This appears to have been related to a bad X Server / Graphics Card setup. The problem appeared after running dpkg-reconfigure to try to correct resolution for an ATI 3D Rage IIC Video Card. Ubuntu by default was refusing to run at 1024x768, allowing only 800x600. When trying to correct this, at some point the progress bar stopped displaying correctly.
When I switched from the 'vesa' driver to the 'ati' driver, set resolution to 1024x768, and Color Depth to 16 bit, I finally got X at 1024x768 with normal progress bars. So problem solved for me. -- Progress bar is invisible https://launchpad.net/bugs/67443 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
