ImageView invisible doesn't get visible after setVisibility()

Question

I load in onCreate() and ImageView by findViewById(). The ImageView is set as INVISIBLE from XML and it should become visible in onStart() by calling mImage.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE).

The strange thing is that the visibility is not changed whereas if I set GONE from XML the visibility is actually changed.

Is there something that I'm missing?

EDIT:

The code:

private class MyClass extends Activity {
...
private ImageView mImage;
...


@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);
    mImage = (ImageView)findViewById(R.id.imageViewCompass);
......
}

@Override
protected void onStart() {
    super.onStart();
    mImage.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
}
}

and from XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/RelativeBus"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >

<RelativeLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >



    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/imageViewCompass"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:src="@drawable/mwImage"
        android:visibility="invisible" />


</RelativeLayout>

Answer 1

I'm sorry but I realized my self that I was not clear enough. I'm using an OpenGL SurfaceView and I would not have believed it could be annoying to other Views.. It seems that the setVisibility() method has some problems starting from View.INVISIBLE when working on a layer above a SurfaceView..

Here I found the answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12655713/2402640