I successfully installed Zorin on my HP ZBook and was instructed to restart the computer in order to begin using it. However, what I am presented with is a black screen with a column of white text on the left-hand side which is scrolling so rapidly that it is impossible to read. This has been now been going on for nearly half an hour and surely this is not normal?
My laptop is an HP ZBook Power 16 inch G11 with 1.86 TB storage, Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (2.30 GHz) processor, 640 GB RAM, 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor. Graphics: Intel Arc Pro Graphics, Nvidia RTX 3000 Generation Laptom GPU, 8 GB Memory, Driver version 32.0.15.7371, date 21/8/25.
I have already installed Zorin on my Lenovo ThinkPad and have been using it successfully for a few weeks now. I am aware that people sometimes have problems with graphics drivers with HP computers and perhaps my problem is something to do with this? At this stage I cannot get anywhere on the HP screen because of this continuous rapid white text scrolling.
Please be aware that while I have been relatively computer-literate on a day-to-day basis with Windows, I am no geek! I find the Terminal pretty intimidating. Please use plain English when replying, and help this poor old lady get her laptop up and running.
Thanks in advance.
PS Decided to try shutting the computer down and restarting. This seems to have resolved the problem - at least for now! Very mysterious.
We could take a Loo at some basic Questions:
- Are Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS disabled?
- If Windows is still installed: Is Fast Start-Up in Windows disabled?
- Does the BIOS run in UEFI or Legacy Mode?
- What Tool did You use to create the Bootstick?
- Did You choose the Option with Graphics Drivers or without?
- Did You made an offline Installation or with Internet Connection, Updates and Driver Installation?
Thank you for your reply. I decided to do a hard reset and try restarting the computer, and this sorted the problem. I am now up and running with Zorin on this laptop and apart from a few minor glitches all seems to be well.
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I thought the problem was solved but it is still there and I cannot restart - I can only start from cold. I'll try to answer your questions. Windows is no longer installed. I do not understand any of the terms here.
Got into the BIOS (pressing F10 on startup). Nothing about Secure Boot but I think I did disable this while I still had Windows. This time I disabled Fast Boot which was still active. (It's really hard to find one's way around all this.) I also tried the option to press Esc continuously on startup but that was mostly just about boot order.
It looks as if the BIOS is UEFI but there is no mention anywhere about Legacy.
I used Etcher to create the USB installation drive and had no problems with it when I installed it on this laptop (Lenovo) so it should be OK on the HP which is giving me all the problems now.
I can't remember if I chose option with graphics drivers but I am sure I would have done if it had been available.
I'm afraid I don't understand your final question. The computer can't have been connected to the Internet because I hadn't yet installed anything?
After changing that one thing (disabling Fast Boot), the computer started up OK, but when I did the restart, I got all that scrolling white script again. This time it wasn't going so fast as to be illegible so I was able to read some of it. Many almost identical lines listed numerically, continuously scrolling and going into multiple hundreds, saying stuff like "PCIe Bus Error: Severity = correctable" and "[12] Timeout" repeatedly.
To get out of it I had to do a hard reset as before. When I started the computer again it got me into Zorin, but I still can't restart without all these problems.
When you are connected to the Internet (Wireless or Cable), you can during the Installation directly Updates and Driver Installation. For that is the Internet connection. And doing this can cause Issues depending on what gets installed. It's not a general Thing but it can help to install it offline - or installing without install Updates and Drivers.
When in BIOS is a Security Tab, you should find it there. Unfortunatle isn't there some kind of standard Setup for BIOSes. So, every Manufacturer does it handle different with the Menu. This can be annoying to find the Stuff.
Etcher can be sometimes a bit difficult. If You have the Possibility to use a Windows PC, I can recommend Rufus. There You have the Option ''Partition Sheme''. There You can directly choose between GPT for Your UEFI BIOS and MBR for a Legacy BIOS. Exactly this is why I like this Tool.
Could be a Point, too. You wrote, you have a Nvidia Graphics Card. there it would be good to check 2 Things:
- What Driver do You use? You can check that in Software & Updates and there in the ''Additional Drivers'' Tab.
- Does Your System run in Wayland or X11. You can check that with the Terminal Command
echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
When it shows You Wayland (will only show Walyand or X11, no big Output, so it is easy), I would suggest to switch to X11/Xorg. To do that, go to the Login Screen. click there on Your Profile so that the Password Field appears. When it is appeared, You should see a Gear Icon in the bottom right Corner. Click on it and choose the Option ''Zorin Desktop on Xorg'' and then log in.
I remember that I did disable Secure Boot, because I had a bit of hassle with Microsoft and had to go onto their site and get a code to enter, in order to do it, but it worked OK. In the HP ZBook BIOS there is absolutely NO mention anywhere of Legacy Boot. It simply isn't there. I have searched everywhere. No chance to choose it. Searching online, I did come across something that suggested that it wasn't available if you had a Nvidia card but I don't know about that.
