get it. Why isn't the GUI responding to my inputs?

I'm really growing tired of spending hours fixing my system every time I attempt to do an update. I need to get work done but instead I get to track down stupid issues.

[kooldino]

$20 paypal reward to anyone who can figure out this issue before I go to bed.

[kooldino]

I don't even know where to start with this issue. Maybe if I delete my .kde folder?

[2F4U]

You don't provide technical information about your system, so I am basically just guessing. Could it be an issue with the video driver? Are you running on open source or proprietary drivers?

[kooldino]

You don't provide technical information about your system, so I am basically just guessing. Could it be an issue with the video driver? Are you running on open source or proprietary drivers?

That's possible.

I'm running a low end nvidia card, and iirc, I'm running the proprietary nvidia drivers.

[idoitprone]

That's possible.

I'm running a low end nvidia card, and iirc, I'm running the proprietary nvidia drivers.

if it is like 4 generations behind the current, then the opensource drivers should support it well.

[kooldino]

if it is like 4 generations behind the current, then the opensource drivers should support it well.

So you think if I login via the command line, remove the driver, and install the OS one, it will work?

Anyone happen to know the name of current version of the OS nvidia driver?

[kooldino]

So I removed nvidia-common and logged in, but the problem persists. It's been DAYS, and I really need to get my machine running.

[kooldino]

I'm truly baffled. Clicking on almost anything nets no response. However, the following things still work:

-If I move my cursor up to the upper-left corner of the screen, it will go into expose. From there, I can select or close the window of my choice.
-I can click on the taskbar to minimize and restore windows.
-The "run command" dialog sort of works. I can get it to come up, but the cursor doesn't blink and it won't accept keyboard input.
-Alt+tab works fine. Here's where it gets really odd. If I bring up the run dialog and attempt to type, no characters appear. However, if I alt tab out of it and come back, the characters that I had previously typed are there. So it IS technically accepting the keyboard input, but it's simply not drawing it until I refresh it.

[kooldino]

Ok, after even more tinkering, I figured out that I can in fact click on anything I want, but I don't get to see the results of my interaction until i force the screen to redraw (by triggering expose, for example).

Anyway, here's what I found out about my graphics card/driver:

I have an nvidia 8400GS card running the nvidia_173 driver (although it said it wasn't currently loaded, despite it being shown as active). I went to enable the other nvidia driver in the list and it told me there was an error and to check /var/log/jockey.log