with visual effects disabled, notifications and system->admistration->system monitor cannot be seen

[John D Sheehan]

Binary package hint: xorg

when the visual effects are disabled, the notifications which appear on the top right of the screen are
garbled. Instead of text on a black background, a grid of different colours appears. The same happens
with the system monitior, including the title bar (see attached png).

Graphics Card
ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]

lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 9.10
Release: 9.10

apt-cache policy xorg
xorg:
  Installed: 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
  Candidate: 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
  Version table:
 *** 1:7.4+3ubuntu7 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Sat Oct 24 22:13:25 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Lsusb:
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 011: ID 12d1:1003 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E220 HSDPA Modem / E270 HSDPA/HSUPA Modem
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: IBM 2373Q91
Package: xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-11-generic root=UUID=fea72432-cb76-4dfe-8037-c458ffb010a4 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_IE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.38-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0-1ubuntu4
 libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
SourcePackage: xorg
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic i686
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1903): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1903): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-panel:1927): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/buildd/gtk+2.0-2.18.3/gdk/x11/gdkdrawable-x11.c:952 drawable is not a pixmap or window
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1946): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:1941): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
dmi.bios.date: 01/20/2005
dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
dmi.bios.version: 1RETDIWW (3.14 )
dmi.board.name: 2373Q91
dmi.board.vendor: IBM
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1RETDIWW(3.14):bd01/20/2005:svnIBM:pn2373Q91:pvrThinkPadT42:rvnIBM:rn2373Q91:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 2373Q91
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T42
dmi.sys.vendor: IBM
fglrx: Not loaded
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: i686kernel: 2.6.31-11-generic

[lspci]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500] [1002:4c57]
     Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0530]

[jtniehof (jtniehof)]

This appears to be a duplicate of bug #426582, so I am marking it as such. There are some workarounds in that bug discussion which may help.