compiz just does not work

[rp1040]

I'm new to this forums only used it once with no success.here gose.
was given a laptop by a friend. it's a hp pavilion entertainment pc
amd turion 64 x2
NVidia graphic card
120 gig hard drive
2 gig of memory

I have installed linux mint 18 sarah mate desktop for the 12th time just can not get compiz to work at all I keep getting these errors
dark screen
white screen with lines
desktop disappears
or simply does not boot

I did install Ubuntu 14.04 and that worked fine.i realy like mint and would like to get I to work.
I've read and tried most of the method on this forum but didn't work for me. the learning curve with linux and the terminal is steep to say the least

[kdemeoz]

I'm afraid i cannot help you regarding the compatibility of Compiz with Mint 18 Mate [though i would have imagined they should be fine together]. Maybe your hardware might be the problem? However, i can confidently offer you the following info, based on my own personal experience over the last couple of weeks with Mint 18 Xfce + Compiz. Basically, they are fabulous together!

My Tower & Laptop have both run Mint 17.3 KDE4 until recently, when i converted the Laptop to 18 Xfce+Compiz. I took that step after weeks of playing with Mint 18 Xfce in a VM i created in my Tower, specifically for me to learn about Xfce & Compiz [i'd not used either before, only KDE] & determine if Xfce would be a good candidate for my Laptop. At first i struggled with Compiz, not getting it to work at all, then getting it going a bit, then tweaking something else & completely breaking Xfce needing a reinstallation. Once i was running again i continued to explore Compiz, learning bit by bit [i find it is very complex, often unintuitive, & scarily easy to break; KDE KWin feels more robust & less dangerous IMO]. However i persisted, & reached the point of great happiness with the results. I now have LOTS of great eye-candy & functionality, including 18 VDs [in effect, functionally, a quasi- 3 Activity 6 VD KDE-metaphor] with individual wallpapers, wobbly windows, cube, expo etc. Also, only today, i discovered gnome-color-chooser & installed that too [via Synaptic], so now my Lappy's new OS is really functional, tricky and pretty!

I mentioned all that because if you continue to have disappointment with Mate + Compiz, you might want to consider trying Xfce + Compiz instead. If that also does not work for you then it would definitely be your hardware's fault, or your method, given my intensive experience in a VM then in my real Lappy proves Mint 18 Xfce + Compiz is a winner!

Good luck.

[kdemeoz]

Update on my first paragraph, FYI. I'd forgotten til today that i already have an existing VM for Mint 18 Mate [very little used because i find Mate quite boring & restricted, so it had entirely slipped my mind that i even had set it up back in early July]. On a whim therefore i launched it, activated Compiz then imported my successful Xfce config file for it. Not a sausage [ie, not a single one of my wonderful Xfce Compiz special effects worked in Mate]! I intuit hence that Compiz might be broken in Mate...

[bmac6446]

Have you installed the proprietary video drivers for your Nvidia card? It sounds like your desktop isn't set up for compositing yet. Check in Menu/Administration/Driver Manager and see which video driver is installed and is selected. Chances are you may still be on the Nouveau driver.