Lost ability to run chromium and firefox

A few days ago I upgraded my Dell XPS 15 7590 to 24.04.2 LTS. The upgrade made the screen black, but by dropping into a terminal and using my cell phone I was able to get the upgrade completed. It worked a couple days and then I “cleaned up” some things. In that process I lost the ability to use my external monitor, and also the ability to browse using chromium or firefox. Most other things work, but these two apps are the topic of this thread. Although I’m a long time uBuntu user I confess little knowledge of snaps. So here is what I’m seeing.

=======================start of capture==========
mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~/Downloads$ uname -a
Linux TreeClimberLap 6.8.0-62-generic #65-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon May 19 17:15:03 UTC 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~/Downloads$ chromium
Content snap command-chain for /snap/chromium/3179/gnome-platform/command-chain/desktop-launch not found: ensure slot is connected
mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~/Downloads$ snap info chromium
name:      chromium
summary:   Chromium web browser, open-source version of Chrome
publisher: Canonical✓
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/chromium
contact:   https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bugs?field.tag=snap
license:   unset
description: |
  An open-source browser project that aims to build a safer, faster, and more
  stable way for all Internet users to experience the web.
commands:
  - chromium.chromedriver
  - chromium
services:
  chromium.daemon: simple, disabled, inactive
snap-id:      XKEcBqPM06H1Z7zGOdG5fbICuf8NWK5R
tracking:     latest/stable
refresh-date: today at 15:46 EDT
channels:
  latest/stable:    137.0.7151.119 2025-06-23 (3179) 191MB -
  latest/candidate: 137.0.7151.119 2025-06-20 (3179) 191MB -
  latest/beta:      138.0.7204.35  2025-06-20 (3180) 192MB -
  latest/edge:      139.0.7232.3   2025-06-13 (3174) 186MB -
installed:          137.0.7151.119            (3179) 191MB -
mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~/Downloads$ ls -l /snap/chromium/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 165 Jun 11 15:31 3169
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 165 Jun 20 15:15 3179
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   4 Jun 23 15:46 current -> 3179
mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~/Downloads$ snap connections chromium
Interface                 Plug                                      Slot                            Notes
audio-playback            chromium:audio-playback                   :audio-playback                 -
audio-record              chromium:audio-record                     :audio-record                   -
bluez                     chromium:bluez                            :bluez                          -
browser-support           chromium:browser-sandbox                  :browser-support                -
camera                    chromium:camera                           :camera                         -
content[gnome-42-2204]    chromium:gnome-42-2204                    gnome-42-2204:gnome-42-2204     -
content[gtk-3-themes]     chromium:gtk-3-themes                     gtk-common-themes:gtk-3-themes  -
content[icon-themes]      chromium:icon-themes                      gtk-common-themes:icon-themes   -
content                   chromium:install-cups-runtime-dependency  -                               -
content[sound-themes]     chromium:sound-themes                     gtk-common-themes:sound-themes  -
cups                      chromium:cups                             cups:cups                       -
desktop                   chromium:desktop                          :desktop                        -
desktop-legacy            chromium:desktop-legacy                   :desktop-legacy                 -
gsettings                 chromium:gsettings                        :gsettings                      -
hardware-observe          chromium:hardware-observe                 :hardware-observe               -
hidraw                    chromium:hidraw                           -                               -
home                      chromium:home                             :home                           -
joystick                  chromium:joystick                         :joystick                       -
mount-observe             chromium:mount-observe                    -                               -
mpris                     -                                         chromium:mpris                  -
network                   chromium:network                          :network                        -
network-bind              chromium:network-bind                     :network-bind                   -
network-manager           chromium:network-manager                  -                               -
opengl                    chromium:opengl                           :opengl                         -
password-manager-service  chromium:password-manager-service         :password-manager-service       manual
pcscd                     chromium:pcscd                            -                               -
personal-files            chromium:chromium-config                  :personal-files                 -
personal-files            chromium:dot-local-share-applications     :personal-files                 -
personal-files            chromium:dot-local-share-icons            :personal-files                 -
pulseaudio                chromium:pulseaudio                       -                               -
raw-usb                   chromium:raw-usb                          -                               -
removable-media           chromium:removable-media                  :removable-media                -
screen-inhibit-control    chromium:screen-inhibit-control           :screen-inhibit-control         -
serial-port               chromium:serial-port                      -                               -
system-files              chromium:etc-chromium-browser-policies    :system-files                   -
system-packages-doc       chromium:system-packages-doc              :system-packages-doc            -
u2f-devices               chromium:u2f-devices                      :u2f-devices                    -
unity7                    chromium:unity7                           :unity7                         -
upower-observe            chromium:upower-observe                   :upower-observe                 -
wayland                   chromium:wayland                          :wayland                        -
x11                       chromium:x11                              :x11                            -
mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~/Downloads$ sudo ls -l /var/lib/snapd/snapshots/
total 4
-rw------- 1 root root 837 Jun 22 16:50 7_gnome-42-2204_0+git.38ea591_202.zip
mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~/Downloads$ echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
x11
======================================end of capture============

So did I lose all of my desktop-launch snap slots? I just don’t understand what is going on here even though I did read the intro in this forum. I’ve tried sudo apt install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop^ and that did not change anything. Is the loss of my external monitor perhaps influencing this? I uninstalled gnome-42 and that apparently caused the save shown above. How can I try undoing that? I didn’t save it explicitly.

