which applets are you using, i have no problems with 64 bit arch and applets

look in ~/.xsession-errors maybe you spot something

They all sporadicly fail, and every so often it just works flawlessly (clock, task list, notification). I don't see an .xsession-errors file in the home directory (at the moment can only check 1 computer). Where else can I look for some more feedback? I don't see anything out of the norm in the output when I quit Gnome to console. Maybe I'm seeing this more since I switch from X to console, back to X more often?

I think it is tied to dbus; xorg on quit on another machine complains about dbus and not finding the "interface".

Hi Jeremy,
I have similar behavior in my computer. Even the gnome clock hangs!!!!!.This behavior appears in a freshly new installation of arch x86_64. I have repeated it twice and I obtain the same result. My computer have a Nvidia GTX 580 and I have installed the proprietary driver. Well in my case there is not only problem with the applets but with the whole gnome theme. Please check the following: Are you able to change the appearance of your desktop when Metacity is the window manager (System->Preference->appearance). I am not, also In my case I have the default gnome icons everywhere and no chance to change them by choosing different themes either. Also if looks ugly the whole gnome: fonts, bars... .

In my case I've been able to trace the source of the problem to "gdm" (The gnome dysplay manager). Could you please try to access your gnome desktop through the "startx" command instead of "gdm". For me everything is solved when I do that, what about you?. Of course this is a pain in the ass and should be fixed and I'm not claiming is a solution. However, at least for me it shows clearly that the problem is in "gdm" itself or in "gnome/gdm" interaction.

In my case I found the following errors in “.xsession-errors”:

/etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
/etc/gdm/Xsession: Setup done, will execute: /usr/bin/ssh-agent -- gnome-session
(gnome-session:2502): atk-bridge-WARNING **: AT_SPI_REGISTRY was not started at session startup.
(gnome-session:2502): atk-bridge-WARNING **: IOR not set.
(gnome-session:2502): atk-bridge-WARNING **: Could not locate registry
GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL=/tmp/keyring-ccG9lR
GPG_AGENT_INFO=/tmp/keyring-ccG9lR/gpg:0:1
(gnome-settings-daemon:2533): atk-bridge-WARNING **: AT_SPI_REGISTRY was not started at session startup.
(gnome-settings-daemon:2533): atk-bridge-WARNING **: IOR not set.
(gnome-settings-daemon:2533): atk-bridge-WARNING **: Could not locate registry
GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL=/tmp/keyring-ccG9lR
GPG_AGENT_INFO=/tmp/keyring-ccG9lR/gpg:0:1
GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL=/tmp/keyring-ccG9lR
GPG_AGENT_INFO=/tmp/keyring-ccG9lR/gpg:0:1
GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL=/tmp/keyring-ccG9lR
GPG_AGENT_INFO=/tmp/keyring-ccG9lR/gpg:0:1
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/keyring-ccG9lR/ssh
** (gnome-settings-daemon:2533): WARNING **: You can only run one xsettings manager at a time; exiting
** (gnome-settings-daemon:2533): WARNING **: Unable to start xsettings manager: Could not initialize xsettings manager.
(metacity:2540): atk-bridge-WARNING **: AT_SPI_REGISTRY was not started at session startup.
(metacity:2540): atk-bridge-WARNING **: IOR not set.
(metacity:2540): atk-bridge-WARNING **: Could not locate registry
(gnome-settings-daemon:2533): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: g_object_notify: object class `GkbdStatus' has no property named `name'
(gnome-panel:2549): atk-bridge-WARNING **: AT_SPI_REGISTRY was not started at session startup.
(gnome-panel:2549): atk-bridge-WARNING **: IOR not set.
(gnome-panel:2549): atk-bridge-WARNING **: Could not locate registry
** Message: Initializing gksu extension...
Window manager warning: CurrentTime used to choose focus window; focus window may not be correct.
Window manager warning: Got a request to focus the no_focus_window with a timestamp of 0. This shouldn't happen!
(nautilus:2564): Eel-WARNING **: "nautilus-directory.c: directories" hash table still has 3 elements at quit time
gnome-settings-daemon: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :0.
polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :0.
gnome-screensaver: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :0.
gdu-notification-daemon: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :0.
evolution-alarm-notify: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :0.

I don't have gdm installed on any of the machines. On my desktop I use "startx" by itself. My laptop uses slim, otherwise my desktop and the other machines use startx from the console. The atk-bridge error messages shows up when I quit X (Gnome) and go back to the console (but I can't find this "xsession-errors" file on any of the machines).

Regarding themes, I can change them freely without any problems. The only problem I have is the applets on occasion.

Okay so definitely we have different problems. Maybe I should open a different bug form my problem.

I've been having this problem for quite a while now. Often, it's the netstatus applet that crashes on me: "The panel encountered a problem while loading 'OAFIID:GNOME_NetstatusApplet", but I've seen other applets crash too.

Also, there is no need to restart X. Just run `killall gnome-panel' from a terminal. gnome-panel should be automatically reloaded, and when it comes back, you'll have crashed applets (unless if you're really lucky).

Every time I log in, I have to spend several minutes killing gnome-panel until I win the lottery and all my applets start properly. It gets to be rather frustrating.

Your lotto analogy is great, I can very much so relate to that. Typically it is the load monitor applet for me (although on occasion the clock and tasks applet fail too). Thanks for reminding me of the "killall gnome-panel" method, should help at least save a little bit of time.

I have a feeling this is caused by a race condition in the panel/applet startup code. I suspect most people don't experience this problem because they only have a handful of applets.

Counting only the panel items with associated processes, I have 17 panel applets with 13 associated processes: clock, drive mount, eyes, link monitor, multiload, net status (x4), notification area, pomodoro, sticky notes, trash, weather, workrave, wnck (window list and workspace switcher).

Same random crashes here on 64bit. I only have a handful of applets, but it's clock and mixer that crash most of the time. Really frustrating.

With the move to Gnome 3 this bug report is obsolete. Candidate for closing.