gnome shell crashes on login

Bug #1005715 reported by Isaac Rosenberg
26
This bug affects 5 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
gnome-shell (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

When I try to launch gnome-shell from logging into my account, it will crash. On launch, when I switch to gnome from the login page, I would expect to enter my password and it would bring to gnome. But instead, it brings me the background, but nothing else. I then have to hit the off button on my computer and click restart. It used to give an internal error message, but that disappeared later on. Gnome-shell, however, does work if I log in as a guest. If i try to log into ubuntu 12.04 and use gnome-shell --replace it will not work. I can, however, run gnome classic. I have tried uninstalling and install gnome-shell, to no avail. There is something that is making gnome-shell not run, but I do not know what. I have tried Reddit and Askubuntu, and the people at Askubuntu suggested making a bug report.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: gnome-shell 3.4.1-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic-pae 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon May 28 21:47:34 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release i386 (20120423)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Revision history for this message
Isaac Rosenberg (irosenb7) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

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

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Hannes Erven (hannes-erven) wrote :

This issue hit me today - until yesterday, everything was fine.

I guess one of the packages updated yesterday afternoon is the culprit:

2012-05-31 16:29:34 upgrade libasound2:i386 1.0.25-1ubuntu10 1.0.25-1ubuntu10.1
2012-05-31 16:29:35 upgrade libasound2 1.0.25-1ubuntu10 1.0.25-1ubuntu10.1
2012-05-31 16:29:37 upgrade libgtksourceview-3.0-common 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu1
2012-05-31 16:29:38 upgrade libgtksourceview-3.0-0 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu1
2012-05-31 16:29:38 upgrade libudisks2-0 1.94.0-0ubuntu1~precise1 1.97.0-1~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:38 upgrade libgcr-3-common 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.1-3~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:38 upgrade libgck-1-0 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.1-3~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:39 upgrade libgcr-3-1 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.1-3~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:39 upgrade nautilus-sendto-empathy 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu1
2012-05-31 16:29:39 upgrade empathy-common 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu1
2012-05-31 16:29:41 upgrade gcr 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.1-3~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:41 upgrade gir1.2-gtksource-3.0 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu1
2012-05-31 16:29:41 upgrade gnome-keyring 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise2 3.4.1-4ubuntu1~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:42 upgrade gnome-orca 3.4.1-0ubuntu0.1 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.1
2012-05-31 16:29:44 upgrade gnome-session-bin 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.2.1-0ubuntu1~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:45 upgrade gnome-session-fallback 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.2.1-0ubuntu1~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:45 upgrade gnome-session 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.2.1-0ubuntu1~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:45 upgrade gnome-session-common 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.2.1-0ubuntu1~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:46 upgrade libpam-gnome-keyring 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise2 3.4.1-4ubuntu1~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:46 upgrade seahorse 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.1-2~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:47 upgrade software-center 5.2.2 5.2.2.1
2012-05-31 16:29:48 upgrade udisks2 1.94.0-0ubuntu1~precise1 1.97.0-1~precise1
2012-05-31 16:29:48 upgrade xserver-xorg-video-vmware 1:12.0.1-1ubuntu1 1:12.0.1-1ubuntu1.1

Aha, gnome-shell was updated...

I'm instantly kicked back to the initial login dialog.
Gnome Classic works half-way, that is it launches, but the windows do not have a frame/title bar/top menu so it is quite hard to use.
Unity seems to work as usual.

Revision history for this message
Hannes Erven (hannes-erven) wrote :

I tried to add --debug to /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.session exec's line to get some useful info, but magically gnome-session works again.

