Notification area missing in Trisquel 5.5

The image shows the problem. It also seems that opened windows are not displayed on the bottom either.

Are you using Gnome Fallback? That's on by default when you install the standard Trisquel 5.5 image. Maybe you should try adding some applets to the panel (in Gnome 2.x it was a common situation that the applets would sometimes quit themselves). If I recal correctly, Alt+right click on the panel should allow you adding stuff to it.

If Cyberhawk's solution does not help:

I had a similar problem a while back. An application (I don't remember which) failed badly and spewed a massive XOrg log into my home folder, causing my /home disk to run out of space. As a consequence of this, when I would log in the gnome-panel would not work (with the same symptoms you are describing)

Deleting the logs and logging in again fixed the problem.

Cyberhawk's suggestion was correct. Thanks for the help guys, my system's back to normal.