I have had this problem for months, with 2 different n900. Although I have installed the backup from the old phone to the new one, so problem might be the same.

The problem is that all of the desktop shortcuts become unresponsive. I cannot use any of the shortcuts, but I can use the applications from the application list. It can occure daily or it might not show up for weeks. The usage of the phone is basically the same every day.

What could cause this to happen and where should I start to look for the problem?
I have numerous testing and devel software installed, so I quess some of them is to blame.

Thanks for the help in-advanced. I also tried to look from the forum, but couldn´t find any help.

This is a well documented issue actually. I'll post the bug somewhere here once i find it. I believe the solution I last saw was restarting hildon desktop. Happens to me alot, but I usually restart my N900 about once every 2 days, so its been happening less.

Also... check when the app manager gets its updates. Mine usually checks at night and causes the phone to hang sometimes.


Here it is! https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8723

Seeing you have already tried a lot, I can give you this advice. Although its not really a fix, more a workaround:

Have you installed DrLaunch, the alternative desktop shortcut launcher? (widget). If so, update or remove. If not, consider installing it. When you disable the rotation features, you can not see any difference from the original desktop shortcuts. Plus it has some other nice features you might like.

Hope that helps, cheers

Actually I had DrLaunch installed, but for some reason it dissappeared from the desktop. One day , poof and it was gone. Couldn´t get it to reappear, even after uninstalling it and installing it back.

Might be the source of the problem... hmm? Lets investigate

widget functions that are stuck causes desktop icons to be unresponsive. You can't, for example, click a desktop icon while comic-widget is loading a comic. I guess other widgets can cause similar problems.

Well I installed back the drlauncher and when I try to add it to the desktop, at first all the shortcuts and widget dissappear ( only link shortcuts stay visible) then the shortcuts come visible, but the widgets stay hidden.

Even after reboot the widgets stay hidden. I had to add manually everything ( almost 20 widgets) and if I try add the drlauncher, they are gone again. I want that sucker widget away, but seems that the uninstall doesn´t take everything. Help is needed.

try this in xterm:
E: and then reboot

Ok, I did this and rebooted.

After the reboot, all my widgets where gone, so I added them. Then tried to install the drlauch again, and my widgets dissappeared even without adding the drlauch to desktop. And no drlauch to be seen anywhere....

Ok so I will do the purge again and hope that solves my unresponsive problem

I am not sure about drlaunch. I have had this problem ever since I installed DCEW (with DCEW widgets in desktop). I have installed actman and created and backed up my profile. So whenever the desktop freezes, i just restore using a command. Restarting hildon-home/hildon-desktop at times made to disappear my widgets.

Seems a common issue for N900 users, the problem does seem to vary when it will occurs some times he can be a couple of days others a week or so.

Usually it is just as easy to do a reboot/power off as a hilon-desktop reset.