Five Little squares That Appear On My Screen

DeanSum

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I have 19.10. When I launch the program I get 5 little squares in the middle of my screen that have dots that appear one after the other and keeps repeating. This happened before and I reloaded the program a couple of times and it went away. But now it is back.

Thanks
 


Your post is a little vague.
When you launch which program?

Also, 19.10 is the version of the distro you are using - but exactly which Linux distro are you using? From the version number, I'm assuming it's something from the Ubuntu family of distros. But are you using Ubuntu? Kubuntu? Xubuntu? Lubuntu? Or something else?
 
Sounds like one of those activity or 'something loading' animations. Kinda like the 'spining wheel' or hour-glass thingys.
 
Thanks for the reply.
I'm not sure which distro I have. I don't know how to tell. When I installed linux I just made a bootable flash drive and installed it.
 
Linux xxxxx-EX58-UD3R 5.3.0-24-generic #26-Ubuntu SMP Thu Nov 14 01:33:18 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Is that it?
 
Maybe this:

NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="19.10 (Eoan Ermine)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 19.10"
VERSION_ID="19.10"
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=eoan
UBUNTU_CODENAME=eoan
 
I guess I will just uninstall what I have and try reinstalling it since I have no idea what else to do.
 
I guess I will just uninstall what I have and try reinstalling it since I have no idea what else to do.

G'day Dean and welcome :)

Is this problem actually impeding the performance of Ubuntu? Are you able to get logged in and use the Distro from the desktop, or is it stopping you from getting that far?

See if you can tell us a little more, or else tell us how you fare after a reinstall.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
Well, this is embarrassing. Each of the last ten times I have booted up the computer the squares appeared. This time they are gone. I have no idea why. I didn't do anything different. I guess I need to find a tutorial on how to open a file and get it to run.
 
Well, this is embarrassing.

No need, Dean - you have come to a haven where everybody here has, sometime or another, been through what you are going through :)

Mate I am going to carve off most of your last paragraph from 2 Posts up and start you a fresh Thread, likely called

Help Installing Programs in Ubuntu 19.10 GNOME

so keep your eyes peeled. I will get to it as soon as I can.

I'll also come back here with a little further info.

Cheers

Wizard
 
Mate I am going to carve off most of your last paragraph from 2 Posts up and start you a fresh Thread, likely called

Help Installing Programs in Ubuntu 19.10 GNOME

My Bad - I lost a couple of lines during the transition.

Dean you were saying you did not know what a Gnome is.

Every Distribution (Distro) has one of a number of Desktop Environments (DEs) installed on it, which you see after login has completed and you are able to use the computer.

This article is a few years old, but still pretty relevant.

https://renewablepcs.wordpress.com/about-linux/kde-gnome-or-xfce/

You can check that you have GNOME either from the Desktop Environment or from Terminal, as per this article

http://tipsonubuntu.com/2019/05/30/check-gnome-version-ubuntu-18-04-higher/

If you don't have GNOME, then you will have one of
  • Ubuntu MATE
  • Ubuntu Budgie or
  • Ubuntu Kylin
The last one, unlikely, it is focussed on Chinese :)

Let us know what you find.

Cheers

Wizard
 
Thank you! I will read the info. No squares yet. I hope you are not in the fire danger.
 
Well, this is embarrassing. Each of the last ten times I have booted up the computer the squares appeared. This time they are gone. I have no idea why. I didn't do anything different. I guess I need to find a tutorial on how to open a file and get it to run.
I forgot to ask if this is during the boot process or after. :\
 
I failed to mention, Dean, that that new Thread is at

https://www.linux.org/threads/help-installing-programs-in-ubuntu-19-10-gnome.26754/

On the fires, we are safe currently and thank you for asking, but tens of thousands are in jeopardy.

At one point in New South Wales, we have a navy ship that is preparing to evacuate people but there are 30,000 plus at risk just in that area.

Tragic, but a part of nature and the Australian landscape and history.

Cheers

Wizard
 
Well Vrai, it is during the boot process. The last 5 or 6 times booting up, no squares. This morning squares again. Wizardfromoz I will check out the posts for sure. Thanks!
 
Well Vrai, it is during the boot process. The last 5 or 6 times booting up, no squares. This morning squares again. Wizardfromoz I will check out the posts for sure. Thanks!
Ah! Thanks for the clarification. In that case my guess would be that something is "hanging" during boot. I know that sounds a little vague but there are a number of things which can cause the boot process to hang and/or keep trying to start a process.

Have you tried letting it keep running to see if it will eventually finish the boot process?
Also, I usually set my Linux Mint machines to show the boot messages while it is booting.
Here are a couple links to posts on how to do that:
 
If you mean the "software update" app. Yes, several times. If updating the "System" means something else then I don't know.
 

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