I installed Zorin on my desktop a few months ago and have had no issues. Earlier today, I was using the desktop normally and it hung, so I hard-rebooted it. At the reboot, my display was defaulted to 1024x768. I'm using a 46" TV connected via HDMI so that's definitely not the resolution it was. In addition, my Bluetooth KB and mouse no longer responded even after power-cycling them both.
Settings -> Bluetooth showed no dongle connected. I've had an Asus USB Bluetooth dongle plugged in forever, and I think the mobo has built-in BT as well.
I did some googling and found a few threads about similar issues. inxi showed the graphics card was present, so I went to Software & Updates -> Additional Drivers and switched from the existing driver (I think it was Nvidia driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-580 [proprietary] - whatever was installed by default with Zorin worked fine out of the box so this is the first time I've changed it) to Nvidia driver (open kernel) metapackage from nvidia-driver-590-server-open (proprietary) and rebooted.
This fixed the graphics issue, but Bluetooth is still not working. I also noticed that I'm not getting audio output. It's nothing fancy - audio over HDMI going to my TV, as it always has been - but no sound comes out of my soundbar. If I turn up the speakers built into the TV, I don't get any audio there either. In Settings -> Sounds, the output device is Dummy Output. I'm pretty sure it's normally either listed as the Samsung TV or some other HDMI audio device - I don't recall since I've never been into this issue before with Zorin.
The only change I recently made was installing whatever OS updates were available from on or around 3/11 or afterwards. I followed the normal prompts to install them and went on without any issues until now.
Edit: I booted into Windows and Bluetooth/audio are working without any issues.
Could I get some advice on what to do to try and fix?
I am wondering if the updates to kernel 6.17 from 6.14 is the issue as there have been a few posts about various things not working after a kernel update. At boot time, if you are using Secure Boot for Windows/EFI, continue pressing the Esc(ape) key to view the GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) menu, then choose Advanced options, recovery and you should see different kernel options to boot from. Choose an earlier kernel and see if that improves things.
With regards to the Bluetooth disappearing this happens because if you boot into Windows it uses/generates a different pairing key, so the Zorin one gets lost. I recently posted a possible solution to this issue (it doesn't always work) where you have to copy the pairing key from Windows into Zorin. Will amend this post when I find it.
Dumb question but if Zorin isn't seeing the Bluetooth USB adapter plugged in as a device, wouldn't that be an issue with drivers rather than the pairing?
I don't think I'm using Secure Boot - I've got whatever the default bootloader is that shows Zorin, advanced Zorin, and Windows, but I'll see if I can poke around for kernel options and will update in a few minutes.
Edit: I found what I think you meant via Advanced options for Zorin - options to boot into Zorin with Linux 6.17.0-19-generic, 0-14-generic, and 6.14.0-37.generic. There were counterparts as well that had Recovery Mode.
I tried each of them. In 0-19 and 0-14, the Bluetooth options still said no dongle found, but in 0-37, all Bluetooth functionality was normal - my devices were listed and paired and I was able to use them normally.
Each version still was locked at 1024x768 graphics and the only audio output device was Dummy Output. I tried a few different versions of Nvidia drivers, restarted, and went back in to each version in the bootloader menu, but I still was stuck at 1024x768.
I'm back into a normal Zorin OS boot and the original Bluetooth + audio + graphics issue has returned.
In terms of the graphics issue, have you tried using xorg display protocol instead of Wayland? At login time, when you select your user name, a cog appears to the lower right of the screen. Click on it and if it is set to Zorin Desktop it is on Wayland. Click on Zorin on xorg and see if screen resolution improves.
Regarding Bluetooth, I recently purchased an Asus dongle which uses Bluetooth 5.40. I wrote a Tutorial on it which included using Synaptic Package Manager to install Bluetooth 5 package in addition to all the necessary Bluetooth packages:
In terms of kernel I would choose the one that works and stick with that at boot time. To remove the other kernels that don't help, install Synaptic Package Manager (it's in Software). On launch you need to provide your login password.
Once opened, click on Search (top right) and enter the kernel 6.17 details.
When it finds them, right-ckick on the small green square to the left of the listed kernel and select 'mark for complete removal' and then click on 'Apply' button upper left.
Repeat for the problematic 6.14 kernel then reboot.
I need to update my tutorial as I forgot about the pairing buttons on mouse and keyboard.
There's no cog at all in any corner of my screen at login, neither when it prompts me to click on my name or when it prompts for my password.
My USB BT adapter is circa 2020 and only supports BT4 - should I still try your tutorial? If so, another dumb question: should I install anything with the green checkbox as shown in the tutorial or just the ones with the Ubuntu logo next to the checkbox?
As for removing kernels, I'm really new to this so I'm a bit uncertain. When you say "the selected kernel", there's a lot of results that return when I search for "kernel 6.17" - should I remove any and all of them? Which ones should I install for 6.14?
Or alternatively, is there some way to revert to a point when my machine was completely working as it was a week ago? Since none of the advanced boot options worked at all it looks like my only option is to back up my home folder, wipe, and reinstall.
Edit: okay yeah something is messed up, if I try to double-click into a USB flash drive, I get an error that exfat is not configured in my kernel. I think it's reinstall time.
Hi. That is strange that you don't see a cog after selecting your username.
I am wondering if your Zorin .iso you downloaded to burn to USB is corrupt. Did you check the SHA256 checksum of the downloaded .iso before burning to USB?
Additionally, what software did you use to create your installation media?
My personal preference is Ventoy. Never had an issue with it.
If your .iso checksum is OK I would be inclined to do a reinstall. Post install I would recommend you install Timeshift. I usually set it up to create snapshots of the system to my /home partition and change the default five snapshots a day to three. I should point out that I have always used the something else method on any GNU/Linux I install so that if the system goes west I just have to reinstall the '/' partition.
If you decide to create snapshots to an external/other internal drive, be sure it is formatted to Ext4 FS the same as your Zorin install or you will not be able to do a system restore.
I would also recommend using Rescuezilla to make a complete backup of your system.
I would recommend you back up your /home directory, including hidden files (Ctrl+ H if not showing) as these store your application settings, separately to an external device.
In respect of my Tutorial, all the packages except Bluetooth 5.
Additionally, it is still a w.i.p. but please feel free to download the Unofficial Manual for Zorin 18 Core r.3 from here:
I didn't compare the checksum but I installed about a month or two ago and have been daily-driving ever since. It's really weird that it suddenly stopped like this, but I guess that's the Linux life.
I used Etcher to create the media and have a backup going - it's not the end of the world, but if I can get Timeshift to back up to my Qnap via a mounted folder or other backup means, it'll at least be a learning experience.
Thank you for taking the time to help and for providing all the useful info and tutorials!
There have been several reports of issues since kernel 6.17 was pushed out as an update. If you still have a 6.14 kernel that works, I suggest you hold on to it and boot the 6.14 kernel via grub menu item "Advanced Options for Zorin".
All of a sudden, the issue no longer occurs. I had tried a bunch of different permutations of different kernel versions from the boot menu + Nvidia driver type, but no luck. I installed Mint XFCE on some free space and prepared to start migrating over to it, but ran into some weird issues and went back into Zorin with my wired KB/mouse.
On a lark, I tried the sound - and it was working. Same with Bluetooth. Graphics were at normal resolution. It's like the issue never happened except for that 18-24ish hours I was experiencing it.
I can't imagine that installing a different distro in free space on the disk would have done it, but that's the only thing that changed.
I've been the IT person behind "oh, it wasn't working until you showed up, and now it's fine!" plenty of times over the years but this is the first time I did it to myself.