64

I've upgraded to 13.10 and now I don't have the standard menu clock, which I need for work.

I checked and 'indicator-datetime' is installed. I even uninstalled/reinstalled that applet with no luck.

Also my "clock" settings under System Preferences are all disabled. I can't change anything.

Does anyone know how I can get the old menu clock back?

Alternatively is there another menu clock app I can download?

Edit 1

Thanks for the responses

  1. I've restarted several times and that didn't fix the issue.

  2. I just ran the 13.10 update today. But I ran it again a few minutes ago. I got about 200KB in random updates. The issue is still present after a reboot.

  3. # apt-cache policy indicator-datetime indicator-datetime: Installed: 13.10.0+13.10.20131016.2-0ubuntu1 Candidate: 13.10.0+13.10.20131016.2-0ubuntu1 Version table: *** 13.10.0+13.10.20131016.2-0ubuntu1 0 500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Edit 2

I believe the issue is related to 'rarings' changing the systray somehow... http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/02/raring-retires-system-tray-whitelist

Or systray disappeared, although I haven't got that solution to work yet.

Edit 3

Because of a suggestion from RolandiXor I've check the binaries. My system is missing 'libical.so.0' but it has 'libical.so.1'.

ldd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime-service
libical.so.0 => not found

Does anyone know how to get the libical.so.0 binary that the datetime service needs but doesn't install?

6
  • 1
    Are you sure you are up to date? Check the updater please. This bug should have been fixed already.
    – Seth
    Oct 18, 2013 at 2:34
  • Can you add the output of apt-cache policy indicator-datetime?
    – Braiam
    Oct 18, 2013 at 2:36
  • I have this same issue. I've found that doing a purge of indicator-datetime, reinstalling, and logging out will bring back the clock and all settings. However after one or two reboots the problem returns.
    – user207216
    Oct 24, 2013 at 18:39
  • 1
    Have you run indicator-datetime manually? (You can find its location on your system by running locate indicator-datetime).
    – RolandiXor
    Oct 31, 2013 at 15:58
  • 1
    Just had the same issue with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. Had to use killall unity-panel-service Jun 12, 2014 at 10:56

4 Answers 4

122

There's a bug report for that in Launchpad.

Quick fix:
Open terminal (ctrl + alt + T) and type

killall unity-panel-service
6
  • 1
    Thanks, but I've restarted the computer many times. It's not a process restart issue.
    – kervin
    Oct 18, 2013 at 19:14
  • 2
    Or you can just press "Alt+F2" and type the same and it will work.
    – Dustin
    Oct 25, 2013 at 3:01
  • 1
    Marking as answer as it's probably what most readers will need. But for me it was a library loading path problem due to the fact that the datetime service seems to load from /usr/local before /usr for some reason.
    – kervin
    Nov 5, 2013 at 17:43
  • This worked for me Jan 29, 2014 at 0:24
  • 1
    Use 'restart unity-panel-service', there is no need for reboot.
    – Kuchi
    Jul 2, 2014 at 7:35
4

I had the same problem. I performed a reboot and my clock is back.

2
  • Thanks, but I've restarted the computer many times. It's not a process restart issue.
    – kervin
    Oct 26, 2013 at 21:04
  • killall unity-panel-service this worked like a charm for me ,no need for repoot :D Apr 14, 2015 at 8:44
1

Found the issue. I built a few libraries from source earlier in /usr/local/lib . indicator-datetime-service found those libraries before the system libraries in /usr/lib for some reason. It shouldn't have done that.

One of those libraries pulled in the old libical.so.0 dependency which was no longer available. When I deleted all the GNOME/Evolution related libraries in /usr/local/lib I could start indicator-datetime-service again and my clock shown up.

So also try...

ldd --verbose /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime-service

And look for any "not found" messages in the output. If you have a library dependency issue it will most likely show up in that output.

3
  • while that might have solved your specific issue, i tried that procedure and got no "not found"'s. is that because i ran that AFTER "fixing" the issue with the accepted answer?
    – tony gil
    Sep 26, 2014 at 17:19
  • @kervin: Running this check on my Desktop 14.0.2 LTS (x86_64 with kernel v 3.16.0-41-generic) had the same results as that reported in the above comment. And I have not fixed anything yet, contrary to him. Would you care to elaborate on how to proceed on the "missing library" or PATH front ? I am stuck. Tx.
    – Cbhihe
    Jun 23, 2015 at 9:46
  • @kervin: File was no found because (perhaps in newer versions of the kernel) the path for that file is: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service ......... I don't know what is going on here. Any hint or help so I can further try to solve this hih¡ghly appreciated.. I am stuck. Tx.
    – Cbhihe
    Jun 23, 2015 at 10:00
0

I had the same problem, (no clock displayed and settings disabled) I had to select the default server for update in System Preferences. Reboot, and the clock was back.

1
  • It was likely just the reboot that fixed your issue.
    – CatDadCode
    Oct 18, 2014 at 18:20

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .