Compiz fails to refresh screen [Solved]

Question

Hi archers,
After some months without internet, I did a system upgrade and now my compiz standalone setup is stuffed up, in a funny way:
Mouse and keyboard works.
Conky is functional for a second or two, and then apparently freezes.
No windows are displayed, including the ones I launch via .xinitrc. Curiously, conky is configured to have its own window, but is displayed. My cursor changes appropriately when it is over windows, for example becomes the resize cursor or the text cursor under urxvt. When I kill fusion-icon (via hotkey), all windows are displayed.
/var/log/Xorg.0.log and dmesg | tail  display no error messages. startx display no error message, except that when I launch ccsm via .xinitrc, it warns about assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed. I have both gtk2 and gtk3 installed, but I'm not sure if that's relevant?
I have tried launching compiz via .xinitrc, using 4 different commands:
exec ck-launch-session fusion-icon
dbus-launch "fusion-icon"
exec "fusion-icon"
compiz --no-libgl-fallback --replace ccp
I'm using the nvidia proprietary driver. The xorg file is
# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 260.19.21 ([email protected]) Thu Nov 4 20:57:05 PDT 2010
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
#InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
#InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "glx"
Load "dri2"
Load "extmod"
Load "dbe"
EndSection
Section "Files"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Option "Name" "MLK USB Multi-Smart Mouse"
Driver "evdev"
Option "evBits" "+1 -2"
Option "keyBits" "~272-287"
Option "relBits" "~0 -2 ~6 ~8"
Option "Pass" "3"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/by-id/usb-MLK_USB_Multi-Smart_Mouse-event-mouse"
#Option "Protocol" "auto"
#Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
#Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
#Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "LG Electronics L194WT"
HorizSync 30.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
Option "RenderAccel" "1"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
I've tried changing xorg.conf, but the result didn't change.
I checked that fluxbox works under this setup, so it's probably some problem with compositing. I've done some searching, but didn't find similar cases. What's wrong? Thanks in advance.
EDIT:
Problem finally solved after more than a month. Unsurprisingly, by a system upgrade.
Last edited by dumas (2011-12-05 13:24:52)

Answer 1

Did another system update to nvidia-285.05.09-1, the problem persists.
Still no error in /var/log/Xorg.0.log and dmesg|tail.
I tried changing xorg.conf, or deleted xorg.conf, since I heard it is not needed, no apparent improvement.
I thing I noticed from the Xorg.0.log is that the dri and dri2 modules were loaded, although wiki said dri should not be. I tried removing dri and then dri2 by moving them to another directory, and the log file says the module(s) are not loaded, but still no improvement.
One curious thing is if I kill compiz without killing fusion-icon, I can actually regain control of the terminals, and work with them, including opening firefox, for example. However, no window management works, for example Alt+Tab and scale. Commands such as emerald --replace or compiz --replace ccp hides the terminals (probably because of their transparency) and then freezes the screen, giving the original situation. Ctrl+C shows and regains control to the terminal.
I did another browse through recent posts, and found other nvidia problems, although I'm not sure if any is similar to mine. I just set up a dual monitor setup in my office with nvidia+twinview, and that works perfectly, so I know at least one nvidia setup with compiz works.
Any thoughts?