OK. Sounds like the eglnative backend in mutter (provides Wayland sessions) is crashing, which gdm/mutter I think will catch and handle by itself. So perhaps no crash dump on startup is expected...
Maybe this is related: Feb 28 23:21:00 sam-Macmini gdm3[1054]: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.251431 seconds To progress this issue, next please report the problem to the mutter developers here: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/issues and then tell us the ID of the newly-created bug. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-shell in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1752431 Title: Gnome Shell Wayland session crashes on startup - artful Status in gnome-shell package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: When I select "gnome" on login, the session fails to start. If I select gnome/xorg all is well. Description: Ubuntu 17.10 Release: 17.10 wayland-protocols: Installed: 1.10-1 Candidate: 1.10-1 Version table: *** 1.10-1 500 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful/main amd64 Packages 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful/main i386 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status --- ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.7 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: GNOME DisplayManager: gdm3 DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10 GsettingsChanges: org.gnome.shell favorite-apps ['firefox.desktop', 'chromium-browser.desktop', 'libreoffice-writer.desktop', 'org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop', 'shotwell.desktop', 'org.gnome.Totem.desktop', 'vlc.desktop', 'update-manager.desktop', 'audacity.desktop', 'org.gnome.Terminal.desktop'] org.gnome.desktop.interface cursor-theme 'redglass' org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-im-module 'gtk-im-context-simple' org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme 'Adwaita-dark' org.gnome.desktop.interface clock-show-date true InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-03-16 (1811 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5) NonfreeKernelModules: wl Package: gnome-shell 3.26.2-0ubuntu0.1 PackageArchitecture: amd64 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-36.40-generic 4.13.13 Tags: artful Uname: Linux 4.13.0-36-generic x86_64 UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to artful on 2017-10-21 (131 days ago) UserGroups: adm cdrom dip fuse lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo _MarkForUpload: True To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/1752431/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp