[Critical] Desktop Environment crashes/freezes immediately upon locking screen while Steam is running (Reproducible on multiple hardware)

General Help
1

I am experiencing a critical stability issue where the entire desktop environment (GNOME shell / Zorin Desktop) crashes or freezes immediately when I attempt to lock my screen while the Steam client is active. This problem is not isolated to a single device; I have reproduced it consistently across multiple machines with completely different hardware configurations (different CPUs and GPUs), suggesting a software-level conflict rather than a driver-specific fault.

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Launch Steam from the application menu or terminal (steam).
  2. Wait for Steam to fully load (ensuring it is running in the background).
  3. Initiate a screen lock via:
  • Pressing Super + L, OR
  • Clicking "Lock" in the system menu (top-right corner).
  1. Result: The desktop interface instantly becomes unresponsive, the screen may flicker or freeze, and sometimes the audio continues playing but the UI is dead. A hard reboot is required.
2

Welcome to the Forum!

  • Are Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS disabled?
  • If Windows is still installed: Is Fast Start-Up in Windows disabled?
  • Does Zorin run in Wayland or X11? You can check that with the Terminal Command echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
  • Is Steam installed as Flatpak or .deb/APT Package?