Visual effects not working anymore after updates

[Marco Lackovic]

Normal and Extra Visual effects stopped working after some recent updates (not sure exactly when, approximately two weeks ago).

I was using Extra effects and after some updates any program's window started in the top left corner, without borders and title bar hence without the possibility to change size nor maximize/minimize; also alt+tab didn't work and only one workspace was present in the lower right corner (I used three).

From System / Preferences / Appearance / Visual Effects I changed the effects to "None" and everything went back to normal (except there are no visual effects).

When I try to switch back to Normal or Extra effects a small dialog appears "Searching for avaiable drivers...", then it asks me if I want to keep the new settings: I say yes but still no visual effect is applied, e.g. super+tab, super+E, wobbly windows, water effect, paint fire, windows shadow don't work (they have been activated through CompizConfig Settings Manager).

If I close the Visual Effects window, with "Normal" or "Extra" option selected, and open it again "None" option is selected. If I log out and log back in the initial problem appears again.

The problem has occurred on both the following machines:

---------------------------------------------
HP xw4300 Workstation
RV370 5B64 [FireGL V3100 (PCIE)]

lsb_release -a output:
LSB Version: core-2.0-amd64:core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-amd64:core-3.0-noarch:core-3.1-amd64:core-3.1-noarch:core-3.2-amd64:core-3.2-noarch:core-4.0-amd64:core-4.0-noarch
Description: Ubuntu lucid (development branch)
Release: 10.04

---------------------------------------------

Asus 1000HE netbook
Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller

lsb_release -a output:
No LSB modules are available.
Description: Ubuntu lucid (development branch)
Release: 10.04

---------------------------------------------

Neither of them has a custom xorg.conf

I can provide more information if needed.

[Marco Lackovic (marco-lackovic)]

This bug may be duplicate (or at least related) with
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/554106

[Marco Lackovic (marco-lackovic)]

This is the output of "gnome-appearance-properties", run from terminal, when switching from None to Extra:

(gnome-appearance-properties:2574): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_display_sync: assertion `GDK_IS_DISPLAY (display)' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:2574): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_display_sync: assertion `GDK_IS_DISPLAY (display)' failed
There is no available graphics driver for your system which supports the composite extension, or the current one already supports it.

(gnome-appearance-properties:2574): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_display_sync: assertion `GDK_IS_DISPLAY (display)' failed
Couldn't find a perfect decorator match; trying all decorators
Found no decorator to start
compiz (core) - Error: Plugin 'text' not loaded.

compiz (shift) - Warn: No compatible text plugin loaded.

[Marco Lackovic (marco-lackovic)]

I fixed it by running "sudo apt-get install compiz".

Extra packages installed:
  compiz-gnome
Suggested packages:
  gnome-themes
NEW packages installed:
  compiz compiz-gnome

[Iñigo Martinez (inigoml-inigoml)]

Fixed for me, too.

I don't know what upgrade uninstalled compiz...

[Stefaan Vanderheyden (svd)]

This is strange: the compiz package was correctly installed on my system, but I still experienced this bug.

Trying to --reinstall compiz did not fix anything.

However, by reading Marco's post, I noticed that compiz-gnome was installed along with compiz on his system. Strangely, compiz-gnome was not installed on my laptop, so I installed it manually:

sudo apt-get --reinstall install compiz compiz-gnome
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  compizconfig-backend-gconf
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  compiz-gnome compizconfig-backend-gconf
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

The problem is solved now!

[Stew (stew-schneider)]

Had the same problem, fixed as suggested by Stefaan Vanderheyden. Haven't rebooted yet, however.

[TheMonster (oscar-d)]

The solution of Stefaan Vanderheyden, works perfectly

[Oier Mees (oier)]

The solution doesn't work for me.I have just upgraded from 9.10. It seems that a configuration file in the home directory is the responsible, because if I create a new user everything works fine. I have temporally fixed the bug by executing compiz --replace on startup.

[neilyalowitz (neilyalowitz)]

Same issue here, System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Visual Effects -> Extra

"The Composite extension is not available"

Using an ATI with amdcccle setup, Xinerama enabled. None of the solutions above helped, compiz packages were already installed and reinstall did not fix.

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hello
Is this problem present with the latest updated Lucid's or Maverick's packages?
Thanks in advance
Fabio

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[stitch (joelstitch)]

I am also experiencing this problem. I had Compiz working earlier today and somehow I did something that made that or the Gnome visual Effects not work at all.