GDM crash loop Ubuntu 17.10 (Intel)

[Mentis]

GDM crash loop.
All I see after boot is constant tty/"black screen with cursor" changing each other.
After stopping GDM from tty I can start gnome session manually (both wayland and xorg works)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: gdm3 3.25.90.1-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.12.0-13.14-generic 4.12.10
Uname: Linux 4.12.0-13-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Thu Sep 7 23:20:33 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-08-02 (36 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Alpha amd64 (20170801)
SourcePackage: gdm3
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
mtime.conffile..etc.gdm3.custom.conf: 2017-09-07T13:20:23.727938

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Do you have any .crash files in /var/crash/ ?

If so then please list them here, and also run: ubuntu-bug /var/crash/EACHFILE.crash

[Mentis (mentis-by)]

No crash files there. Any other log I can provide?

 $ ls -la /var/crash
total 8
drwxrwsrwt 2 root whoopsie 4096 Aug 16 08:07 .
drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 4096 Aug 1 01:07 ..

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

In that case maybe there is no "crash", but some other problem.

Can you please paste the output of 'lspci -k' ?

[Mentis (mentis-by)]

Sure.
How about syslog? Will it help?
 $ lspci -k
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Skylake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 07)
 Subsystem: Dell Skylake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers
 Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 (rev 06)
 Subsystem: Dell HD Graphics 530
 Kernel driver in use: i915
 Kernel modules: i915
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Skylake Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 07)
 Subsystem: Dell Skylake Processor Thermal Subsystem
 Kernel driver in use: proc_thermal
 Kernel modules: processor_thermal_device
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller
 Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem
 Kernel driver in use: intel_pch_thermal
 Kernel modules: intel_pch_thermal
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1 (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI
 Kernel driver in use: mei_me
 Kernel modules: mei_me
00:17.0 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation SATA Controller [RAID mode] (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Dell SATA Controller [RAID mode]
 Kernel driver in use: ahci
 Kernel modules: ahci
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #2 (rev f1)
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport
 Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev f1)
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport
 Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-H PMC
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-H HD Audio
 Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
 Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-H SMBus
 Kernel modules: i2c_i801
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-LM (rev 31)
 Subsystem: Dell Ethernet Connection (2) I219-LM
 Kernel driver in use: e1000e
 Kernel modules: e1000e
01:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 8260 (rev 3a)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Wireless 8260
 Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
 Kernel modules: iwlwifi
02:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
 Subsystem: Dell RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader
 Kernel driver in use: rtsx_pci
 Kernel modules: rtsx_pci

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Just trying to figure out what the problem is. It may not be GDM at all.

Your logs show that you have something called "qwebengine" crashing a lot. Do you know what that is used by? Can you try disabling/removing qwebengine?

Sep 07 23:20:30 hostname hipchat4.desktop[3156]: /qwebengine/qtwebengine/src/3rdparty/chromium/sandbox/linux/seccomp-bpf-helpers/sigsys_handlers.cc:**CRASHING**:seccomp-bpf failure in syscall 0281
Sep 07 23:20:30 hostname hipchat4.desktop[3156]: Received signal 11 SEGV_MAPERR 00000c003119

Your system log shows nothing other than the qwebengine crashes, which if not the actual problem then may be obscuring our view of the real issue.

[Mentis (mentis-by)]

Thank you for your help Daniel

qwebengine is HipChat (chat client I use at work).
Please find fresh syslog attached which I've captured during crash loop.

[Mentis (mentis-by)]

I see this error in syslog:

Sep 8 12:19:31 EPUSSANW0080 gnome-screensav[1069]: Cannot open display:
Sep 8 12:19:31 EPUSSANW0080 dbus-daemon[1047]: Activated service 'org.gnome.ScreenSaver' failed: Process org.gnome.ScreenSaver exited with status 1
Sep 8 12:19:31 EPUSSANW0080 gnome-session[1049]: gnome-session-binary[1049]: CRITICAL: Unable to create a DBus proxy for GnomeScreensaver: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.ScreenSaver: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Process org.gnome.ScreenSaver exited with status 1
Sep 8 12:19:31 EPUSSANW0080 gnome-session-binary[1049]: CRITICAL: Unable to create a DBus proxy for GnomeScreensaver: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.ScreenSaver: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Process org.gnome.ScreenSaver exited with status 1

And after that many:
at-spi2-registr[1851]: Could not open X display

Can this be a reason?

[Mentis (mentis-by)]

Another repeated error I spotted in syslog:

Sep 8 12:19:33 EPUSSANW0080 org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1091]: (EE)
Sep 8 12:19:33 EPUSSANW0080 org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1091]: Fatal server error:
Sep 8 12:19:33 EPUSSANW0080 org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1091]: (EE) failed to read Wayland events: Connection reset by peer
Sep 8 12:19:33 EPUSSANW0080 org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1091]: (EE

[Mentis (mentis-by)]

Was able to make GDM to work by reinstalling all installed packages using this guide: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1407060

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Nicolás Abel Carbone (nicocarbone)]

I cannot log to ubuntu wayland session on 17.10. Xorg works fine. The logs show the same error messages with org.gnome.ScreenSaver. I don't know if it is related. I am still researching the cause.

[Nicolás Abel Carbone (nicocarbone)]

Also having an "Unrecoverable failure in required component org.gnome.Shell.desktop" in the same log.

[Max Goodhart (chromakode)]

I ran into this upgrading from 17.04 to 17.10 on an X1 Carbon 3rd Gen (Intel HD Graphics 5500). Inspired by reading Mentis's comment. This fixed it for me:

apt purge gdm gdm3
apt install gdm3 ubuntu-desktop (reinstalling ubuntu-desktop which got removed in the last step)

Then running `systemctl restart gdm` got gdm3 to start successfully. Is it possible lingering config files from gdm (version 2?) are conflicting with gdm3 on some upgraded machines?

[Pepijn (mzrider)]

I had the same issue on a Dell XPS 13 with Intel HD Graphics 4000 after upgrading from 16.04 to 17.10.

Max' solution solved it for me

[reliable-robin-22 (nicolasdiogo)]

same error for me while using a X1 lenovo - Intel® HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2)

I original upgraded from 17.04 to 17.10, and I had this very same problem.
To validate, I have installed fresh 17.10.1
I have not used any of the config $HOME configuration files as I only restored the files that I use for work.
yet, the same error persists

the only error that I found in the logs is shown below:

dbus-daemon[1405]: Activating service name='org.gnome.ScreenSaver'
Feb 18 22:32:00 somepc org.gnome.ScreenSaver[1405]: Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused
Feb 18 22:32:00 somepc gnome-screensav[10090]: Cannot open display:
Feb 18 22:32:00 somepc dbus-daemon[1405]: Activated service 'org.gnome.ScreenSaver' failed: Process org.gnome.ScreenSaver exited with status 1
Feb 18 22:32:00 somepc gnome-session[10070]: gnome-session-binary[10070]: CRITICAL: Unable to create a DBus proxy for GnomeScreensaver: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.ScreenSaver: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Process org.gnome.ScreenSaver exited with status 1
Feb 18 22:32:00 somepc gnome-session-binary[10070]: CRITICAL: Unable to create a DBus proxy for GnomeScreensaver: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.gnome.ScreenSaver: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildExited: Process org.gnome.ScreenSaver exited with status 1

There are suggestion that one should add 'nomodeset' to the kernel (/etc/default/grub)
would this be the solution for now?

thanks,

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 17.10 (artful) reached end-of-life on July 19, 2018.

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. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in and change the bug status to Confirmed.