gnome-shell will not fully load

[stop]

When I log in to gnome(-shell) it does not fully load... the top bar is not appearing so there is no way to start any application.
I can rightclick the desktop and select change background for instance and that window will launch but it has no window decorations so I cannot close it.
I cannot logout or shutdown also because of the missing top panel.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: gnome-shell 3.2.2.1-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-17.27-generic 3.2.6
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-17-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 1.94-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Mar 2 21:41:30 2012
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 TERM=xterm
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-03-01 (0 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[giardia (fabriziosm)]

i have exactly the same problem, but i'm using ubuntu 11.10 32bit x86 desktop.

can be an issue with the nvidia video cards/drivers?

i have a nvidia GeForce2 MX 400 video card, with proprietary drivers.

~$ lspci | grep -i vga
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev b2)

~$ glxinfo | grep -i nvidia
server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL version string: 1.5.8 NVIDIA 96.43.20

compiz effects seems also not working with this video card:

/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce2 MX/AGP/SSE/3DNOW!
OpenGL version string: 1.5.8 NVIDIA 96.43.20

Not software rendered: yes
Not blacklisted: yes
GLX fbconfig: yes
GLX texture from pixmap: yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program: yes
GL fragment program: no
GL vertex buffer object: yes
GL framebuffer object: no
GL version is 1.4+: yes

Unity 3D supported: no

[Łukasz Ważny (lukasz-wazny)]

I had same problem in Ubuntu 11.10 and still after upgrade 12.04. But after upgrade to 3.4.1 gnome-session start properly - repo http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/gnome_shell.

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS reached End of Life in April. See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Please upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and re-test. If the bug is still reproducible, increase the verbosity of the steps to recreate it so we can try again.

I apologize that we are not always to respond to bug reports promptly. Do feel free to report any other bugs you may find.