I looked at Additional Drivers and it recognised that the Nvidia graphics card is there, and it said "This device is using an alternative driver." Underneath was a whole list of Nvidia drivers, e.g. "Using NVIDIA driver (open kernel)..." and a whole lot of stuff like "metapackage" (which I don't understand) - about 15 or 16 different ones, none of which were checked. The only one that is checked is right at the bottom and is "Using X.Org X server -- Nouveau display driver from xserver-xorg-video-nouveau." (This is presumably the thing I've just changed, as per your instructions.) At the bottom it says "No proprietary drivers are in use."
I know there isn't any problem with my USB installation drive because it worked perfectly on this Lenovo laptop. It did install Zorin OK on the HP ZBook except for the restarting problem. I haven't had the white scrolling text again - when I try to restart, it either flashes the Zorin logo briefly and then nothing happens, or the Zorin logo continues to show, but still nothing happens.
Looking back and trying to remember, I am pretty sure I didn't choose any extra options like graphics drivers. I think it was just a straightforward installation and the computer certainly wasn't connected to the internet when I did it because nothing was yet set up.
Can You type in Terminal nvidia-smi please? It should give an Overview what Driver is used, the Graphics Card and other Stuff.
Not directly ... Okay, You wrote above this:
and then this:
So, is the Nouveau Driver active? Maybe make a Screenshot of the Additional Drivers Tab to show the whole Overview.
Okay, then it uses Nouveau Drivers. It would be good to try it with Nvidia Drivers installed. And there would be the Point, I mentioned above:
So, I would suggest to switch to X11/Xorg if not already run in it. And then install the Nvidia Driver.
Not sure I understand. I did as you suggested and changed Wayland (whatever that is!) to X11/Xorg which seems to be the only thing on that list of drivers that is selected. Since it is selected, isn't this what is running? I'm sorry but all this is gobbledegook to me and I haven't a clue what any of it means. In the list in my screenshot, none of the Nvidia drivers are selected. Do I need to select them - all of them - only one? Which one? If I need to do anything, could you please tell me, step by step, so I can follow your directions? Also, if I do this, will it solve the problem of not being able to restart the computer? All this is totally new to me and as a recent long-time Windows user I am completely unfamiliar with the inner workings of computers, so you need to treat me as a complete idiot!!
What Ponce-De-Leon is suggesting is to use a proprietary Nvidia driver instead of Nouveau driver.
But experience is that Nvidia graphics do not play well with Wayland, so suggest you first switch from Wayland to the Xorg protocol.
This can be done from the gearwheel icon, bottom right of the login screen.
If unclear, maybe post a screenshot of your Wayland/Xorg choices at that icon.
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Okay, maybe my Instructions are not the Best. Let me explain something first: Wayland and X11/Xorg are Display Protocols. Wayland is a newer Standard but depending how well it is implemented in the System it can be good or not so good. It is a bit unreliable. Is a Thing of Circumstances. X11/Xorg is an older Standard but in common well implemented and so more reliable.
So far a short Explanation. What You see in the Driver List "Using X.Org X server -- Nouveau display driver from xerver-xorg-video-nouveau (open source)" doesn't mean that You are on Xorg. It means tha the Nouveau Driver for Xorg are selected. But switching to Xorg, you have to do seperately. Like I have already explained here:
When You switched, You can check how it behaves then. If the Problem is still there, use instaed of the Nouveau Driver a Driver from Nvidia. And for that is this Driver List. Alternatively, You can use the Terminal, too. The Command would be:
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-580 nvidia-dkms-580
I had already done what you suggested at the login screen so I was already on Xorg. It wouldn't restart, so I copied and pasted what you said into the Terminal and everything went in OK with the Nvidia driver. However, when I tried to reboot again, I got a small amount of scrolling white script on a black screen which was very difficult to read, but the end of each line said: "...is already bound to nouveau." It wouldn't reboot. I started again from cold and it opened, but when I tried to restart again, it wouldn't, but this time I didn't get any white script.
Maybe it doesn't like the Driver ... Okay, try the Following: When in Zorin type
sudo apt purge nvidia* libnvidia*
to delete the Nvidia Driver. Then check if it restarts again.
Thank you. I did that, and it didn't work. I didn't expect it to, because it didn't work before I put the Nvidia driver in. This time, the first time I attempted a restart, I got loads of the white text again. I managed to photograph part of it with my phone:
I shut the whole thing down and rebooted, and tried another restart. No text this time but it just wouldn't get further than the Zorin logo.
New discovery - up till now I've been using hard reset to shut down, after restarting not working, but I have just attempted to shut down from within Zorin. Zorin will close, but the computer will not shut down, but the screen continues to show the HP logo. Is this problem associated with the non-restarting problem?
Has anyone any idea why this is happening, and any suggestions as to how I might put it right? I'd really love to get Zorin up and running on this HP ZBook!
It seems to be a PCIe Issue. Wouldn't You have a Laptop, I would suggest to open the PC and check all Connections ...
