Gnome-shell desktop is just a white blank screen after switching users

[Pekka Tiittanen]

Whenever I use GDM as greeter and select "Switch user" from the menu, my desktop is left with only a white blank, no lock screen, nothing.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: gnome-shell 3.8.4-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-18.32-generic 3.11.10.4
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-18-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Mar 25 17:29:32 2014
DisplayManager: gdm
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-04-30 (328 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2013-10-21 (155 days ago)

Way to reproduce, you have to use Nvidia proprietary drivers (version 319, 331) and GDM:

1) Log in as user1
2) Switch users

at this point I usually already have a non-working desktop, but if not:

3) Log in as User2
4) Switch back to User1

It might take more than one user switching, but at least for me, eventually it will result in non-working desktops for both users.

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

seems gnome-shell is crashing trying to create cogl framebuffer

(gnome-shell:8148): Cogl-ERROR **: Failed to create an OpenGL framebuffer object

What graphics card and driver are you using?

[Pekka Tiittanen (pekka-tiittanen)]

Nvidia GT 430, happens at least with nvidia proprietary drivers 319.32 and 331.20.

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

Pekka, can you try and get a backtrace?

First install -dbg packages for cogl, gjs, gnome-shell libglib

Switch to a VT (or login with ssh from another computer) then run

sudo gdb attach -pid `pidof gnome-shell`
b _cogl_set_error
c

Now go back to you gnome-shell session and try to switch users

finally back to the VT and type into gdb the following:
set logging file cogl.log
set logging on
t a a bt
set logging off

[Pekka Tiittanen (pekka-tiittanen)]

So, way to reproduce this:

1. Log in as User1
2. Select "Switch user" from menu
3. Log in as User2
4. Select "Switch user" again
5. The User1 gnome-shell (and most probably User2 too) have crashed.

I have noticed that sometimes it might take two user switchings for this to occur, but usually just one is enough.

[Pekka Tiittanen (pekka-tiittanen)]

And unfortunately I am having trouble getting the backtrace, as the breakpoint is met when I put my mouse over the menu and I am unable to even open the menu.

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

so backporting the following patch to saucy, would probably fix the crash:
https://git.gnome.org/browse/cogl/commit/?h=cogl-1.16&id=64aa6092ce3413537f5e34807031e25eaaab5a21

[RiskSystemArchitect (rsa-dev)]

Same issue here and happens every time:

1. User 1 Login, open apps, go idle and screen locks
2. User 2 Login and open apps, go idle and screen locks
3. User 1 Selects 'Switch User' from top panel and screen goes black, mouse pointer becomes 'X' and no progress

I log into tty1 shell (Alt+Ctrl+Fn+Win+F1 then login as sudoer) and use the following alias (aptly named 'killer') command in .bashrc and supply the username to kill all that user's processes:

ps -ef | grep $1 | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}' | xargs kill -9

Then Alt+F7 and User 1 login prompt is available. Logging in reveals all previously opened apps in working state.

Working on Dell XPS L421x Ultrabook Core i7 SSD which has both onboard Intel Graphics and a discrete Nvidia Geforce card with the following details from lspci and lshw -C video:

LSPCI
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev c4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/820M / GT 620M/625M/630M/720M] (rev a1)
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 07)
08:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24)
09:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5209 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
09:00.1 SD Host controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5209 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)

LSHW

  *-display
       description: 3D controller
       product: GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/820M / GT 620M/625M/630M/720M]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: a1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list rom
 ...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 13.10 (saucy) reached end-of-life on July 17, 2014.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test.