Comment 7 for bug 652731

A little update:

Yesterday uninstalled python (apt-get remove python) which turned out to remove tons of other stuff as well.
After reboot, I now invariably get the "ubuntu running in low graphics mode" error. But when I do a login in via console, and then run startx, my desktop is perfecly normal and my "apperance settings" bug is gone! I even get the hibernate/suspend option back when i logout which was also missing before.

So in effect, it seems I have traded one problem for another, but this is certainly much better. It's only a minor
nuisance to do the console login + startx myself.

Currently I'm manually reinstalling packages (using "apt-cache rdepends python") so hopefully I will encounter the package that is the cause of these problems.