Comiz corrupts GRUB

Binary package hint: compiz

Please forgive me I'm not a programmer but this is what happened.
I am running a Dell Dimension E520 with the Intel Core 2 duo 4300. Standard video card (NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Graphics GPU), 1Gb of ram, E207FP Widescreen Flat Panel Display. I dual boot Feisty Fawn and Windows Vista.

Under Feisty Fawn I ran the "Desktop-Effects" application. The application worked fine and it made my desktop very pretty.

However, when I rebooted the following happened:

The computer froze on shutdown and had to be shut down manually (I know it froze because the num lock key no longer turned the LED on and off anymore)

Upon reboot the only way to get GRUB to run is by opening and closing the CD tray. (very strange)

Once GRUB loads if I select Ubuntu I get "Kernel Panic" and the system is frozen.

However, if I select Windows Vista/Longhorn Vista loads fine.

I tried to reinstall Ubuntu several times and after several hours of troubleshooting here is what I concluded:

The corruption is in the master boot record because reformatting/reinstalling Ubuntu fails to solve the problem. (I managed to fix the MBR using the Vista repair disk)

It appears compiz alters GRUB when its activated causing this problem. I discovered this by opening the GRUB configuration file and when I disabled "Desktop-Effects" I received a message telling me the file I had open was just altered by another program. Therefore I conclude that compiz alters GRUB (Why? This makes no sense to me but I'm not a programmer.) After disabling "Desktop-Effects" the system works normally.

Thanks