I get a fuzzy desktop everytime i enable compositing, compiz or metacity

Try this. Go up to the top taskbar and click on

System - Adminitration - Hardware Drivers

and make sure you haven't disabled your graphics card somehow. It shouldn't have happened just through upgrading but it's worth checking. Notice just below "Hardware Drivers" was "Hardware Testing" which is worth running, it takes a little while but not hugely long.

If that hasn't helped try going back up to the top taskbar and click on

Applications - Accessories - Terminal

and into the terminal/command window/console type

gstreamer-properties

in the gui console that popped up click on the "Video" tab and change the top option "Output" from "Auto" to "...(no Xv)"

Hopefully a reboot and everything should work properly again :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Thanks Tom, but unfortunately it doesn't work. first AFAIK the intel GMA 965 uses an open source driver on linux, so checking /system/administration/hardware drivers gave a "No proprietary drivers are in use on this system" which is no surprise because i hand picked the system because i wanted something that just worked on linux without having to install proprietary drivers. I took the hardware test and again .. everything worked as it should.

the gstreamer-properties fix is for a bug that use to affect intel cards when watching videos, this fortunately has been fixed on intrepid. my problem has nothing to do with videos. i get that fluzzy screen everytime i start an application.. it comes up for like a secord, then everything become normal. the application affected in this screenshot http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/3276208773_f545cf9621_d.jpg is actually firefox 3 (that comes preinstalled with ubuntu) this problem comes up everything i start firefox making the system unusable except i disable compositing (compiz or metacity) but disabling compositing limits what i can use on my desktop (gnome-do,AWN, etc) again i never encountered this problem in fedora 10 or hardy heron .. so i dont think its a hardware issue.

Hi,
could be a driver issue and a lot of options to try out.
You may search in ubuntuforums.org for information about others with this issue, there is a section 'Dell Ubuntu Support'.
More information in specific about compiz issues:
http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Troubleshooting
http://forlong.blogage.de/entries/pages/Compiz-Check

The most important log for issues like this is Xorg.0.log in system -> administration -> system log
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LinuxLogFiles

To get output with a terminal:
cat /var/log/Xorg0.log | grep EE
or
grep -i error /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Which driver:
cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -i driver

lspci | grep -i vga

Direct rendering:
glxinfo

Starting window manager in a terminal:
compiz.real --replace; compiz

What kind of options are in the driver section of xorg.conf?
Some examples:
Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"

Sorry, please note correction:
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep EE

##Reminding myself: Commands are case sensitive.

If you are still having trouble with this then please post it as a new question. Only the most recent questions tend to get looked at so posting/re-posting a question just before america arrives online after work/school gives the best chance of getting a good few answers - such is the nature of the internet.
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion

If the problem has been resolved then please follow the link to the forum thread and mark it as Solved but please give us a clue how you did manage to solve it and also use the button under where you type stuff in rather than giving me karma credit points for just sending this note to you.

Apologies, good luck and many regards from
Tom :)

I have actaully giving up on this problem. i tried everything you said but still no go .. i need to use my computer for productive stuff and so far the lack of compositing doesnt stop me. even though not being able to run basic metacity compositing on a machine that came preinstalled with ubuntu something that ran fine on every distro including (ubuntu 8.04) i have tried sure leaves a bad taste but then shit happens. This is not a problem solved .. this is a am tired of trouble shooting and i will grinch my teeth but leave with the problem.

Oh dear. Well i'm glad you get some good use out of it but i'm sorry to hear this remains unsolved. Hopefully the new kernel and jaunty when it comes out properly will help.

Until then, good luck and regards from
Tom