12

Just finished the upgrade to 19.04 and have almost everything working.

If I use the Windows/Super key to open the activities menu the system becomes unusable. I can swap windows, but can't interact with them at all. If I press escape the search box stays on the desktop.

pomsky
  • 70,557

3 Answers3

11

This was caused by a gnome extension workspace grid. Removed extension and solved issue. When viewing system logs was seeing message like this:

Apr 20 21:07:31 name gnome-shell[2382]: JS ERROR: TypeError: child is null#012getNonExpandedWidth@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/overviewControls.js:282:9#012_updateWorkspacesGeometry@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/overviewControls.js:448:31#012vfunc_allocate@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/overviewControls.js:391:9#012_updateSwitchUserSubMenu@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/status/system.js:167:9
Apr 20 21:07:31 name gnome-shell[2382]: JS ERROR: TypeError: child is null#012getNonExpandedWidth@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/overviewControls.js:282:9#012_updateWorkspacesGeometry@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/overviewControls.js:448:31#012vfunc_allocate@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/overviewControls.js:391:9
4

To escape this situation, you can also press Alt+F2, type r and press Enter. This restarts Gnome, but it is a gentle and fast restart, your apps remain open.

0

For other reading this, I found that if you do super-L (lock screen) then Gnome will recover. I think it restarts Gnome (like logging out and back in) by the look of it but saves a reboot.

Give it 15secs or so wait and it comes back. Pain in the backside though. Will investigate the above fix!