unity won't start

[Martin Vysny]

Suddenly after compiz upgrade to newest on Ubuntu 16.04, the unity no longer starts after log in - all I can see is the desktop with launcher icons, but no app list bar, no upper menu bar; SUPER does not start dash, no hotkeys work and I cannot even launch terminal. Please help. This only manifests on my account - other user accounts seem to be unaffected and properly start the unity session.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: unity 7.4.0+16.04.20160801.2-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-36.55-generic 4.4.16
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-36-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity_support_test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
Date: Tue Aug 30 06:29:02 2016
DistUpgraded: 2016-04-09 21:33:41,659 DEBUG Running PostInstallScript: './xorg_fix_proprietary.py'
DistroCodename: xenial
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [1028:054f]
 NVIDIA Corporation GK107M [GeForce GT 640M] [10de:0fd2] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell GeForce GT 640M [1028:054f]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-07 (906 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130423.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS L521X
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.4.0-36-generic root=/dev/mapper/hostname--vg-hostname--lv--root ro quiet
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-04-09 (142 days ago)
XorgConf:
 Section "Device"
     Identifier "Default Card 0"
     BusID "PCI:0@0:2:0"
 EndSection
dmi.bios.date: 12/17/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A16
dmi.board.name: 029M77
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: A16
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA16:bd12/17/2013:svnDellInc.:pnXPSL521X:pvrA16:rvnDellInc.:rn029M77:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrA16:
dmi.product.name: XPS L521X
dmi.product.version: A16
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160801.3-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.67-1ubuntu0.16.04.2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 11.2.0-1ubuntu2.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 11.2.0-1ubuntu2.1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu2.3
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.7.0-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160325-1ubuntu1.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.12-1build2
xserver.bootTime: Tue Aug 30 06:27:44 2016
xserver.configfile: /etc/X11/xorg.conf
xserver.errors:
 Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)
 Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)
 NOUVEAU(G0): [XvMC] Failed to initialize extension.
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 4333
 vendor AUO
xserver.version: 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu2.3

[Martin Vysny (vyzivus)]

Tried dconf reset -f /org/compiz/ , spat out lots of connection rejected. rm -rf ~/.config/compiz-1/compizconfig/* didn't help. ccsm endlessly says that unity plugin is disabled, even after I enabled it in CCSM like a thousand times. All this at the worst possible time. Is this even real? When do you plan to get rid of that fucking abomination of compiz?

[Martin Vysny (vyzivus)]

Currently running gnome-shell, which is a shitty replacement for unity7.

[Martin Vysny (vyzivus)]

~/.xsession-errors:

$ cat .xsession-errors
openConnection: connect: No such file or directory
cannot connect to brltty at :0
upstart: indicator-bluetooth main process (6642) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-power main process (6643) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-printers main process (6656) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-datetime main process (6649) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-session main process (6669) killed by TERM signal
upstart: indicator-application main process (6692) killed by TERM signal

/var/log/lightdm/unity-system-compositor.log
EMPTY

/var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log:

[+1213.40s] DEBUG: Session pid=3609: Exited with return value 0
[+1213.40s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Session stopped
[+1213.40s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Stopping display server, no sessions require it
[+1213.40s] DEBUG: Sending signal 15 to process 3477
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: Process 3477 exited with return value 0
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: X server stopped
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: Releasing VT 7
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Removing X server authority /var/run/lightdm/root/:0
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Display server stopped
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Active display server stopped, starting greeter
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Creating greeter session
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Creating display server of type x
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: Using VT 7
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Starting local X display on VT 7
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/x-0.log
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Writing X server authority to /var/run/lightdm/root/:0
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Launching X Server
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: Launching process 6050: /usr/bin/X -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch
[+1214.51s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Waiting for ready signal from X server :0
[+1215.00s] DEBUG: Got signal 10 from process 6050
[+1215.00s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Got signal from X server :0
[+1215.00s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Connecting to XServer :0
[+1215.00s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Display server ready, starting session authentication
[+1215.00s] DEBUG: Session pid=6060: Started with service 'lightdm-greeter', username 'lightdm'
[+1215.02s] DEBUG: Session pid=6060: Authentication complete with return value 0: Success
[+1215.02s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Session authenticated, running command
[+1215.02s] DEBUG: Session pid=6060: Running command /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-greeter-session /usr/sbin/unity-greeter
[+1215.02s] DEBUG: Creating shared data directory /var/lib/lightdm-data/lightdm
[+1215.02s] DEBUG: Session pid=6060: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/seat0-greeter.log
[+1215.31s] DEBUG: Activating VT 7
[+1215.31s] DEBUG: Activating login1 session c3
[+1215.31s] DEBUG: Seat seat0 changes active session to c3
[+1215.31s] DEBUG: Session c3 is already active
[+1215.44s] DEBUG: Greeter connected version=1.18.2 resettable=false
[+1215.59s] DEBUG: Greeter start authentication for vyzivus
[+1215.59s] DEBUG: Session pid=6130: Started with service 'lightdm', username 'vyzivus'
[+1215.59s] DEBUG: Session pid=6130: Got 1 message(s) from PAM
[+1215.59s] DEBUG: Prompt gr...

[Martin Vysny (vyzivus)]

Finally, this tutorial helped:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/760356/ubuntu-16-04-unity-no-desktop-just-background-wallpaper

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[DEDan (zsdedan)]

Confirm this bug. And confirm, that tutorial from #5 solve the problem. But this is a bad idea to solve the problem by this method.

[Frederik Elwert (frederik-elwert)]

A downgrade to compiz=1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1 fixes the issues as well, so this seems to be a regression.

Full list of packages to be downgraded:

sudo apt install compiz=1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1 compiz-core=1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1 compiz-gnome=1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1 compiz-plugins-default=1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1 libcompizconfig0=1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1 libdecoration0=1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1

[Donovan (donovan2014)]

Link on #5 solved my day, really thanks!

=> http://askubuntu.com/questions/760356/ubuntu-16-04-unity-no-desktop-just-background-wallpaper

This is a real serious and annoying bug. I lost 2 days to have my dash and unity back, all the guides on the web where totally not able to solve this problem. The magic was to erase too the cache of compiz and then make a full --reinstall of these packages!

I hope someone solve this bug on the 16.04 upgrade.

[Eli (eliterdaboss)]

I have a similar issue. When I login to Ubuntu LTS 16.04, the screen shifts chunks of graphics around, I can't do anything, then, a few seconds later everything works normally, as it should.

And, I installed Ubuntu LTS 16.04 without upgrading from a previous OS.

[Frederik Elwert (frederik-elwert)]

Re #10: This is probably a graphics driver related issue. If it works after a while, I guess one can live with it. In other cases, the symptoms are the same as described here (starting Unity fails, goes back to login screen), but the fixes suggested here don’t work. In that case, uninstalling the proprietary nvidia drivers and using nouveau instead seems to help.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for unity (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]