I am getting this on my screen

[wolftone57]

Hi All,

I get this symbol on my screen and it is affecting my playback of videos. Can anyone tell me how to get rid of this and fix the problem? The problem is the little black circle with the white circle with the sash inside. This I normally see as an on/off switch but it just keeps flashing and the video player or stream keeps going on and off. Is there any way I can fix this? Thank you all.

Tony

 

[Fae3iSUx]

check your keyboard, I think something is pressing down function key dedicated to sound mute? or brightness? or external monitor configuration? Media pause? Or something like that.
You could write a script to detect what is being pressed by the keyboard, but I cannot help you with that because you have not given any operating system details.

 

[Condobloke]

G'day wolftone, Welcome to Linux.org

Is this a laptop? brand? which Linux? version?

If a laptop does it have a touchpad?

Some detail please.

 

[deb_user]

The screenshot appears to be using Chromium browser in Ubuntu. Beyond that, no idea. I haven't seen anything like that, but I don't run Ubuntu.

 

[osprey]

Hi All,

I get this symbol on my screen and it is affecting my playback of videos. Can anyone tell me how to get rid of this and fix the problem? The problem is the little black circle with the white circle with the sash inside. This I normally see as an on/off switch but it just keeps flashing and the video player or stream keeps going on and off. Is there any way I can fix this? Thank you all.

Tony

That circle with a slanted line through it is a symbol meaning "cancel" or "stop". It can be used placed over the top another symbol like a speaker to show that the speaker is muted, or "stopped" from working. In this case you could look at what's running, perhaps an app like your video, and why it might be being stopped, rather than closed off. When apps or facilities aren't in use, that is, closed, this sort of symbol would not normally appear in relation to them. If it's the video, try closing it down and see if that makes a difference.

 

[wolftone57]

check your keyboard, I think something is pressing down function key dedicated to sound mute? or brightness? or external monitor configuration? Media pause? Or something like that.
You could write a script to detect what is being pressed by the keyboard, but I cannot help you with that because you have not given any operating system details.

It is a Lenovo IdeaPad 320

 

[wolftone57]

G'day wolftone, Welcome to Linux.org

Is this a laptop? brand? which Linux? version?

If a laptop does it have a touchpad?

Some detail please.

It is a Lenovo IdeaPad 320

 

[wolftone57]

The screenshot appears to be using Chromium browser in Ubuntu. Beyond that, no idea. I haven't seen anything like that, but I don't run Ubuntu.

Ok thank you

That circle with a slanted line through it is a symbol meaning "cancel" or "stop". It can be used placed over the top another symbol like a speaker to show that the speaker is muted, or "stopped" from working. In this case you could look at what's running, perhaps an app like your video, and why it might be being stopped, rather than closed off. When apps or facilities aren't in use, that is, closed, this sort of symbol would not normally appear in relation to them. If it's the video, try closing it down and see if that makes a difference.

It doesn't make any difference. The symbol appears as soon as the password opens the computer

 

[wolftone57]

G'day wolftone, Welcome to Linux.org

Is this a laptop? brand? which Linux? version?

If a laptop does it have a touchpad?

Some detail please.

Lenovo IdeaPad 320 with Ubuntu

 

[osprey]

Ok thank you

It doesn't make any difference. The symbol appears as soon as the password opens the computer

If the symbol appears as soon as you are getting to GUI, then perhaps there is some app that is also started with that GUI which is producing the symbol.

It's possible to check all processes that are running with a command like: ps aux in the terminal, perhaps redirect the output to a file so that it's easy to inspect, for example: ps aux > ps-output.txt and then look through the file for possible candidates.

Another check could be on which apps are automatically started when the Desktop Environment comes up since it may be one of those autostarted apps producing the icon. Autostarted apps may be listed in the directory:
/home/$USER/.config/autostart, or they may be listed elsewhere depending on how the DE is configured. I can't say with ubuntu.

For any app that appears to be a candidate, one can stop the app from starting up and then check if the symbol appears. It's doubtless a laborious process, but being meticulous might get a result.

 

[Fae3iSUx]

Create a new user account in Ubuntu Users applet and log into it. See if problem repeats there.

 

[KGIII]

I didn't respond yesterday, for a couple of reasons. Mostly, I only have a 'stab in the dark' and that only works on X11 systems. Plus, I figured someone would have an answer for you.

Well, I have two stabs. That reminds me of a failed-to-load onscreen keyboard.

Otherwise, if you're running X11, run this command:

xprop WM_CLASS

Now, mouse over the weird thing you're seeing on the screen and click on it.

This may work.

 

[osprey]

I didn't respond yesterday, for a couple of reasons. Mostly, I only have a 'stab in the dark' and that only works on X11 systems. Plus, I figured someone would have an answer for you.

Well, I have two stabs. That reminds me of a failed-to-load onscreen keyboard.

Otherwise, if you're running X11, run this command:

xprop WM_CLASS

Now, mouse over the weird thing you're seeing on the screen and click on it.

This may work.

Thanks for that X11 reminder! After so many years configuring and manipulating X, so much accumulated knowledge becoming obsolete is like neutralising or excising part of the brain. Now, being on wayland, it's a new learning curve. Thus, if the OP is on wayland, then the corresponding app to xprop or xwininfo, is a shell script wlprop.sh which is available here: https://gist.github.com/braun-steven/21887de9ba1d5ad70e4198e39d9935cc. I couldn't find it in distro repos, but one can install it into the PATH somewhere, change its permissions to executable, and it runs. It's not a complete clone of xprop and it may work only on compositors that use wlroots, but it works well enough here on the sway compositor.

 

[KGIII]

so much accumulated knowledge becoming obsolete is like neutralising or excising part of the brain.

I expect there will be some niche distros that support X11 well into the future. So, there's that.

Now, being on wayland, it's a new learning curve.

Generally speaking (a phrase chosen with more care than one might imagine), I don't view that as a problem.

At this point, I've been through many technological changes, many times without being able to bring forward much of what I once knew.

I'm old, but not a curmudgeon. I'm also pretty much the furthest thing from a zealot that you'll ever encounter. (One might say that my disdain for zealots is pure zealotry!) So, I don't mind changing and adapting with the times. But, I think there should be good reasons for me to adopt those changes.

After all, when was the last time we wrote serious applications with BASIC?

is a shell script wlprop.sh

That's good information. I'll have to spend time with Wayland. I don't have nearly enough experience with it to be a valuable source for Wayland information. That's my own doing, my own laziness. It's not a fear of adoption. Plus, well, I know why those commands don't work with Wayland, and I can respect that decision by the creators of the Wayland protocol.

After all, keeping a window's contents separate is just good security.

I'm pretty sure there's a way to use X11 applications while using Wayland. I'm too s/lazy/busy/g to dig into it at the moment.

That's one of those things... It could be a 30-second search result, or it could be a 30-minute dive deep into the bowels of the internet. I suppose it's a bit of a paradox. If you've never done it before, you have no idea how much of a time commitment it's going to be!