Desktop fails to load after login (displays tiled backgrounds)

[Gregory Haskins]

Was originally running 14.04-desktop in a VmWare Fusion v5-Pro guest. Ran fine for quite a while. A certain update a few months ago introduced an issue where I could no longer log in graphically. The guest console would present a normal login after boot, but attempting to log in causes the screen to display a tiled background and a failure to present any UI components. Ssh access remains accessible, so it seems to be purely a graphical desktop problem.

Anyway, I have since tried many things, including ensuring I had the latest updates, reinstalling unity, upgrading to 14.10, and upgrading Fusion to v7-Pro. The result is exactly the same. I will attach a screenshot.

To be fair, I do not know for sure this is a unity bug. But it is my best guess.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10
Package: unity 7.3.1+14.10.20141016-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-30.40-generic 3.16.7-ckt3
Uname: Linux 3.16.0-30-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.1:

ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu8.1
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
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 387.002456] init: plymouth-stop pre-start process (4419) terminated with status 1
 [64190.685115] audit: type=1400 audit(1423658645.801:34): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf" pid=9299 comm="apparmor_parser"
 [64190.685127] audit: type=1400 audit(1423658645.801:35): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=9299 comm="apparmor_parser"
 [64190.697809] audit: type=1400 audit(1423658645.817:36): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="third_party" pid=9299 comm="apparmor_parser"
Date: Wed Feb 11 12:10:03 2015
DistUpgraded: 2015-02-09 11:40:50,071 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: utopic
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 VMware SVGA II Adapter [15ad:0405] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: VMware SVGA II Adapter [15ad:0405]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-07-21 (204 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
Lsusb:
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0e0f:0008 VMware, Inc.
 Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
 Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0003 VMware, Inc. Virtual Mouse
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-30-generic root=UUID=7bce62e5-a90a-4e98-997b-711b0c1a3ec0 ro find_preseed=/preseed.cfg auto noprompt priority=critical locale=en_US quiet
SourcePackage: unity
UnitySupportTest: Error: command ['/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test', '-p', '-f'] failed with exit code 1: Error: no composite extension
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2015-02-09 (2 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 05/20/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00
dmi.board.name: 440BX Desktop Reference Platform
dmi.board.vendor: Intel Corporation
dmi.board.version: None
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: No Enclosure
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvr6.00:bd05/20/2014:svnVMware,Inc.:pnVMwareVirtualPlatform:pvrNone:rvnIntelCorporation:rn440BXDesktopReferencePlatform:rvrNone:cvnNoEnclosure:ct1:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: VMware Virtual Platform
dmi.product.version: None
dmi.sys.vendor: VMware, Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12+14.10.20140918-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.56-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.3.2-0ubuntu0.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.3.2-0ubuntu0.1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.16.0-1ubuntu1.2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.4.0-2ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.914-1~exp1ubuntu4.2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.11-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Tue Feb 10 13:55:12 2015
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.devices:
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 6
 input VMware VMware Virtual USB Mouse MOUSE, id 7
 input AT Translated Set 2 keyboard KEYBOARD, id 8
 input ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse MOUSE, id 9
xserver.errors:
 Failed to initialize GLX extension (Compatible NVIDIA X driver not found)
 No surface to present from.
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs: Output Virtual2 Virtual3 Virtual4 Virtual5 Virtual6 Virtual7 Virtual8
xserver.version: 2:1.16.0-1ubuntu1.2
xserver.video_driver: vmware

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

Looking at the attached information I see this.

xserver.errors:
 Failed to initialize GLX extension (Compatible NVIDIA X driver not found)
 No surface to present from.

That indicates a messed-up video driver installation.

Also this.

UnitySupportTest: Error: command ['/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test', '-p', '-f'] failed with exit code 1: Error: no composite extension

Also indicates a pretty messed-up video driver installation. This is unlikely to be a bug in Unity, since Unity isn't even run because the installed video driver does not support the basic functionality required. The attached screenshot shows Unity is not running.

[Gregory Haskins (gregory-haskins)]

Thank for you taking the time to look into the issue.

Do note that I freely admit that I am not sure whether the problem is in Unity. However, also note that the problem does strongly suggest it is related to ubuntu at some level as everything _was_ working until a specific apt-get upgrade was executed (I wish I had more details about the one that broke things).

So, if the problem is not in Unity, any ideas on who needs to be looking at the issue?

[Andrea Azzarone (azzar1)]

Do you still have this issue?

[Gregory Haskins (gregory-haskins)]

The behavior has changed slightly. Now instead of getting a tiled (and hung) background, the system just boots me back to the login prompt after trying to do something for about 1 second.

[Gregory Haskins (gregory-haskins)]

This screen capture shows the latest behavior. Note that it does the same thing whether I log in "Greg" or the "Guest" account, ruling out something specific to the users /home