gnome-shell crashes when monitor sleeps or is turned off

[David Burke]

Gnome shell crashes reliably and only after a period of inactivity (15+ minutes). I have not seen it crash while using the desktop - even for hours at a time. I suspect it has something to do with locking the screen or turning off the monitor. However even after attempting to disable both lockscreen and blank screen it still happens.

After a crash dmesg shows [ 3726.608957] gnome-shell[2666]: segfault at 38 ip 00007fc6a7330c30 sp 00007fff0d12fe78 error 4 in libmutter-1.so.0.0.0[7fc6a72de000+141000]

When the crash happens it goes back to the login screen. Logging in works fine.

It happens pretty reliably but will sometimes successfully lock and blank the screen. I would say it happens 90% of the time I leave the computer alone for awhile.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: gnome-shell 3.26.1-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-16.19-generic 4.13.4
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-16-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Tue Oct 31 11:34:11 2017
DisplayManager: gdm3
GsettingsChanges:
 b'org.gnome.shell' b'favorite-apps' b"['org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop', 'google-chrome.desktop', 'firefox.desktop', 'code.desktop', 'org.gnome.Terminal.desktop', 'libreoffice-writer.desktop', 'libreoffice-calc.desktop', 'libreoffice-impress.desktop', 'org.gnome.Software.desktop', 'gnome-control-center.desktop']"
 b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'gtk-im-module' b"'gtk-im-context-simple'"
 b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'clock-format' b"'12h'"
 b'org.gnome.desktop.interface' b'text-scaling-factor' b'1.25'
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-07-18 (105 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release amd64 (20170412)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to artful on 2017-10-18 (12 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue you are reporting is an upstream one and it would be nice if somebody having it could send the bug to the developers of the software by following the instructions at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME. If you have done so, please tell us the number of the upstream bug (or the link), so we can add a bugwatch that will inform us about its status. Thanks in advance.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

could be similar to https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=789501, do you use hidpi scaling?

[David Burke (bufke)]

I use font scaling. At one point I enabled fractional scaling but have since completely disabled it including disabling org.gnome.mutter.experimental-features.

"unplugging external monitor" I only use one monitor and this is a desktop - but my 4k PB287 Asus monitor has perhaps the slowest turn on speed ever designed by man. In the past I've ran into minor issues where I suspect Ubuntu is simply shocked that a monitor could ever be so slow and assumes I unplugged it then plugged it back in. So it's possible that bug is related but hard to say for sure.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Your logs show two (possibly separate) problems that will crash gnome-shell:

Oct 31 10:30:20 username-thelab gnome-shell[2666]: setup_framebuffers: assertion 'width > 0' failed

and

Oct 31 11:30:55 username-thelab gnome-session-binary[2598]: WARNING: Application 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' killed by signal 11

So we need some more concrete information. Please forgive the canned response below :)

---

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. However, your crash report is either missing or challenging to deal with as a ".crash" file. Please follow these instructions to have apport report a new bug about your crash that can be dealt with by the automatic retracer.

If you are running the Ubuntu Stable Release you might need to enable apport in /etc/default/apport and restart.

Now open your file manager, navigate to your /var/crash directory and open the crash report you wish to submit.
If this fails you will have to open a terminal and file your report with 'ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash' where _my_crash_report.crash is the crash you would like to report. If you get an error that you aren't allowed to access this report you will have to file it with 'sudo ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash'.

[Echo Nolan (echonolan)]

I'm also experiencing this, and I also have a 4k monitor, although not the same model as David. Mine is an LG 27UD58-B. It's hooked up to a KVM switch and might be taking longer to come up than is normal, but I haven't really noticed that.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Echo: Please don't attach crash files to bugs. You can upload them securely and in a way we can process by running 'ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash'. That will also create a new bug for you.

[Echo Nolan (echonolan)]

I opened up the .crash file and it has the same stack trace as in #1724557. I also get the crash turning the monitor off. I don't know if you guys want to mark this one as duplicate or what.

[David Burke (bufke)]

Turning off the monitor is a VERY simple way to reproduce the issue. I was able to work around it by changing my sleep settings (super wasteful!) so that the monitor never goes off. I thought I tried this before...but it works now.

I attempted to follow the generic crash report instructions. I got a apport gui to ask about submitting and I hit submit. I didn't get any confirmation it did anything however. I made a copy of the .crash file if that is helpful - let me know what to do with it.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gnome-shell (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Walter (wdoekes)]

Yes. Also experiencing these crashes since I switched from Zesty to Artful yesterday. A lock-screen reproduces the crash, as does turning the monitor off.

I have a UWQHD (3440×1440) resolution, if that matters, on my Dell monitor. I'll try to gather some more debug info.

This is highly annoying, as all my open windows are destroyed as soon as a leave my workstation (cannot leave it running without locked screen obviously).

[Walter (wdoekes)]

Stack trace looks like https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/1724557 here too. Guessing this is a duplicate.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please leave the status as Incomplete while we wait for feedback (crash files, core files, stack traces) from the original reporter.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

If you experience "similar" crashes please start by logging your own bug.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gnome-shell (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Rafael Martínez Montiel (rafael-martinez-montiel)]

Why this changes from incomplete to expired, i'm experiencing this on a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04... sent various crash reports and it seems that all crashes are related to this. System does not halt when in use but if screen is turned off by inactivity it crashes and reboots.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

See comment #15.

If you are experiencing a crash then please open a new bug, preferably by running:

  ubuntu-bug /var/crash/YOURFILE.crash

[Zoltan Marcsek (lord-potato)]

Locking and sleeping is very buggy for me on a fresh 18.04. It rarely works, other times gnome restarts, and I get in without a login prompt (HUGE security issue), sometimes I can't log in after resume, or I can, but my apps get closed (probably I get fully logged out). Gnome shell also restart when I try to lock (with super+L), and the computer doesn't get locked. Interestingly these bugs were not present on my previous 18.04 install on the very same laptop, and I didn't change a thing (same installer, same programs&extensions. The only difference is my SSD, but I cannot find any errors on it).

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please see comment #15-#16.

[Lenin (gagarin)]

Several machines out of 100, here also have problems with locking (that's desktop computers, not laptops). Current workaround completely disable screensaving/locking.

One of the computers fills disk (/var/log/syslog) with:
Dec 17 00:13:25 hostname org.gnome.Shell.desktop[22108]: [24575:24575:1217/001325.194267:ERROR:gles2_cmd_decoder.cc(3793)] ContextResult::kFatalFailure: Could not allocate offscreen buffer storage.
Dec 17 00:13:25 hostname org.gnome.Shell.desktop[22108]: [24575:24575:1217/001325.198153:ERROR:gles2_cmd_decoder.cc(5494)] GLES2DecoderImpl::ResizeOffscreenFramebuffer failed because offscreen FBO was incomplete.

[Paul Smith (psmith-gnu)]

I wasn't having any problems with Ubuntu 18.04 but ever since I upgraded to Ubuntu 18.10 gnome-shell seems to crash two out of every three times the screensaver starts.

I used ubuntu-bug on a /var/crash file but I have no idea what happened to it: it showed me the info in a window and I said go ahead and send it, then it disappeared and I got no email or anything.

FYI, I have an older system with an old NVidia card, no 4k monitor although I do use two monitors. I use Xg not wayland.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

This bug is closed and further comments should only be added by the original reporter.

Anyone experiencing crashes should follow all of these instructions:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Responses#Missing_a_crash_report_or_having_a_.crash_attachment