Blank, 'empty' System Apps, after removing unnecessary VB repo

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Hi All,
I’ve just remove an unwanted repo, with help from this forum, and after I rebooted, all the Fedora Workstation 42, (Gnome 48.2.) system apps come up as just a blank screen:
System Monitor, File Manager, Terminal, Software, Text Editor, Settings.

All my own Flathub downloaded software, Floorp, Logseq, Darktable etc, they all open and function as normal. The Extension Manager opens as normal.

The original problem was, which was resolved, I was getting a missing GPG message in the terminal. I had installed VirtualBox from rpmfusion, but earlier I had installed VB from it’s own website. I won’t repeat all the details, but I removed the VB repo and the GPG message was cleared. Here is the thread:

VirtualBox installed but missing GPG signature - Fedora Discussion

But then, after I rebooted, the above mentioned system apps are all blank (similar to this screenshot). Here is a screenshot of the Text Editor:

image
image1068×742 1.58 KB

Note: the terminal still functions, even though it is blank. For example I typed in sudo reboot, added the password (all ‘blindly’), Enter, and it reboots. Even though I’m only seeing a completely blank Terminal screen.

I have run DNF system update, and in GRUB gone back to an earlier option (newbie here, I think that’s what it is, press Shift on boot), but nothing changed.

As my regular browser is working, I have downloaded from flathub, Console (terminal) and Dolphin (file manager) and they function as expected.

Any and all suggstions gratefully received :smiley:

Edit: forgot to say, I ran dnf repolist, and using the keyboard shortcuts, select all, copy, copied into OnlyOffice, and the complete repo list is there, even though the Terminal is completely blank.

Thank you.

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This sounds like the bug in mesa 25.0.7 which is affecting many GNOME users. See: Certain apps not showing correctly after last update

It’s unlikely that removing the VB repo played any direct part in this. I’m guessing that after fixing the missing GPG message, you did a “successful” sudo dnf upgrade that put the cursed mesa 25.0.7 onto your system.

To work around the issue for now, you can either downgrade mesa or set an environment variable.

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Hi PG, many thanks for the heads-up pointing me to this problem. That is exactly what the problem was!

From your linked thread, I did the sudo dnf downgrade 'mesa*' --refresh command (post 14) and the problem was gone :smiley:

https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/certain-apps-not-showing-correctly-after-last-update/

What a crazy coincidence Ha Ha! :melting_face:

Just ran sudo dnf update and of course it lists the mesa components.

I take it I should leave updating for a while?

Just ran sudo dnf update as a test, and of course it wants to reinstall the’mesa’ components.


Repositories loaded.
Package                             Arch       Version                              Repository              Size
Upgrading:
 mesa-dri-drivers                   x86_64     25.0.7-1.fc42                        updates            164.5 MiB
   replacing mesa-dri-drivers       x86_64     25.0.2-3.fc42                        fedora             164.3 MiB
 mesa-filesystem                    x86_64     25.0.7-1.fc42                        updates              3.6 KiB
   replacing mesa-filesystem        x86_64     25.0.2-3.fc42                        fedora               3.6 KiB
 mesa-libEGL                        x86_64     25.0.7-1.fc42                        updates            335.2 KiB
   replacing mesa-libEGL            x86_64     25.0.2-3.fc42                        fedora             331.2 KiB
 mesa-libGL                         x86_64     25.0.7-1.fc42                        updates            420.1 KiB
   replacing mesa-libGL             x86_64     25.0.2-3.fc42                        fedora             420.1 KiB
 mesa-libgbm                        x86_64     25.0.7-1.fc42                        updates             19.7 KiB
   replacing mesa-libgbm            x86_64     25.0.2-3.fc42                        fedora              19.7 KiB
 mesa-va-drivers                    x86_64     25.0.7-1.fc42                        updates             92.0   B
   replacing mesa-va-drivers        x86_64     25.0.2-3.fc42                        fedora              92.0   B
 mesa-vulkan-drivers                x86_64     25.0.7-1.fc42                        updates            114.8 MiB
   replacing mesa-vulkan-drivers    x86_64     25.0.2-3.fc42                        fedora             114.4 MiB

Transaction Summary:
 Upgrading:          7 packages
 Replacing:          7 packages

However running this command (from post 27) solves that issue

sudo dnf upgrade --exclude="mesa-*"

Thanks so much @pg-tips :mechanical_arm:

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