Windows Spread Crashes Desktop

[BJones007]

Hey guys, I've been having an issue with my desktop crashing each time I hit the super key + W. At first I thought it was my graphics card, so I added the xorg-edgers/ppa and installed

 xserver-xorg-video-intel

but the same thing keeps happening. The screen will flash once when I hit the shortcut on the first try, but afterwards I get the error notification: "Docky requires compositing to work properly. Please enable compositing and restart Docky." and it's stuck on the opened window and I'm unable to get out of that screen or switch to something else. The notification bar at the top also goes missing and the only way I can resolve this is by pressing and holding the power button till the PC is completely off.

The PC works fine without hitting the windows spread key combination, but I'd love if it went back to normal cos sometimes I forget and I have to reboot all over again. From the notification error it seems there's a problem with compositing, but I don't understand what I could have done to make it crash. What could have caused this and how do I go about fixing it? Am I over working my graphics card?

I appreciate any advice and help, cheers.

[gordintoronto]

What version of Ubuntu? Do you have Docky installed?

[BJones007]

I'm running Ubuntu 14.04 and yes I do have Docky installed

[BJones007]

I'm running Ubuntu 14.04 and yes I do have Docky installed

[CantankRus]

Odd you get that docky error, because compiz is an "OpenGL window and compositing manager"
What's your terminal output from...

/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p

[BJones007]

Here is the output for

 /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p 

OpenGL vendor string:   VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 256 bits)
OpenGL version string:  2.1 Mesa 10.1.3


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


Unity 3D supported:       no

[CantankRus]

That seems to indicate a gfx card/driver issue. You are using software rendering.
Installing inxi will help to diagnose.

sudo apt-get install inxi

Then in terminal run inxi -b and post results.
eg

@Trusty:~$ inxi -b
System:    Host: Trusty Kernel: 3.13.0-36-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
Machine:   Mobo: Gigabyte model: GA-78LMT-USB3 version: x.x Bios: Award version: FA date: 04/23/2013
CPU:       Quad core AMD FX-4300 (-MCP-) clocked at 3800.00 MHz 
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GF116 [GeForce GTX 550 Ti] 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau) Resolution: 1680x1050@59.9hz 
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 550 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 4.4.0 NVIDIA 331.38
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: r8169 
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1254.2GB (14.6% used)
Info:      Processes: 230 Uptime: 2:23 Memory: 1208.5/3935.1MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 1.9.17

I have to go out now but I am sure others will help.

[BJones007]

This is my output for

 inxi -b 

 System:    Host: brian-Inspiron-3520 Kernel: 3.13.0-36-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Inspiron 3520
           Mobo: Dell model: 0G8TPV version: A04 Bios: Dell version: A04 date: 09/28/2012
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i3-2370M CPU (-HT-MCP-) clocked at 1200.00 MHz 
Graphics:  Card: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 256 bits) GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3
Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k 
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller driver: r8169 
           Card-3: Atheros 
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (52.3% used)
Info:      Processes: 248 Uptime: 1:37 Memory: 3155.4/3816.1MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 1.9.1

[CantankRus]

Was this a fresh install or upgrade?
Try re-installing xserver-xorg-video-intel and rebooting.

sudo apt-get install --reinstall xserver-xorg-video-intel

[BJones007]

It was a fresh install and I just did the re-install, rebooted and I'm still having the same issue.