[SOLVED]Desktop doesn't exist?

[Taabs]

When I try to run Mint 8, all I get on the desktop is a black screen with no icons. Everything else seems to work perfectly, though. I can install new programs, update, and so on. Unlike the other problems I've seen on the board, I can right click the desktop and try to change my background, but nothing happens. Even when I run a LiveCD or LiveUSB, the same thing occurs.

Nothing's in my desktop folder, but when I took screenshots they showed up there. Last time I checked, Ubuntu Hardy Heron worked okay. I'm not really sure what the problem is.

Here's what lspci gives me:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 651 Host (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS962 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 04)
00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2 SMBus Controller
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE]
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Sound Controller (rev a0)
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (rev 01)

If anyone could help me, that would be great!

[remoulder]

Do you have visual effects enabled? If so try turning them off - last tab on Appearance.

[Taabs]

Oh wow, thanks! I thought I'd tried that, but it looks like I didn't. I'm guessing the cause of this was because I'm lacking some proprietary drivers or something?