i believe xorg is eating 100% cpu when this happens for you, could you
see 'top' stats.  If yes, I discussed this with didrocks on IRC
yesterday

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 10:15 PM, Jono Bacon <email address hidden> wrote:
> Oh, and I am using gdm by the way.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to unity
> in Ubuntu.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/814189
>
> Title:
>  Unity won't start on login
>
> Status in “unity” package in Ubuntu:
>  New
>
> Bug description:
>  When I log into the Ubuntu session in oneiric, the desktop icons,
>  mouse cursor and wallpaper display, but there is no panel or launcher.
>  Alt-F2 and Super-A do not display the dash. I can click on a desktop
>  icon and load for example an image, and window decorations are
>  present.
>
>  If I switch to tty1 and run:
>
>       unity 2>&1 > ~/log
>
>  Unity starts and displays the panel (and the wallpaper, icons, mouse
>  cursor and window decoration), but I have no launcher. My log file now
>  contains:
>
>  DEBUG 2011-07-21 10:03:42 glib <unknown>:0 Unity accessibility initialization
>  WARN  2011-07-21 10:03:42 glib.glib-gobject <unknown>:0 invalid (NULL) pointer instance
>
>  Screen geometry changed:
>    Monitor 0
>     0x0x1600x900
>    Monitor 1(primary)
>     1600x0x1024x768
>
>  DEBUG 2011-07-21 10:03:43 glib <unknown>:0 /com/canonical/unity/applicationsplace
>  DEBUG 2011-07-21 10:03:43 glib <unknown>:0 /com/canonical/unity/filesplace
>  DEBUG 2011-07-21 10:03:43 glib <unknown>:0 /com/canonical/unity/gwibber
>  DEBUG 2011-07-21 10:03:43 glib <unknown>:0 /net/launchpad/askubuntuplace
>  DEBUG 2011-07-21 10:03:43 glib <unknown>:0 Setting to primary screen rect: x=1600 y=0 w=1024 h=768
>  WARN  2011-07-21 10:04:14 glib <unknown>:0 Unable to fetch children: Method "Children" with signature "" on interface "org.ayatana.bamf.view" doesn't exist
>
>
>  WARN  2011-07-21 10:04:14 glib.glib-gobject <unknown>:0 instance of invalid non-instantiatable type `(null)'
>  WARN  2011-07-21 10:04:14 glib.glib-gobject <unknown>:0 instance of invalid non-instantiatable type `(null)'
>  WARN  2011-07-21 10:04:18 glib.gdk <unknown>:0 compiz: Fatal IO error 0 (Success) on X server :0.
>
>  WARNING: no DISPLAY variable set, setting it to :0
>
>  ProblemType: Bug
>  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
>  Package: unity 4.2.0-0ubuntu5
>  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-5.6-generic 3.0.0-rc7
>  Uname: Linux 3.0.0-5-generic i686
>  Architecture: i386
>  CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,imgpng,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,staticswitcher,resize,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,scale,session,unitydialog,unityshell]
>  CompositorRunning: None
>  Date: Thu Jul 21 10:08:14 2011
>  DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-07-13 12:27:27.246539
>  DistroCodename: oneiric
>  DistroVariant: ubuntu
>  GraphicsCard:
>   Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
>     Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:20e4]
>     Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:20e4]
>  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Alpha i386 (20110202)
>  MachineType: LENOVO 7417CTO
>  ProcEnviron:
>   PATH=(custom, no user)
>   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
>   SHELL=/bin/bash
>  ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-5-generic root=UUID=70dfeb40-de6f-4ce0-9058-9ba257c3facd ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
>  SourcePackage: unity
>  UdevDb: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
>  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-07-13 (7 days ago)
>  dmi.bios.date: 11/26/2009
>  dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
>  dmi.bios.version: 7UET81WW (3.11 )
>  dmi.board.name: 7417CTO
>  dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
>  dmi.board.version: Not Available
>  dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
>  dmi.chassis.type: 10
>  dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
>  dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
>  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr7UET81WW(3.11):bd11/26/2009:svnLENOVO:pn7417CTO:pvrThinkPadT400:rvnLENOVO:rn7417CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
>  dmi.product.name: 7417CTO
>  dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T400
>  dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
>  version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.5.0-0ubuntu1
>  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+7ubuntu4
>  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
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/814189/+subscriptions
>