Unable to Log In to Gnome 3.16 Desktop

[Andrei Poenaru]

I installed Gnome 3.16 from the gnome-staging PPA on my Ubuntu 15.04 (previously updated from 14.04), but I am unable to log into the Gnome desktop, both on a cold boot or after logging out from Unity.

What I expect to happen:
Selecting gdm as the default dekstop manager takes me to the Gnome greeter when starting my machine.
If lightdm is selected, I am able to log into Gnome by choosing the appropriate session at the Unity greeter.

What actually happened:
With gdm selected, the system boots to a black screen with only the mouse cursor showing. It is not frozen (I can move the mouse and switch to TTY), but no other GUI element loads.
With lightdm selected, I am able to log into Unity, but if I choose Gnome I get a black screen for a couple of seconds after typing my password, then I'm back at the login screen.

I have tried the following suggestions I found online, but to no avail:
  - remove nvidia-* packages
  - remove the .Xauthority file
  - manually restart gdm/lightdm
  - manually stop gdm then run startx
  - do a dist-upgrade

 The only potentially useful log info I can find is in /var/log/gdm/(null)-greeter.log:
(WW) xf86CloseConsole: KDSETMODE failed: Input/output error
(WW) xf86CloseConsole: VT_GETMODE failed: Input/output error
(EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE) xf86CloseConsole: VT_ACTIVATE failed: Input/output error
(EE)
(EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
(EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
(EE)
(EE)
(EE) Backtrace:
(EE) 0: /usr/bin/X (xorg_backtrace+0x56) [0x7f13a8d92556]
(EE) 1: /usr/bin/X (0x7f13a8bdf000+0x1b7749) [0x7f13a8d96749]
(EE) 2: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x7f13a68a5000+0x352f0) [0x7f13a68da2f0]
(EE) 3: ?? [0x7f13ab7f08c0]
(EE)
(EE) Segmentation fault at address 0x7f13ab7f08c0
(EE)
FatalError re-entered, aborting
(EE) Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting

There is no error message in /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+7ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-18.18-generic 3.19.6
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-18-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 346.59 Tue Mar 31 14:10:31 PDT 2015
 GCC version: gcc version 4.9.2 (Ubuntu 4.9.2-10ubuntu13)
ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1.1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Thu Jun 4 12:10:36 2015
DistUpgraded: 2015-06-01 01:05:16,590 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistributionChannelDescriptor:
 # This is a distribution channel descriptor
 # For more information see http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DistributionChannelDescriptor
 canonical-oem-somerville-precise-amd64-20130203-1
DistroCodename: vivid
DistroVariant: kubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0a16] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0616]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-16 (444 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 "Precise" - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20130203-13:50
MachineType: Dell Inc. Vostro 5470
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-18-generic root=UUID=fababcc7-f83d-4082-9cc1-89aea60c2768 ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to vivid on 2015-05-31 (3 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 12/06/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A05
dmi.board.name: 0G5M5F
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 0.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA05:bd12/06/2013:svnDellInc.:pnVostro5470:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0G5M5F:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr0.1:
dmi.product.name: Vostro 5470
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.1+15.04.20150410.1-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.60-2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.5.2-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.5.2-0ubuntu1
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.5.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917-1~exp1ubuntu2.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.11-1ubuntu2build1
xserver.bootTime: Tue Jun 2 17:59:42 2015
xserver.configfile: /etc/X11/xorg.conf
xserver.errors:
 intel(G1): [drm] failed to set drm interface version: Permission denied [13].
 intel(G1): Failed to claim DRM device.
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 5238
 vendor CMN
xserver.version: 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu3

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Andrei Poenaru, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. However, your crash report is missing. Please follow these instructions to have apport report a new bug about your crash that can be dealt with by the automatic retracer. First, execute at a terminal:
cd /var/crash && sudo rm * ; sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo service apport start force_start=1

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

Now reproduce the crash, then open your file manager, navigate to your /var/crash directory and open the crash report you wish to submit.

If that fails, one may 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'.

By default, this sends the crash to the Ubuntu Error Tracker infrastructure, which is different than Launchpad. For more on this, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ErrorTracker .

However, if after doing this you would still like to have a crash report posted to Launchpad, for example to ease triage and add others to your report, one would need to open the following file via a command line:
sudo nano /etc/apport/crashdb.conf

and comment out the line:
'problem_types': ['Bug', 'Package'],

by changing it to:
# 'problem_types': ['Bug', 'Package'],

Save, close, and try to file the crash report again via:
ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash

I'm closing this bug report since the process outlined above will deal with this issue more efficiently.

Also, please do not attach your crash report manually to this report and reopen it.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs