Fairly simple problem, but I am at a loss re how to debug or fix the issue.
I switched to Ubuntu (Wayland). Everything kinda works fine, but there are slight issues with a few programs, so logged out, clicked the gear icon to log back in using the default shell. And it just loops me back to login screen. I try a second time, and the machine locks. Tried logging in with compiz, exactly the same issue. The only option I can use is Wayland, it's been like this for the last month or so as I searched for and tried various fixes.
I've searched for similar issues on here, on Ubuntu/Linux forums and all solutions to similar issues are not fixing the issue. I really do not want to reinstall; it's a dev machine that I've quite carefully set up, and if at all possible I want to avoid doing that for a second time.
Edit: Ubuntu version is stock 18.04