The disappearing VolumeIcone

[venik212]

Running MX 19.2 XFCE on a Yoga 2 Pro, dual boot with Windows 10. The volume control Icon in the panel disappears often, and when it does, sometimes the volume keys (F2 & F3) do not work. Running the command: volumeicon restores function until the next disappearance act. Can someone tell me why it is happening? It is not a hardware issue-- Windows (and Linux Mint XFCE before MX) did not have this issue.

Code: Select all

System:    Host: <filter> Kernel: 5.6.0-2-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.6.0-2-amd64 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.5 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
           Distro: MX-19.2_x64 patito feo May 31  2020 base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20266 v: Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro serial: <filter> 
           Chassis: type: 10 v: Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: LENOVO model: Yoga2 v: 31900056PRO serial: <filter> UEFI: LENOVO v: 76CN43WW 
           date: 03/30/2015 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 34.3 Wh condition: 38.6/49.3 Wh (78%) volts: 7.3/7.4 
           model: Lenovo IdeaPad Kona type: Unknown serial: <filter> status: Discharging 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i7-4500U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Haswell 
           family: 6 model-id: 45 (69) stepping: 1 microcode: 26 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19154 
           Speed: 1796 MHz min/max: 800/3000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1515 2: 1530 3: 1526 
           4: 1517 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages 
           Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable 
           Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: spec_store_bypass 
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, 
           STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0a16 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Mobile v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.6 compat-v: 3.0 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:03.0 chip ID: 8086:0a0c 
           Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:9c20 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.6.0-2-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 3040 bus ID: 01:00.0 
           chip ID: 8086:08b2 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 118.47 GiB (24.8%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: MZMTD512HAGL-000L1 size: 476.94 GiB block size: 
           physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 3L0Q scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 195.31 GiB size: 191.25 GiB (97.92%) used: 118.44 GiB (61.9%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 69.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dropbox.list 
           1: deb [arch=i386,amd64] http://linux.dropbox.com/debian buster main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mirror.karneval.cz/pub/linux/mxlinux-packages/mxlinux/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nordvpn.list 
           1: deb https://repo.nordvpn.com/deb/nordvpn/debian stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teamviewer.list 
           1: deb http://linux.teamviewer.com/deb stable main
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 217 Uptime: 1d 13h 37m Memory: 7.69 GiB used: 1.97 GiB (25.6%) 
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 
           Shell: quick-system-in running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36 

[JayM]

I wonder if it could have anything to do with this? https://mxlinux.org/wiki/xfce/xfce-comm ... gularicons. Or it could be an issue with your icon theme or even possibly GTK theme. Set those back to Papirus and Greybird-mx (if you've changed them to something else) and see if the issue still happens.

[venik212]

1) I could not follow the cryptic hint in the url you provided. I did find a gtk-3.0 folder under .config in my home directory, and in it found a file called: settings.ini but the "hint" did not help, since it did not correspond to any of the settings. Not sure how to proceed.
2) My theme (set in Appearance/style) is graybird-mx and icons: papirus.

[JayM]

I think you would edit gtk.css whuch should also be in your gtk-3.0 directory and add that hint there. Looking at the text in the wiki article it looks like CSS code. Log out and back in for changes to take effect and see if this changes anything.

[Huckleberry Finn]

Though it was not happening before with others, don't forget to disable Fast Startup in Windows, in general speaking.

[dolphin_oracle]

do you have any idea when it vanishes?

the volumeicon is just an app we run, so it may be crashing, or pulseaudio may be crashing, or if its on boot, maybe something isn't enabled to autostart or maybe there is a conflict with an Xfce saved session.

you could also use the pulseaudio plugin for the xfce panel (panel preferences -> add item) which also provides for the keyboard volume keys.

[venik212]

The volume icon disappears (and the volume function of the function keys) is lost spontaneously-- I have not noticed any pattern as to when or why they are gone.
I am totally ignorant of the physiology of MX, but I believe that the icon is not the (main) problem, because the function keys lose their volume controlling function when the icon disappears. I sent a message to someone who suggested using the volumeicon program (which is the only way I can use the computer with MX), trying to find out what this program does and why its therapeutic effects are so short lived, but I got no response.
Adding the pulseaudio plugin to the panel did not help-- the function keys still do not control the volume, unless I run the short-lived volumeicon program.
The strange thing is that this problem is recent-- it did not exist when I first installed MX in March. I am unaware of anything that I had installed recently that might have caused these symptoms. I know I did not change any theme, nor installed any media-related app.
The mystery persists..

[dolphin_oracle]

the app that provides the icon also provides the volume key functions.

although the fact that pulse-audio plugin cannot control your keys either does imply some other problem.

[dreamer]

The strange thing is that this problem is recent-- it did not exist when I first installed MX in March. I am unaware of anything that I had installed recently that might have caused these symptoms. I know I did not change any theme, nor installed any media-related app. The mystery persists..

Maybe you updated the kernel as part of normal updates? Try booting your originally installed kernel from GRUB Advanced Options and see if the audio related problems stop.
I notice that your Quick System Info doesn't indicate AHS, but you are running 5.6 kernel. It seems this kernel didn't come on your install ISO.

[venik212]

I am now running the original kernel (4.19), and the volume icon (and the function keys volume control) is gone most of the time, as it was with the more up-to-date kernel. However, the pulseaudio panel plugin you mentioned seems to work, so I can live with that.
I must say, however, that I am surprised and disappointed to discover the number of such glitches and band-aids that MX Linux users need to apply in an OS known for its stability. Is my Yoga 2 Pro such an esoteric, unusual machine, with such weird touchpad and audio system?