Dell laptop freezing on Zorin OS 17 Pro

General Help
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Hi,
I'm a complete Linux noob, so please forgive my ignorance. I'm running, or trying to run, Zorin 17 pro with Plasma 5 on a Dell Latitude 7490, but for some reason I'm unable to fathom, it freezes all the time. Sometimes while even still on the log on screen, but usually after a few minutes. Only a hard reset will solve it.

It's a dual boot system with Win 11, and that doesn't freeze, which suggests something is wrong with the OS rather than the computer.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I might try to fix this?

Thanks very much

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How did you install Zorin?

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Hi, thanks for the response. From a USB stick I installed the Core, and then after a few days I upgraded it to Pro. But I had the freezing problem with the Core version. I hoped upgrading to Pro would solve the problem, but it hasn't.

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The issue might be related to Zorin OS itself. Plz troubleshoot like try updating your graphics drivers, checking system logs for errors, testing with a live USB, monitoring system resources for high usage, disabling hardware acceleration, ensuring BIOS firmware is up to date and if needed, consider reinstalling Zorin OS.

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Did you follow any guide on how to install GNU/Linux alongside Windoes 11? As you are now running Pro you are entitled to receive support from Zorin directly. You need to fill out a support request for help here:

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Thank you. Will try all that one thing at a time.

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Ah, thank you very much for that. I'll give that a go.

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Some pre-installation advice is provided here: Before you install

10

Thank you. Interesting. Maybe a reinstall will fix it.

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Hi all, just to let you know, I've found out what the problem was. It was my touchpad that was causing the freezes. I've plugged in a USB mouse and fingers crossed everything seems OK now.

1 Like
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Now you have cornered the source of the problem, it would be a shame to just leave it and use a mouse as a work-round.

You could try Zorin>Settings>Touchpad
And try different sensitivity setting to see if that stops freezing with touchpad, no mouse.

And/or find model of touchpad and see if there is a better driver available.

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Thanks, yes, I'll play around with the touchpad settings when I have some more time. I've tried finding the touchpad model in both zorin and windows, but with no luck, and there don't seem to be any drivers for it. But perhaps my google fu is not what it once was.