Intrepid: Unable to start the settings manager gnome-settings-daemon

same problem, seems to be down to gnome-settings-daemon not starting on login. same problem for a clean new user account. starting gnome-settings-daemon manually after gnome-session has started rectifies the fonts and theme. attached .xsession-errors file

using hardy 64bit, asus m3a motherboard, nvidia 8500gt proprietary

gnome-session:
  Installed: 2.23.92-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 2.23.92-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 2.23.92-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

gnome-settings-daemon:
  Installed: 2.23.92-0ubuntu3
  Candidate: 2.23.92-0ubuntu3
  Version table:
 *** 2.23.92-0ubuntu3 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

metacity:
  Installed: 1:2.23.610-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1:2.23.610-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1:2.23.610-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Also confirmed here--happens on a ill-regular basis...will add to report after I get back from weekend trip.

could you try running gnome-settings-daemon on a command line and copy the log to a comment?

this was fixed for me with some unknown update a few weeks back, gnome-settings-daemon was not starting with gnome session but worked fine from the command line, have mentioned request for any more information on orginal thread if anyone still has this problem
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=924114

Fixed with updates. No problems now. Please close this bug.

I still have this problem. Starting gnome-settings-daemon on a command line does'nt solve it.

I've been running the updates to Intrepid Beta for a week, or so, without problems. Today's updates resulted in the problem reported here. My first indication that there was a problem was that the window decorations had changed colour and the menu titles were in a larger font than usual.

When I go to the appearance menu the error message mentioned above is displayed. When I run the gnome-setting-daemon the decorations and fonts revert to their previous settings for a few seconds and then revert back to being large again :(

[Might be unrelated: My system was originally installed as a Kubuntu 7.04 and has been upgraded through Gutsy and Hardy to Intrepid beta]

Hi,

Anyone that is still seeing this bug is probably hitting bug 287448.

Thanks,

James

Thanks James.
Removing libvisual-0.4-plugins as mentioned in bug 287448, did indeed resolve the problem for me.
Cheers!

Hi there, same problem here this appear sometime at the opening of the session and when I change the resolution of my screen too.

I'm on Intrepid up to date.

In the intrepid I haven't this file /usr/lib/libvisual-0.4/actor/actor_nastyfft.so but there is this /usr/lib/libvisual-0.4.so.0 /usr/lib/libvisual-0.4.so.0.0.0

Problem persist

confirm this bug

I have what may be the same problem. I do not have libvisual-0.4-plugins installed, so this is not bug 287448.

The symptoms are that, on login, the theme is wrong (an old-style default gnome look to controls and icon-set). I go to Preferences-->Appearance and get the message described in the bug title. Returning to the Appearance control panel a second time usually fixes the problem.

I can usually trigger this bug by logging out and then logging in again as quickly as possible. If I wait a while at the login screen, then the bug does not show itself. (This is not 100%, and I'm not too sure.) I have experienced this on all three of my machines, all of which run intrepid. None of the machines showed this behavior with Hardy.

Again this may be a different bug (themes versus fonts), but looks similar in some respects.

could somebody provide a gnome-settings-daemon log as requested?

I've just updated 8.10 today and I now have this problem for the first time. When I restarted the machine it came up in a different theme and reports the error if I go to the appearances option.

Running gnome-settings-daemon from the command line does not return anything (it just returns) but it does not appear to have launched.

I'll happily supply logs or other help if you can tell me where to look for them.

did you run gnome-settings-daemon --debug --no-daemon to get a log?

No - there is no manual documentation for gnome-settings-daemon so, until you told me, there was no way to know how to create the log.

This should help (I'm pretty sure I remember there being an update for gstreamer in the latest updates so that is likely to have caused the current issue):
[code]
~ $ gnome-settings-daemon --debug --no-daemon
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Successfully connected to D-Bus
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Starting settings manager
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Loading settings plugins from dir: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/keybindings.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Keybindings' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/keybindings.gnome-settings-plugin' location='keybindings'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/keybindings for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/sound.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Sound' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/sound.gnome-settings-plugin' location='sound'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/sound for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/clipboard.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Clipboard' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/clipboard.gnome-settings-plugin' location='clipboard'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/clipboard for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/keyboard.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Keyboard' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/keyboard.gnome-settings-plugin' location='keyboard'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/keyboard for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/screensaver.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Screensaver' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/screensaver.gnome-settings-plugin' location='screensaver'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/screensaver for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/background.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Background' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/background.gnome-settings-plugin' location='background'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/background for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:11714): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/typing-break.gn...

Hey guys and gals,

Running Intrepid Ibex, on a Dell Inspiron 6400 (It's better than the Macbook I traded to my wife...), with 2gig ram, and Compiz.

