said Michele Calgaro: | I have created bug 2311 | (http://bugs.pearsoncomputing.net/show_bug.cgi?id=2311) to serve as a | info collection point for this problem. | dep, if you do not have a bugszilla account, you can report info to the | mailing list and later I will update the bug, although it would be | better if you could report there :-) | | Going back to the problem, as suspected kdesktop seems locked waiting on | a mutex, which is probably related to the defunct kdesktop_lock process | somehow. Can you try the following commands from gdb and report back? | | 1) info thread | just for the sake of info (gdb) info thread Id Target Id Frame 2 Thread 0x7f5c62de7700 (LWP 30339) "kdesktop" 0x00007f5c6801689c in __lll_lock_wait () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 * 1 Thread 0x7f5c6d413780 (LWP 30334) "kdesktop" 0x00007f5c6cca1feb in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 | 2) thread 2 | Expect something like "switching to thread 2 blah blah blah" (gdb) thread 2 [Switching to thread 2 (Thread 0x7f5c62de7700 (LWP 30339))] #0 0x00007f5c6801689c in __lll_lock_wait () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 | frame 2 | Expect something like "#2 hex-adress in pthread_mutex_lock()" (gdb) frame 2 #2 0x00007f5c68011eba in pthread_mutex_lock () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 | info reg | This will print the registers' contents. (gdb) info reg rax 0xfffffffffffffe00 -512 rbx 0xda51f0 14307824 rcx 0xffffffffffffffff -1 rdx 0xda5230 14307888 rsi 0x80 128 rdi 0xda51f8 14307832 rbp 0xda5230 0xda5230 rsp 0x7f5c62de6c40 0x7f5c62de6c40 r8 0xda51f8 14307832 r9 0x7683 30339 r10 0x7f5c62de6a40 140034772462144 r11 0x202 514 r12 0x7f5c62de7700 140034772465408 r13 0x2 2 r14 0x7f5c69493200 140034880123392 r15 0x1 1 rip 0x7f5c68011eba 0x7f5c68011eba <pthread_mutex_lock+58> eflags 0x202 [ IF ] cs 0x33 51 ss 0x2b 43 ds 0x0 0 es 0x0 0 fs 0x0 0 gs 0x0 0 | After this I will have more questions, but first I need the answers | above. Again, please do not exit from gdb unless it is critical for you | (for example you have to switch off your computer). If you have to exit | and restart kdesktop, the next time you need to repeat the commands | already typed + the new ones. many thanks. i should note that the above began from gdb --pid=30334 without the additional command(s) done yesterday. should i go back and redo it? forgive me, but this is several levels beyond my understanding! i now have gdb running in a console after the above commands, and shall leave it running per your explanation. -- dep The shortest distance between you and playing great acoustic guitar: the great new instructional DVDs from Marjorie Thompson, available at www.MarjorieThompson.com