Unity 3D does not work in Oneiric on Dell Inspiron 1721

[Atanas Atanasov]

I just made a fresh install of Oneiric Alpha 3 on my laptop (Inspiron 1721 with ati driver) and Unity 3D does not start well. I see the desktop background but no panels appear above or on the left. Right-clicking on the desktop does not yield anything. I can see the unity process running if I switch to a different tty. Unity 2D works as expected.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity 4.6.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-7.9-generic 3.0.0
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-7-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: None
Date: Sat Aug 6 02:32:00 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: oneiric
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: bcmwl, 5.100.82.38+bdcom, 3.0.0-7-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
 ATI Technologies Inc RS690M [Radeon X1200 Series] [1002:791f] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01fd]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Alpha amd64 (20110803.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 1721
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-7-generic root=UUID=4f1f5489-ffbb-47b2-bfa2-2d38bee2c601 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 05/16/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A00
dmi.board.name: 0RT951
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA00:bd05/16/2007:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron1721:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0RT951:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 1721
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.5.0-0ubuntu2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu13
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.26-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.11~1-0ubuntu4
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.11~1-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.6.0-1ubuntu13
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.15.0-3ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

Did unity work for you before? unitysupporttest says your card is supported indeed. what happens when you start unity from terminal?

[Atanas Atanasov (thenasko)]

This is the first time I am using Unity; before that I was using the standard gnome 2 desktop interface. When I try and start unity from terminal (in a Unity 2D session), I loose control over the windows, they stop redrawing, and eventually (after several seconds of flickering), I only see a blank screen and a mouse. I haven't been able to figure out how to get out of this state without restarting lightdm. This is analogous to the outcome when I log into Unity from loghtdm directly.

The command I executed in terminal was "unity 1> out 2> err". The resulting files are attached.

[Atanas Atanasov (thenasko)]

I just checked the faulty icons reported in "out" above. They all seem to be in place and do not have 0 width as reported.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

i am wondering if compiz works for you in unity-2d session? can you
start unity-2d session and type 'compiz --replace' in a terminal to
check if compiz starts without unity or not.

[Atanas Atanasov (thenasko)]

You are right, it seems this is an issue with compiz. I am attaching the regular and error output from "compiz --replace".

[Chito Tuason (chitotuason)]

Using MSI-U210 with ATI x1200

$ compiz --replace
libcompizconfig: dlopen: /usr/lib/compizconfig/backends/libgconf.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Checking if settings need to be migrated ...no
Checking if internal files need to be migrated ...no
Backend : ini
Integration : true
Profile : default
Adding plugins
Initializing core options...done
Initializing bailer options...done
Initializing detection options...done
Initializing composite options...done
Initializing opengl options...done
Initializing decor options...done
Initializing mousepoll options...done
Initializing vpswitch options...done
Initializing animation options...done
Initializing snap options...done
Initializing expo options...done
Initializing move options...done
Initializing place options...done
Initializing grid options...done
Initializing gnomecompat options...done
Initializing wall options...done
Initializing ezoom options...done
Initializing workarounds options...done
Initializing staticswitcher options...done
Initializing resize options...done
Initializing fade options...done
Initializing scale options...done
Initializing session options...done
Couldn't find a perfect decorator match; trying all decorators
Starting kde4-window-decorator

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

its a package update bug for you Chito.

[Atanas Atanasov (thenasko)]

Do you think this could be fixed before the Oneiric release?

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

I was talking about the issue Chito was facing, though about the
original bug report, Yes I believe it will be fixed before Oneiric
release if the your card is capable enough

[Maarten Kossen (mpkossen)]

I've managed to solve this issue by installing the package 'compizconfig-backend-gconf' which provides the missing libgconf.so file.

[Jon (jonbrewin)]

I have had the same issue on a Dell 1520 since the update on the 24th. I have the same ouput for compiz --replace

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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