I am having the exact same problem as Paul Whipp. Suspend is a hit or miss with this thing and I had to shutdown this morning because it just would not suspend (a different bug). When I turned it back on, everything was ugly as hell. I did not receive any error messages until I went to System->Preferences->Appearance, then I got: "Unable to start the settings manager 'gnome-settings-daemon'. Without the GNOME settings manager running, some preferences may not take effect. This could indicate a problem with Bonobo, or a non-GNOME (e.g. KDE) settings manager may already be active and conflicting with the GNOME settings manager." error message. So, I did have Amarok installed, and figured that might be the problem and since I didn't like it anyways, I removed it (as well as every KDE lib I could find). This, however, did not solve the problem. The gnome-settings-daemon is in my session startup.

Restarting the X Server, restarting Linux, starting gnome-settings-daemon, also does not solve the problem. However, when I start the gnome-settings-manager, everything appears normal, I mean the theme loads and looks purdy, but a couple seconds later, it turns back to ugly.

Here is the log output:
[00:01:37 demizer]$ gnome-settings-daemon --debug --no-daemon
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Successfully connected to D-Bus
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Starting settings manager
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Loading settings plugins from dir: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/sound.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Sound' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/sound.gnome-settings-plugin' location='sound'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/sound for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/a11y-keyboard.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Accessibility Keyboard' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/a11y-keyboard.gnome-settings-plugin' location='a11y-keyboard'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/a11y-keyboard for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/xrandr.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='XRandR' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/xrandr.gnome-settings-plugin' location='xrandr'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/xrandr for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/dummy.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:15568): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Dummy' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/dummy.gnome-settings-plugin' location='dummy'
...

Its only a suspicion from an old developer but gstreamer looks guilty here. My sound system is also failing to work which is preventing a lot of applications from running. I have a feeling that too has the same underlying problem in that the gstreamer update has introduced a bug with wide ranging effects.

If its only affecting a few systems there must be a lot more to it of course although I always worry about the silent majority who give up on the OS when they hit a problem like this and go back to Windows/Mac etc.

Let me know if I can run any other diagnostics to help pin it down - AFAIK I'm running a very standard 8.10 system except for the nvidia drivers needed for the hardware.

My symptom is slightly different in that upon booting the OS the theme and fonts remain, yet my desktop is gone. I cannot interface whatsoever with the desktop. If I go to System>Appearance I receive the error "unable to start the settings manager 'gnome-settings-daemon'.
This occurs with a frequency of about 1 out of 3 or 4 boots. I have followed similar threads and taken the following actions: 1)reinstalled dbus 2)completely removed libvisual-0.4-plugins with synaptic.

~$ gnome-settings-daemon --debug --no-daemon

** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Successfully connected to D-Bus
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Starting settings manager
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Loading settings plugins from dir: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/media-keys.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Media keys' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/media-keys.gnome-settings-plugin' location='media-keys'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/media-keys for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/housekeeping.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Housekeeping' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/housekeeping.gnome-settings-plugin' location='housekeeping'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/housekeeping for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/xsettings.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='X Settings' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/xsettings.gnome-settings-plugin' location='xsettings'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/xsettings for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/a11y-keyboard.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Accessibility Keyboard' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/a11y-keyboard.gnome-settings-plugin' location='a11y-keyboard'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/a11y-keyboard for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/typing-break.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Typing Break' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/typing-break.gnome-settings-plugin' location='typing-break'
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Monitoring dir /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/plugins/typing-break for changes
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: Loading plugin: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/background.gnome-settings-plugin
** (gnome-settings-daemon:7415): DEBUG: GnomeSettingsPluginInfo: name='Background' file='/usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-2.0/background.gnome-settings-plugin' location='backgr...

To add to my comment above, this is happening with greater frequency for me now. 4 boots in a row this morning with no desktop and no ability to interact with the desktop. At work, I need to boot to the 2.6.27-9 kernel to use my USB CDMA wireless modem as -11 breaks it and realized that this issue has never occurred when doing so and seems to be exclusive to -11. Just wondering if this is happening to others with a different kernel?

Same problem appeared after I installed gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3. Uninstallation of this package solved the issue.
Interpid 32-bit.

I don't have gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 installed but got the problem through routine updates.

I do have
gstreamer0.10.ffmpeg,
gstreamer0.10.schroedinger,
gstreamer0.10-tools,
gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio,
gstreamer0.10-alsa... installed

If a full list would be handy, let me know how to produce it - synaptic search on gstreamer yields a very long list including pidgin (no longer working) and totem (no longer working).

the bug is confusing now and some issues have been fixed since, close it now, those who still have issues in jaunty should open new bugs about those

I have exactly this bug on Intrepid:
"mannheim wrote on 2009-03-02: (permalink)

I have what may be the same problem. I do not have libvisual-0.4-plugins installed, so this is not bug 287448.

The symptoms are that, on login, the theme is wrong (an old-style default gnome look to controls and icon-set). I go to Preferences-->Appearance and get the message described in the bug title. Returning to the Appearance control panel a second time usually fixes the problem.

I can usually trigger this bug by logging out and then logging in again as quickly as possible. (...) "

However I suppose I might have an non-standard installation with an Intrepid install where UNR has been manually added, so I first thought it was due to UNR but now I'm not sure after finding this bug... I read somewhere that it could be risky to upgrade to Jaunty with UNR so it would be nice to get this working :) It's on a SD card in EeePC 901.