No desktop after reboot when using nvidia graphics on 18.10

[Paul Broadhead]

I upgraded from 18.04 to 18.10 and now the desktop does not start after a reboot. The console output ends with "Starting GNOME Display Manager". I cannot switch VTs, my keyboard and mouse are unresponsive though RESUIB sequence works to reboot. If I remote login using ssh, I can run "systemctrl restart gdm3" and I get a working login screen and can continue as expected. If I remove my nvidia drivers the desktop starts as expected after reboot. Examining /var/log/syslog appears to show the nvidia driver failing to load correctly; see below.

In the failed state "systemctl status gdm3" shows:

● gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; static; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2018-10-22 22:06:38 BST; 16min ago
  Process: 1877 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-wait-for-drm (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 1723 ExecStartPre=/usr/share/gdm/generate-config (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 1880 (gdm3)
    Tasks: 3 (limit: 4915)
   Memory: 5.7M
   CGroup: /system.slice/gdm.service
           └─1880 /usr/sbin/gdm3

Oct 22 22:06:35 hagrid systemd[1]: Starting GNOME Display Manager...
Oct 22 22:06:38 hagrid systemd[1]: Started GNOME Display Manager.
Oct 22 22:06:44 hagrid gdm-launch-environment][2108]: pam_unix(gdm-launch-environment:session): session opened for user gdm by (uid=0)
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid gdm3[1880]: Child process -2634 was already dead.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid gdm3[1880]: Child process -2634 was already dead.
root@hagrid:/var/log# grep 2634 syslog
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid gdm3: Child process -2634 was already dead.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid gdm3: Child process -2634 was already dead.

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This is a section from syslog:
Oct 22 22:06:53 hagrid systemd[1]: Starting NVIDIA Persistence Daemon...
Oct 22 22:06:53 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: Verbose syslog connection opened
Oct 22 22:06:53 hagrid systemd[1]: Started NVIDIA Persistence Daemon.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: Now running with user ID 123 and group ID 129
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid [2750]: meta_kms_resources_init failed: Calling drmModeGetResources() failed, assuming we have no outputs
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid gnome-session[2664]: gnome-session-binary[2664]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' exited with code 1
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: Started (2865)
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid [2750]: Failed to create backend: No GPUs with outputs found
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: device 0000:01:00.0 - registered
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid gnome-session-binary[2664]: Unrecoverable failure in required component org.gnome.Shell.desktop
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: Local RPC service initialized
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid systemd[1]: Stopping NVIDIA Persistence Daemon...
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid kernel: [ 86.847749] virbr0: port 1(virbr0-nic) entered blocking state
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid kernel: [ 86.847753] virbr0: port 1(virbr0-nic) entered listening state
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid gnome-session-binary[2664]: WARNING: App 'org.gnome.Shell.desktop' exited with code 1
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid systemd[1]: Stopped NVIDIA Persistence Daemon.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: Received signal 15
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: Socket closed.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: PID file unlocked.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid systemd[1]: [e-mail]: Unit not needed anymore. Stopping.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: PID file closed.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid systemd[1]: Stopping User Manager for UID 121...
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: The daemon no longer has permission to remove its runtime data directory /var/run/nvidia-persistenced
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid systemd[2507]: Stopping D-Bus User Message Bus...
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid nvidia-persistenced: Shutdown (2865)
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid systemd[2507]: Stopped target Default.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid systemd[2507]: Stopped D-Bus User Message Bus.
Oct 22 22:06:54 hagrid gdm3: Child process -2634 was already dead.

Description: Ubuntu 18.10
Release: 18.10

nvidia-driver-390:
  Installed: 390.87-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 390.87-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 390.87-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic/restricted amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.10
Package: nvidia-driver-390 390.87-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.18.0-10.11-generic 4.18.12
Uname: Linux 4.18.0-10-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.10-0ubuntu13
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Mon Oct 22 22:32:04 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-07-30 (84 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180725)
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers-390
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to cosmic on 2018-10-18 (4 days ago)

[Paul Broadhead (pjbroad)]

The issue persists after installing nvidia-410 from the “Graphics Drivers” team PPA.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Mateusz Mikuła (mati865)]

Possibly duplicate of https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm3/+bug/1798790

[Paul Broadhead (pjbroad)]

Yes, looks like it and editing /etc/gdm3/custom.conf to set "WaylandEnable=false" fixed the issue for me too. Thanks!

[Zingam (registrirayme)]

NVIDIA drivers don't work for me on 18.04 at all.

[Zingam (registrirayme)]

I tried a few versions a few times but I can only use nouveau driver