Display Problem with GNOME Buttons

[Steve Grace]

Hello:

I'm new to Ubuntu and am having an issue that I hope someone can
enlighten me about.

On my PC, most buttons in GNOME applications initially display with
"dots" in them. There's a example here:

http://members.cox.net/sgrace9/private/gnome.html

The dots typically go away when the mouse pointer is placed over a
button or when tabbing to/through a button, although there are actions
that can make the dots reappear.

This also happens on my PC when running the Ubuntu live CD. It doesn't
happen when running the live CD on a different PC.

My PC has an ATI RADEON 7000 video card. My system is configured to use
the "ati" driver, which I understand is actually a wrapper for the
"radeon" driver. The PC on which the Ubuntu live CD runs without this
problem uses an NVidia card.

Another user (also using an ATI card) reported this issue on the Ubuntu
forum over a year ago but there's been no resolution there.

I don't necessarily need to solve this problem; I just want to know if
it's most likely a video driver issue that can be resolved by switching
cards.

Thanks!

Steve Grace