some of you already know of my troubles with Zorin and here I am again. Firstly I would like to express my gratitude towards everyone who was so patient with me in (trying) to solve my problems.
Yet again I stand before the ruins of an install and I cannot figure out what went wrong.
The PC is a Lenovo m90a pro Gen 4. Nvidia 4050m Graphics card and a ultra 5 Intel CPU i think if i remember correctly.
These are my issues:
Yesterday i was greeted with a "Kernel panic, cannot boot into your block" or something. The PC is now running on an older Kernel but this is very discomforting to me since I dont know why this happens, what that is and if it can creep into the older Kernel. What do I do?
The PC uses Bluetooth speakers since the inbuilt ones dont work with Zorin. Every time the PC boots, i need to get into pulse audio settings and change around in the configuration->profile tab some things until the sound works. This takes maybe a minute but I'm getting tired of it. Also the inbuilt micro isn't always there. Its annoying to fish around in the pulse audio to find something that will accept my microphone... Any ideas?
My external SSDs arent compatible anymore. One day to the next my two SSDs arent working with the PC anymore. One isnt recognized at all, the other one I cant write to. Id like to save my date some other place and then format these drives correctly. What Format should they be? Obviously I didnt do it right the first time. Im using this PC with Zorin and run Windows 11 64bit through the VirtualBox VM.
In general Id like to re-setup this PC with Zorin as the main OS and then use it to run Win11 in a VM. What recommendations would you give me to do that? What settings during install etc. etc. are most suitable to that? Basically I feel like I did a botch job setting up this PC and now its biting back. What do I need to do to make sure I finally have a stable version of a Linux that I can use longer than 3 Months or so? Just something simple, where I dont need to futz with the sound, dont need to be afraid the Kernel just bites the dust and my SSDs dont ■■■■ out all of a sudden? Any Idea? Pleeeeeeeaaaase?
Like @Nourpon already has linked, there are some Issues with the new 7.0 Kernel. You could try it with switching back to the older 6.17 Kernel.
But when You want make a Reinstall:
Use a USB stick with a Capacity of 8 to 32 Gig's. Format i to FAT32. When You have Windows running, I can recommend Rufus to create the Bootstick. Make sure in BIOS are Secure Boot and Fast Boot disabled. Also check if the BIOS is in UEFI or Legacy Mode. When downloaded the Zorin ISO, verify the Checksum.
If Your BIOS is in UEFI Mode, select in Rufus on the ''Partition Sheme'' Option GPT. When the BIOS should be in Legacy Mode selsct MBR.
When the Stick is created, boot from it and Install Zorin. Choose ''Erase Disk'' if You want completely wipe the Drive and then install Zorin on it. But be warned! This will erase all Data on the Drive.
Do you have access to the earlier kernels, by that, do you see a GRUB menu at boot time to allow you to see 'Advanced options for Zorin'?
With regards to Blutooth speakers, that is a tricky one. Which version of Bluetooth do they use, 4, 5, 6?
After I purchased an ASUS Bluetooth dongle using Bluetooth 5.4 I installed Bluetooth 5 packages in Synaptic Package Manager. There are separate packages for Bluetooth 6:
With regards to sound my preference is for ALSA and Audacious also helps with Sound Issues (you need to read the entire thread):
With regards to virtualization, install virt-manager. It won't run straight away after install, you have to logout and back in again.
Additionally I advise you to change the location of the 'pool' where images are stored, which is in /var - if this fills up you are left with an unbootable system. I create a folder named 'storage' to store images of VM's in my /home folder.
Just done some searching on Bluetooth and found this:
Like Swarf is talking about, I had one of my computers do this to Grub, installing Kernel 7, and Kernel 7 has not been supported yet.
What I do is what Swarf is talking about. I choose, "Advance options for Zorin," scroll down to 6, simply choose that, and everything starts fine.
This actually is a better option than trying all the other go arounds...
