I don't know if anyone else has come across this problem... I am new to linux so correct me if I am wrong, the Gnome 3 environment requires the metacity window manager? So I turn on the metacity window manager, try to log into Gnome 3... just wallpaper.
I then type ctrl+alt+t to get to the terminal
type ccsm
turned off all the plugins I could... wallpaper!
I then type ctrl+alt+f1 to get to tty
then type export DISPLAY=:0.0
then type gnome-shell --replace
then type ctrl+alt+f7 to get back to desktop
Gnome 3 is now up and running untill the next session. The same thing happened for me with Unity 3D after turning on the plugin and typing unity --replace instead. Only difference is I figured out that if I log into Gnome classic and enable compiz then the Unity 3D panel and launcher will load on top of the Gnome classic panel. This enables me to log back into Unity 3D without having to replace my shell on every login. I am wondering if this is a driver problem. I did not find Linux until Ubuntu 10.10 which I could not get to work with my Ironlake chipset on my Latitude E6410 (no Nvidia) due to what I assumed was a kernel problem that was fixed in 11.04 and the 2.6.38 kernel. Still I had a couple problems seemed like xorg.conf file would get lost or something, every once in a while I would boot to the blank screen. Frustrated, I happened to come across UbuntuStudio, which worked fine... until the 3.0 kernel upgrade left me with the blank screen again. This is the only ubuntu 11.10 distro that doesn't give me the blank screen THANK YOU. I don't really care for Unity, Gnome seems a lot cooler. Before I figured out how to get Gnome 3 up, I installed Opensuse 12.1 to play with the environment. Is there any way I can get Gnome 3 to load on every session without having to replace the shell.