Black Screen Issue After Installing Zorin OS 16 - Need Help!

Hi everyone,

Iam facing a frustrating issue after installing Zorin OS 16 Core on my laptop. The installation process completed without any problems, but after rebooting, the screen stays completely black after the Zorin logo appears. I can’t access the desktop or do anything beyond this point.

Booting into the recovery mode using the advanced options.
Checking if it’s related to the NVIDIA GPU by using nomodeset in the boot parameters (still no luck). Ensured my BIOS is updated to the latest version.

Laptop Details:

Model: Dell Inspiron 15 5000
CPU: Intel Core i5
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1050
RAM 8 GB

I suspect it could be a driver issue with the NVIDIA GPU, but Iam not sure how to fix it without accessing the desktop.

Has anyone else faced this issue, and if so, how did you resolve it?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!

Zorin 16 is based on Ubuntu 20.04. Please be aware that Zorin 16 like Ubuntu 20.04 reaches end of life in April this year. Using Brave A.I. Search engine brought back this:

Ubuntu 20.04 Black Screen Issue

When encountering a black screen after installing Ubuntu 20.04 on a Dell Inspiron with a GTX 1050 graphics card, several troubleshooting steps can be taken:

  • Disabling PTT Security: Some users have reported success by disabling the PTT (Platform Trust Technology) Security in the BIOS settings. This can be done by pressing F2 during startup to enter the BIOS, navigating to the Security tab, unchecking PTT On, and then applying the changes.
  • Removing Splash from GRUB: Another solution involves removing the splash parameter from the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line in the /etc/default/grub file. After making this change, run sudo update-grub to apply it.
  • Changing Nvidia Driver Version: Some users have resolved the issue by reverting to an older Nvidia driver version. For example, switching from nvidia-driver-470 to nvidia-driver-450 has been reported to work.
  • Using Nomodeset Option: Booting with the nomodeset option can help bypass graphics initialization issues. This can be done by pressing e at the GRUB menu to edit the boot parameters, adding nomodeset to the kernel parameters, and then booting with the modified settings.

These steps have been reported to resolve black screen issues on various systems with similar configurations.

I don't know if PTT security is the same as "Secure Boot." But if you have that in your computer's BIOS, please by all means, disable it as well.


Welcome to the Forum!

A couple of Questions:

  • Is this a Dual-Boot Machine or Zorin only?
  • Are Secure boot and Fast Boot in BIOS turned off?
  • Did you installed Zorin with Nvidia Graphics or did You installed the Driver later after the Installation?
  • Did you checked the Checksum of the ISO?
  • What Tool did You used to create the bootable USB Stick?
  • Is Your BIOS in UEFI or Legacy Mode?
1 Like

You can manage drivers by entering the Recovery Menu:

Once at the menu, arrow key down to Enable networking. Once the net is enabled, back up to the Recovery Menu and arrow key down to Drop to Root Prompt
Tap the enter key - you now will have a root terminal prompt you can use.
Try

sudo apt-update && sudo ubuntu-drivers install

Thank you for the detailed instructions! I’ll give this a try to access the Recovery Menu and enable networking. Hopefully, this helps me proceed with resolving the black screen issue. I appreciate your input and will update here once I’ve tried it!