Comment 60 for bug 176589

I also had this issue, Compiz.real consumes 100% and UI freezes (seemingly at random times, although when in use), unable to switch to terminal but system is still responsive to SSH, other applications still running (audacious still playing music). In relation to bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24/+bug/186382 I have switched from metacity to emerald and the problem seems to have gone away. I see some references to emerald above but no details. Can someone who is experiencing this bug (compiz.real consumes 100% cpu, keyboard unresponsive) change their window decorator to emerald and see if their system becomes more stable? (install emerald, edit /usr/bin/compiz-decorator so USE_EMERALD="yes", restart X)