When I try to log into skype, the skype GUI completely disappears, immediately after logging in. So I'm unable to use it at all, unless someone knows how to use it without the GUI. If the login is unsuccessful, the GUI stays until I enter the correct information and then it just disappears. It's still running in the background according to ps. I'm using skype version1.2.0.18 with debian stable on an averatec 3360-EG1 laptop and window manager fvwm. Has anyone come across this issue before? I would appreciate any ideas. -- WHoo

Check the .Skype/shared.xml file. Sometimes it sets the <X> or <Y> value to a negative number which pushes the window off the screen. Try stopping skype, resetting these values to a point that would lie inside your screen (e.g. <X>100</X> and <Y>100</Y>) and then restart skype.

Not sure why it happens. It might be that it exited when one was in a virtual screen that placed skype at a negative offset and, as skype exited, it set the current X and Y to those values.

try openning skype using the console and paste the output messages...

xboxrulz

Thanks for your replies. I have recently got this problem to go away. I really don't know what the problem was, and it may well have had something to do with the window being off screen as kaitou mentions. I hadn't thought of that. In any case, what I did was replace my fvwm config file with something completely different. When I did that the problem went away. It turns out that nothing was disappearing since the window I thought was disappearing never actually appeared in the first place (although its process was running). The login window would disappear as it normally should but the window that's supposed to stay there after logging in never was displayed in the first place. Anyway, fvwm has a million and a half options for how to control/display windows so maybe something was incorrectly set in fvwm, or maybe there was a conflict between skype and fvwm, but whatever it was it's now no longer a problem. Thanks again.