About 1/3 of the time when I log on, nm-applet shows up as a black rectangle in
the notification area. Also, if I right click on the rectangle the contextual
menu is the same as if I right click on a blank part of the notification area
instead of the network manager's contextual menu. If I log out then log back
on, the icon and contextual menu will generally be restored. I noticed this
when I started using the Compiz Fusion icon, so it's likely linked to that.

Is this problem reproducible if you disable compositing/compiz?

Michael

Just to follow up, lately the behavior has changed slightly. Instead of
having a black rectangle completely covering the network manager applet, it
has changed to a black sliver partially covering the applet. If I click on
the exposed portion of the applet, it works fine. Given that, I think it is
actually a problem with compiz, and it was just a coincidence that the
network manager applet appears in the same location where the bug happens.

Aaron