This may not be helpful, but I have multiple installations of Lazarus 1.8.4 on Ubuntu 16 installed in VirtualBox from deb files that run fine. I don't have any information on your error messages however.
I install the following:
fpc_3.0.4-2_amd64.deb
fpc-src_3.0.4-2_amd64.deb
lazarus-project_1.8.4-0_amd64.deb
It has worked well for me.
Cheers,
VTwin
EDIT: I assume Ubuntu 64 bit?