Sorry if I’m overlooking a more helpful venue for this, but I’ve searched around and haven’t found anything helpful. Others said this is the place to get help.

Marvin

Hi, Most snap debugging measures assume that the base system is working.

If the base system is in a faulty state, it is difficult to find out what went wrong.

Based on your description, I personally recommend that you back up all user data and then reinstall the operating system, which may be simpler.

Snap has a simple backup and recovery mechanism, see https://snapcraft.io/docs/snapshots

gnome-42 is automatically installed by snap when some snap apps required the gnome extensions.

The snapshot is automatically generated by snap whenever the snap app is uninstalled. If you want to reinstall it, you can do so via

sudo snap install gnome-42-2204

this log seems to have been cut short, can you paste the whole output?

Can you run snap connections chromium, is the gnome platform/runtime plug shown as disconnected?

Thanks for asking. Wonder why that was truncated?

mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~/Downloads$ chromium Content snap command-chain for /snap/chromium/3179/gnome-platform/command-chain/desktop-launch not found: ensure slot is connected

However, this morning it is working. See my reply to aoyama. I’m still unclear what this even means.

And now here is the other requested output but I don’t understand the question to answer it.

mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~$ snap connections chromium
Interface                 Plug                                      Slot                            Notes
audio-playback            chromium:audio-playback                   :audio-playback                 -
audio-record              chromium:audio-record                     :audio-record                   -
bluez                     chromium:bluez                            :bluez                          -
browser-support           chromium:browser-sandbox                  :browser-support                -
camera                    chromium:camera                           :camera                         -
content[gnome-42-2204]    chromium:gnome-42-2204                    gnome-42-2204:gnome-42-2204     -
content[gtk-3-themes]     chromium:gtk-3-themes                     gtk-common-themes:gtk-3-themes  -
content[icon-themes]      chromium:icon-themes                      gtk-common-themes:icon-themes   -
content                   chromium:install-cups-runtime-dependency  -                               -
content[sound-themes]     chromium:sound-themes                     gtk-common-themes:sound-themes  -
cups                      chromium:cups                             cups:cups                       -
desktop                   chromium:desktop                          :desktop                        -
desktop-legacy            chromium:desktop-legacy                   :desktop-legacy                 -
gsettings                 chromium:gsettings                        :gsettings                      -
hardware-observe          chromium:hardware-observe                 :hardware-observe               -
hidraw                    chromium:hidraw                           -                               -
home                      chromium:home                             :home                           -
joystick                  chromium:joystick                         :joystick                       -
mount-observe             chromium:mount-observe                    -                               -
mpris                     -                                         chromium:mpris                  -
network                   chromium:network                          :network                        -
network-bind              chromium:network-bind                     :network-bind                   -
network-manager           chromium:network-manager                  -                               -
opengl                    chromium:opengl                           :opengl                         -
password-manager-service  chromium:password-manager-service         :password-manager-service       manual
pcscd                     chromium:pcscd                            -                               -
personal-files            chromium:chromium-config                  :personal-files                 -
personal-files            chromium:dot-local-share-applications     :personal-files                 -
personal-files            chromium:dot-local-share-icons            :personal-files                 -
pulseaudio                chromium:pulseaudio                       -                               -
raw-usb                   chromium:raw-usb                          -                               -
removable-media           chromium:removable-media                  :removable-media                -
screen-inhibit-control    chromium:screen-inhibit-control           :screen-inhibit-control         -
serial-port               chromium:serial-port                      -                               -
system-files              chromium:etc-chromium-browser-policies    :system-files                   -
system-packages-doc       chromium:system-packages-doc              :system-packages-doc            -
u2f-devices               chromium:u2f-devices                      :u2f-devices                    -
unity7                    chromium:unity7                           :unity7                         -
upower-observe            chromium:upower-observe                   :upower-observe                 -
wayland                   chromium:wayland                          :wayland                        -
x11                       chromium:x11                              :x11                            -

The base system seems stable except for what I messed up. So I tried executing the snap install that you gave me (thank you). It provided this response:

mbudd@TreeClimberLap:~$ sudo snap install gnome-42-2204 [sudo] password for mbudd: snap “gnome-42-2204” is already installed, see ‘snap help refresh’

But now Chromium and Firefox work just fine! So I’m still mystified how this caused a problem that has very oblique error messages. And I’m very thankful for the resolution. At least having a working browser will allow me to further my learning about snap.

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