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I am a first-time Linux user who has installed Ubuntu 12.04 on a Dell Dimension E510 that used to run Windows XP. I cannot get Dash Home to open. The other apps open: Firefox, Libre Office, etc., but when I click Dash Home the screen flickers a couple of times and no dash opens. No window with search bar and whatever else is supposed to be there. I have tried several of the suggestions in this forum, but nothing has helped. I have also reinstalled Ubuntu from the boot disk, but Dash still will not open. Does anyone have a solution that can be communicated clearly? I will not understand much Linux terminology.

AyTee
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  • When I typed "nautilus" in terminal, the Home Folder opens. That is different than Home Dash, correct? – AyTee Apr 09 '14 at 08:05
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    Welcome to ask-ubuntu. It is very commendable that you tried to solve the problem with information already posted on this site. But can you be a bit more specific about *several of the suggestions* used, please? It helps to know what does not work. Also the solution could be one of the things here you did not already try. – Adaephon Apr 09 '14 at 08:21
  • You should first update your installation. Most problems get resolved when you update. – Danatela Apr 09 '14 at 08:56

2 Answers2

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Try resetting unity 

unity --reset

if that doesn't help then try this

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop

sudo apt-get install unity

Hope this helps!

Danatela
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Null pointer
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  • Thanks, Danatela, for suggestions. Your 1st suggestion did nothing; 2nd, the response is: E: The update command takes no arguments. I do not know what that means, but the problem is not resolved. Maybe this is a hint: I noticed this morning that when I click the Dash Home icon, the arrow-marker appears to the right of the icon, not the left as it does with the other icons. The icons below Dash Home go grey, but no Dash window appears. – AyTee Apr 09 '14 at 16:25
  • I downloaded updates when prompted to do so during installation. Is that what you mean? – AyTee Apr 09 '14 at 19:13
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    I have tried all suggestions in this thread and those in http://askubuntu.com/questions/177070/dash-home-in-ubuntu-12-04-is-empty and http://askubuntu.com/questions/125843/dash-search-gives-no-result. Also, I reinstalled 12.04.0 and then 12.04.3. I still cannot open Dash Home, either from the icon or by using the windows key. When I try to open it, the other icons in the launcher go grey and the top 1/4th of the screen flickers in an irregular and intermittent way; no Dash Home window appears. Does anyone have another suggestion? – AyTee Apr 10 '14 at 18:11
  • When I tried "unity --reset", among the pages of results are "compiz (core) - WARN: failed to receive ConfigureNotify event on 0x1800004" "compiz (core) - WARN: failed to receive ConfigureNotify event on 0x18001774" "compiz (core) - WARN: failed to receive ConfigureNotify event on 0x36000b6". Further down ... "compiz (expo) - Warn: failed to bind image to texture", and yet further down there are many lines of alarming-looking text, ending with 'r300: CS space validation failed. (not enough memory?) Skipping rendering." That last line is repeated many times. Does any of this help? – AyTee Apr 10 '14 at 18:44
  • I don't know if this is related, but I ran xdiagnose and got: Merging parameters Overriding parameters # Uncomment to get a beep at grub start Merging parameters Overriding parameters #GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1" Merging parameters Overriding parameters Adding key GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX Generating grub.cfg ... Warning: Setting GRUB_TIMEOUT to a non-zero value when GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is set is no longer supported. (continued next comment) – AyTee Apr 10 '14 at 23:15
  • (continued from previous comment) Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.8.0-38-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.8.0-38-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.8.0-29-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.8.0-29-generic Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin done – AyTee Apr 10 '14 at 23:16
  • Am I stuck with a non-functional Dash? – AyTee Apr 13 '14 at 18:52
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I am answering my own question. Sorry if that is irregular. Apparently the problem is my hardware. I installed Ubuntu 12.04 to a newer, faster computer, using the same disk and everything seemed to work; at least Unity Dash Home opened. For the record; Dell Dimension E510 desktop, 1.0 GB RAM, 245 GB HD, 32 bit system, Pentium D 2.8GHz x2 processor. I gather the RAM is the problem, as I read elsewhere in this forum that 2.0 GB is needed for Unity.

AyTee
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