My upgrades in between were (I basically tried to downgrade gnome-session and gnome-session-bin, to no avail, and later reverted again to 3.4.2.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 and also re-installed gnome-session-fallback ):

2012-06-01 09:53:25 upgrade language-pack-de-base 1:12.04+20120417 1:12.04+20120508
2012-06-01 09:53:26 upgrade language-pack-en 1:12.04+20120417 1:12.04+20120508
2012-06-01 09:53:26 upgrade language-pack-en-base 1:12.04+20120417 1:12.04+20120508
2012-06-01 09:53:27 upgrade language-pack-gnome-de 1:12.04+20120417 1:12.04+20120508
2012-06-01 09:53:28 upgrade language-pack-gnome-de-base 1:12.04+20120417 1:12.04+20120508
2012-06-01 09:53:31 upgrade language-pack-gnome-en 1:12.04+20120417 1:12.04+20120508
2012-06-01 09:53:31 upgrade language-pack-gnome-en-base 1:12.04+20120417 1:12.04+20120508
2012-06-01 09:53:33 upgrade libcupsfilters1 1.0.17-0bzr0.1 1.0.18-0ubuntu0.1
2012-06-01 09:53:33 upgrade libgtk-3-bin 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2
2012-06-01 09:53:34 upgrade libgail-3-0 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2
2012-06-01 09:53:34 upgrade libgtk-3-0 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2
2012-06-01 09:53:35 upgrade libgtk-3-common 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2
2012-06-01 09:53:35 upgrade libwbclient0 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.1 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.2
2012-06-01 09:53:36 upgrade libsmbclient 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.1 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.2
2012-06-01 09:53:36 upgrade python-problem-report 2.0.1-0ubuntu7 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
2012-06-01 09:53:37 upgrade python-apport 2.0.1-0ubuntu7 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
2012-06-01 09:53:37 upgrade apport 2.0.1-0ubuntu7 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
2012-06-01 09:53:38 upgrade gir1.2-gtk-3.0 3.4.1-0ubuntu1 3.4.2-0ubuntu0.2
2012-06-01 09:53:38 upgrade apport-gtk 2.0.1-0ubuntu7 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
2012-06-01 09:53:39 upgrade cups-filters 1.0.17-0bzr0.1 1.0.18-0ubuntu0.1
2012-06-01 09:53:39 upgrade libtotem-plparser17 3.4.1-1 3.4.2-1~precise1
2012-06-01 09:53:40 upgrade gir1.2-totem-plparser-1.0 3.4.1-1 3.4.2-1~precise1
2012-06-01 09:53:40 upgrade libtotem0 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.2-1ubuntu1~precise1
2012-06-01 09:53:40 upgrade gir1.2-totem-1.0 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.2-1ubuntu1~precise1
2012-06-01 09:53:40 upgrade libubuntuoneui-3.0-1 3.0.0-0ubuntu1 3.0.1-0ubuntu1
2012-06-01 09:53:41 upgrade gir1.2-ubuntuoneui-3.0 3.0.0-0ubuntu1 3.0.1-0ubuntu1
2012-06-01 09:53:41 upgrade smbclient 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.1 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.2
2012-06-01 09:53:42 upgrade samba-common 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.1 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.2
2012-06-01 09:53:43 upgrade samba-common-bin 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.1 2:3.6.3-2ubuntu2.2
2012-06-01 09:53:43 upgrade totem-common 3.4.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.4.2-1ubuntu1~precise1
2012-06-01 09:53:44 upgrade ubuntuone-client-gnome 3.0.0-0ubuntu1 3.0.1-0ubuntu1
2012-06-01 10:14:00 upgrade gnome-session-bin 3.4.2.1-0ubuntu1~precise1 3.2.1-0ubuntu8
2012-06-01 10:16:36 upgrade gnome-session-bin 3.2.1-0ubuntu8 3.4.2.1-0ubuntu1~precise1

Probably the label "gnome-shell" should be replaced by "gnome-session", since this is the package/binary that seems to be failing?
For me, the issue seems gone.

Revision history for this message
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha) wrote :

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS reached End of Life in April. See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Please upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and re-test. If the bug is still reproducible, increase the verbosity of the steps to recreate it so we can try again.

I apologize that we are not always to respond to bug reports promptly. Do feel free to report any other bugs you may find.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Invalid
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