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View Full Version : [ubuntu] Broke gnome shell and unity with ccsm because I'm a slow learner



Johnny Buffalkill
March 2nd, 2013, 06:07 PM
So, I installed ccsm and ran it, hoping to use "vsync" to solve video tearing. I didn't make any changes though, but now when I try to start gnome shell or unity, I just get a completely blank desktop.

I did something similar with an older ubuntu version some time ago (hence the slow learner badge) and was able to fix it with "unity--reset", but now I'm in 12.10 and it is deprecated here.

What I've tried so far are:
Setting ccsm to defaults, and then uninstalling it.

"unity-reset" from ppa per this link: http://www.webupd8.org/2012/10/how-to-reset-compiz-and-unity-in-ubuntu.html

Also from the same link:
dconf reset -f /org/compiz/

But none of these have worked. I still can't get a unity or gnome-shell desktop. I can only use gnome-classic. My google searches aren't turning up much beyond what I've already tried.

Frogs Hair
March 3rd, 2013, 04:24 AM
I know only of the commands you have posted . Have you tried in TTY ? Ctrl + Alt + F1 and Ctrl + Alt +F7 to return to the desktop.
Compiz can work with Gnome Classic but not with Gnome Shell which uses Mutter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutter_(window_manager)

Mopar1973Man
March 3rd, 2013, 05:08 AM
I think you turn off the window decorations.

Johnny Buffalkill
March 3rd, 2013, 08:33 PM
The mutter-compiz thing is something I should have known about, in fact, ccsm did try to warn me that it could break my desktop when I intalled it. I keep good data backups and a spare ubuntu installation on my media drive, so I can afford to be a little brave with the tinkering. I tried the commands in both TTY and in a regular terminal and neither worked. I think for turning off windows decorations I would have to do that in ccsm, and I think I'm going to avoid that now.

I reverted back from proprietary to open source ati graphics drivers, and now both unity and gnome shell desktops are working. My graphics quality is pretty poor, so I suspect things are still screwed up, but at least now it is usable. I think I'm just going to live with it unitl 13.04 is released and then do a clean install. I've been having some other problems with 12.10 anyway and have been waiting to upgrade.