Problem Description:
I am using Ubuntu on my computer for 5.5 years and only since yesterday I have serious troubles with it. The problem is that I can’t open:
- folders (I tried from the desktop, from the side bar, from the Terminal and it all fails),
- some apps (e.g. I have 2 games installed on the computer: Mines and Solitaire, and while the first one opens normally, the second one just doesn’t open, despite the fact that recently I’ve been using them both), luckily the Terminal and Firefox still work, but even in the latter, when I try to e.g. “Save Image As…” or “Save Page As…”, nothing happens as these commands simply don’t work,
- settings panel from the top-right corner of my upper bar (so that in order to even check which OS version do I have, I needed to use the Terminal).
Since a couple of minutes ago, I can’t even see any folders nor files on my Desktop. They suddenly disappeared, I don’t know even when, but it was perhaps after I tried to restart the system once again.
Ubuntu Version:
24.04.3 LTS with regular updating through Software Updater
Desktop Environment (if applicable):
I don’t even know that nor how to check that.
Relevant System Information:
I am using 5.5-year Lenovo Legion laptop. If it helps, a couple of weeks ago, after some Firefox update, while using (and I use a lot of opened tabs) it started to crash very often, which also entails closing all of my opened apps and restarting the operation system altogether. Also, I’ve been using GRAMPS app yesterday, with the usual errors. This is a genealogical app which works on huge databases and needs some computing power to calculate tasks. After it crushed, I got some error message, I however seen this type of an error in the distant past many times and it hadn’t impacted my computer in any way:
Screenshots or Error Messages:
E.g. after I click on the “Files” icon on my side bar in order to open folders of my computer, the mouse arrow cursor shows working sign (the three arrows are rotating in a small circle), but after a couple of seconds the cursor returns to normal while nothing had been opened. I also sometimes get this visual warning after a couple of seconds:
What I’ve Tried:
Google suggested that I should restart Nautilus, which I did and it changed nothing. Then, it also advised to remove it altogether and reinstall it, which I exactly did and, again, nothing changed at all.
I feel helpless, so please give me some help! I can’t even proceed with brute force and reinstalling Ubuntu, as I am unable to open any folder to back up into a portable disk any of my files which I store on my computer’s hard disk.
, as I would just consider reinstalling Ubuntu and check whether it would fix my problem. I also tried to do backups of some of my crucial files through Gmail/Google Drive/Google Photos/Microsoft email, but all of these doesn’t allow me to upload or attach any files from my computer’s hard disk, which is perhaps because it requires to open a small window through which you can normally open the folder of your interest and upload the files of your choice, however this small window doesn’t open. Just like I’ve written in my original post: “Firefox still work[s], but […] when I try to e.g. “Save Image As…” or “Save Page As…”, nothing happens as these commands simply don’t work”. And saving images of pages also requires opening this small window to browser folder structure of the disk. I guess that there exists some underlying, common (shared) problem that causes inability to open BOTH saving and uploading files through my browser.