Ubuntu 18.10 opening system settings logs me out (Intel graphic card)

Question

Disclaimer

I know there is a couple of similar questions but all of them seem to have trouble with NVIDIA graphics. However, I have a built-in Intel graphics.

The problem

Whenever I try to open system settings, the system logs me out. After re-login, all the applications I had open are closed (i.e. this is really log-out, not just locking the screen).

Solutions I have tried

• NVIDIA drivers issues: as I said, I don't use an NVIDIA graphics card
• remove .Xauthority folder: I don't have this folder

System info

This is a desktop PC with ASRock Z390 Extreme 4 motherboard. The only external hardware connected is an external WiFi adapter.

Output of sudo inxi -SCG:

System:
  Host: mypc Kernel: 4.18.0-13-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
  Desktop: Gnome 3.30.1 Distro: Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish) 
CPU:
  Topology: 6-Core model: Intel Core i5-9600K bits: 64 type: MCP 
  L2 cache: 9216 KiB 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1036 2: 873 
  3: 1265 4: 850 5: 1319 6: 1068 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel driver: i915 v: kernel 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.1 driver: i915 resolution: 3840x2160~30Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 7.0 256 bits) v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.2 

UPD

I also tried to run gnome-control-center &> before-log-out.log and this is the contents of the file I have after having logged back in:

XIO:  fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server ":0"
      after 11 requests (11 known processed) with 0 events remaining.

UPD2

If I log in with Wayland, I can open settings without any problem. The output of inxi -SCG is the same with the only difference: Display: wayland.

However, on Wayland the system is much slower (even the mouse movements are noticeably irregular). This issue is posted as a separate question.

Answer 1

Okay, it seems installing a newer version of Mesa helped me. (I followed the instruction here but just in case I repeat the steps in this answer, in case the original post disappears).

1. Adding ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates:

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates
   

2. After that, the following packages are upgradable:

   $ sudo apt list --upgradable
   Listing... Done
   libegl-mesa0/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   libegl1-mesa/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   libgbm1/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   libgl1-mesa-dri/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   libglapi-mesa/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   libglx-mesa0/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   libosmesa6/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   libxatracker2/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   mesa-va-drivers/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   mesa-vdpau-drivers/cosmic 18.2.8-0ubuntu0~18.10.1~ppa1 amd64 [upgradable from: 18.2.2-0ubuntu1]
   

3. Do upgrade:

   $ sudo apt dist-upgrade
   

4. Checking the version:

   $ glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"
   OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 18.2.8
   

5. Log out and log in again. Everything seems to work fine and I can open Settings without any problem.

After this, the output of inxi -SCG is as follows.

System:
  Host: mypc Kernel: 4.18.0-13-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
  Desktop: Gnome 3.30.1 Distro: Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish) 
CPU:
  Topology: 6-Core model: Intel Core i5-9600K bits: 64 type: MCP 
  L2 cache: 9216 KiB 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
  3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel driver: i915 v: kernel 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.1 driver: i915 resolution: 3840x2160~30Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 18.2.8

P.S. Uninstallation (although for me it brought the problem with Settings back, hence, it seems this is indeed the solution for my problem):

$ sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates