GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 762193
Applications suddenly don't allow any interaction with them
Last modified: 2021-07-05 14:05:18 UTC
I first noticed this issue when I was running Ubuntu GNOME 15.04 with GNOME 3.16, but even now that I have upgraded to Ubuntu GNOME 15.10 with GNOME 3.18 I still experience the issue (though I have not yet experienced this on Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 with GNOME 3.19 - but that may be due to the fact that this issue only comes up every so often (a few times a week at the moment) and I haven't used it that much). The issue being that for some reason suddenly for seemingly no reason unless I interact with the top bar in terms of clicking on an option on it (e.g.: the calender or Activities Overview buttons), I am unable to click on any application, or even drag some files on the desktop, though if I go to the bottom of my screen Docky does should which is on autohide so it does allow some interaction, though interestingly not all as buttons don't change colour that normally would when I go over them when my machine is doing this funny thing. Some have even said though that they have to completely restart gnome-shell to temporarily get rid of the problem. I also experienced the problem a lot on 3.16, but in 3.18, it is periodic in the week that I experience it and it is several times, but not as much, and not as blocking. I initially reported this issue here, but thought I should also do so upstream: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/1482397
I have changed this bug's Importance status to "Critical" because that is how it has been marked downstream.
Has this been debugged further in downstream already? Asking as I see stuff like "drag some files on the desktop" or "Docky" mentioned...
I don't think so... Not that anyone has told me anyway... But the stuff about dragging files on the desktop and Docky was just me saying to the extent it affects me and which applications I have that it affects in different ways... All I know is what I have said the bug description...
I have now properly tested this in Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 Beta 1 with GNOME 3.19 (the latest version of that) and the issue is still present there.
As can be seen here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-gnome/+bug/1482397/comments/8 And with the previous comment, users are still experiencing this issue. Although I have not experienced this issue in ages and now that I'm running Arch instead of Ubuntu perhaps that has made somewhat of a difference as well. I don't know if it's an Ubuntu specific issue somehow or if I'm just lucky.
There is also another Ubuntu downstream bug report where a lot of people have the issue: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/1181666
Hi guys, Since I updated Ubuntu from 16.04 to 17.10 (I curse that day...) it's happening almost every time I login (after a fresh boot). I never had this problem before (or it happen so rare that I never noticed it). I played with different driver versions without success. In my case, my wife usually log in and start Chrome (I'm quite sure it's not Chrome related because I have same behavior with Firefox or just other applications), opening few tabs, and few to dozen seconds after login she can't change tabs. I'm able to open terminal with keyboard shortcut but not to make window active. Some controls react on mouse, other don't. Strange thing I observed too (it might not be related to this problem) is Home dir icon in top left corner - after login it's showing under Top bar (top bar overlaps icon). When I open first window (ex. browser) it's refreshing desktop and moving icon properly down a little (top bar don't overlap it anymore). Simplest wat to get rid of issue is to switch to TTY (Ctrl + Alt + F1) and then back to X (Ctrl + F7) - after that, like with magic wound touch, problem disappear for some time. After another 10, 15, 30 minutes problem arrive again. I checked Xorg.log - nothing. Nothing in syslog. No error I could google for. I'm sick of it - today I said enough. I decided to do something with it. I consider myself experienced Linux Sys Admin - tell me what you need to fix this and I will do my best to help.
Some background: Ubuntu 17.04 gnome-shell 3.24.2-0ubuntu0.1 nvidia-384 384.59-0ubuntu0~gpu17.04.1 (from http://ppa.launchpad.net/graphics-drivers/ppa/ubuntu ) I have GTX 1060 card.
When this happens, my desktop no longer accepts keyboard input as well. I happens whenever I interact with the touch screen using my fingers. If I do not use the touchscreen, and I stick to the touchpad, keyboard, and mouse, I do not have this issue. When this happens, I can still interact with the topbar and with the Ubuntu Dock. The topbar and the Ubuntu Dock ccept all of my user inputs using all inout devices (mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, keyboard). But the desktop and all windows on the desktop stop accepting input (as if they are not getting the mouse focus). $ gnome-shell --version GNOME Shell 3.26.1 $ uname -r 4.14.1-041401-generic $ lsb_release -a Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 17.10 Release: 17.10 Codename: artful
No longer experience this on Arch with GNOME 3.28, however it appears as though users on downstream Ubuntu still do.
The bug still exists for me, both on Ubuntu 18.04 and on Fedora 28 (I installed Fedora after thinking it was an Ubuntu bug before of realizing it was likely due to GNOME). Using GNOME 3.28.3 on Fedora, the behavior is exactly the same as in Ubuntu and the same workarounds from the Ubuntu bug tracker (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mutter/+bug/1181666, e.g. restarting the gnome-shell etc.) can temporarily make the computer usable again, but it's not very reliable. Also, there's no clear pattern of the bug occurring discernible. For me, it appeared with and without proprietary drivers and interestingly I've also seen it happen on an Ubuntu live distribution booted off of an USB device (also running GNOME). Maybe some undiagnosed hardware incompatibility? I'm most likely gonna try for a few weeks without GNOME to see if there might be something else causing it. Considering how rare and the bug seems to be and that it has persisted over the years, guess you have to switch away from GNOME if you are one of the unfortunate rare cases.
I experienced this bug just yesterday on 18.04... It happened immediately after I inadvertently touched the edge of my touch-screen while adjusting the angle of my laptop screen. (See my similar statement in Comment #9). Usually, I carefully avoid using my touch screen, because that triggers this problem. (Note I use Dash-to-Dock extension, in case that has anything to do with this bug? Is anyone else using Dash-to-Dock or Dash-to-Panel?)
I face the same issue with ArchLinux latest upgrade at this date. I use my touchscreen, but in some cases it freezes suddenly. This behavior appeared only with this latest upgrade. Gnome is 3.30.1.
I think i found a way to reproduce this behavior: Cause application to display "Application is not responding" dialog. For example rhythmbox causes this if you try to tag files two times, when the first tagging has not finished. Another way is to run a X-forwarded application on a congested network connection. When the dialog is open, you can switch between applications but mouse clicks inside windows are ignored. Tested on Ubuntu 18.04 / Gnome 3.28
This happens to me several times a day and really disrupts my workflow. Please let me know what information I can add to help triage this bug. Ubuntu 18.04.3 GNOME 3.28.2
Can anyone still reproduce this in 3.34? (3.28 or 3.30 are not supported anymore.)
I reproduce on 3.34, on Ubuntu 19.10. To me it happens once a week or so, and I have to log out and log in again for clicks to work.
I can reproduce on 3.34.3 on Debian unstable and is worse than previous gnome-shell version. Happens several times a day and usually going to overview (via keyboard) helps so that mouse buttons start working again. Happens on two computers (desktop and notebook) with similar set of gnome-shell plugins and focus follows mouse with sloppy focus on both. There is no trace of the problem in session log so have no clue about the origin of the problem.
I'm using 3.34.1 in Ubuntu 19.10, and I don't experience this issue anymore.
GNOME is going to shut down bugzilla.gnome.org in favor of gitlab.gnome.org. As part of that, we are mass-closing older open tickets in bugzilla.gnome.org which have not seen updates for a longer time (resources are unfortunately quite limited so not every ticket can get handled). If you can still reproduce the situation described in this ticket in a recent and supported software version, then please follow https://wiki.gnome.org/GettingInTouch/BugReportingGuidelines and create a new ticket at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/ Thank you for your understanding and your help.