Extreme newbie here, please help

General Help
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1

I recently installed Zorin OS Lite 16.2 on my Sony Vaio laptop. After a seemingly successful installation, the system asked me to restart the computer. However, during the restart process, I encountered the error message "Failed to start show Plymouth boot screen," which seemed to loop indefinitely. As a result, I had to perform a force shutdown.

Upon turning on the laptop again, I somehow reached the Grub menu. I'm not entirely sure if this happened because I pressed and held the Shift key during startup or continuously pressed F11 when the Vaio logo appeared. It could also be that the Grub menu is set to open by default. I'm a bit confused about this.

From the Grub menu, I selected "Advanced options for Zorin." During this process, I encountered the same "Plymouth" error but eventually started seeing different lines of code. However, the process kept repeating, and after some time, it displayed a blinking Zorin logo, only to return to the same lines again. This cycle continued indefinitely, prompting me to force shutdown the laptop once more.

After turning on the laptop again, I accessed the Grub menu and decided to edit the Grub boot configuration by replacing "quiet splash" with "nomodeset." Surprisingly, the system booted successfully into Zorin OS Lite this time. However, I noticed that the resolution was incorrect, appearing stretched out.

To make the "nomodeset" setting permanent, I modified the Grub file using the terminal and saved the configuration. I then rebooted the system again, which took quite some long time (displaying a blank screen for around 20 minutes after showing the Sony Vaio logo and after the blank screen, some lines and commands appeared before Zorin OS finally booted up.) This blank screen after sony vaio logo happened every time before showing something when I restarted or turned on the laptop after installation of Zorin OS. I actually replaced windows 10 with zorin os only because to get rid of the long startup time, but things now become more bad :frowning:

Despite resolving the boot issue, a new problem emerged. The resolution became fixed at 640x480, and I was unable to change it. I suspect this issue is related to the "nomodeset" setting.

Please help if you have any ideas or solutions to the problems I've encountered. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Laptop Specifications:

8GB RAM
Intel i5 2nd Gen
Nvidia GeForce 410m

IMG_20230717_185129_002
IMG_20230717_185129_0024064×3048 585 KB

1 Like
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On the screenshot, have you changed the icon theme, or did it came like this? Only wondering because maybe you'll have to reinstall and missing icon theme should be another symptom (is it written like that?)

3

can u please provide more info about the grub file u edited (path of the grub file)? if u edited the grub.cfg in the boot > grub directory, then u can reset the grub.cfg file by running sudo update-grub in the terminal. running the above command can fix the issue.

4

I didn't changed the icon theme. It came like this.

5

This is the command and path of the grub file which I edited:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

6

While we could try sudo dpkg --configure -a and sudo apt install --reinstall plymouth - as this is such a fresh install of Zorin OS; I would just wipe and reinstall Zorin. Clearly, the install had a corruption or error during the process. And as this is a fresh install, you are in no danger of losing personal data and files.

7

So I have to start the installation process over from scratch for a fresh install, correct? using a bootable USB?

8

Have a look at this pre-installation advice: Before you install

9

If it came like this, it means system's essential components are missing. So, you should reinstall it.

10

I actually chose the option to delete Windows and then install Zorin OS. This is the second option, as opposed to dual booting. So, how do I do steps 2, 3, and 4 of this guide?

11

Okay, I'll let you know if something happens :+1:

1 Like
12

Yes. I recommend redownloading the .iso. Steps 3 and 4 can be ignored since Windows is not on the drive.
For step 2, you can access the BIOS EFI Settings from the motherboard. Usually booting then tapping F2, F10, F12 depending on the manufacturer.

Redownloading and reburning the .iso file is the safest bet - since something went wrong with this last attempt.

13

Okay, I just downloaded the iso file again and will do the rest of the things tomorrow and will update :slight_smile:

2 Likes
14

Secure boot is missing from the boot tab in the BIOS, it only shows network boot and external device boot. External device boot is enabled and network boot is disabled.

15

Try the Security Tab.

17

It's not in the security tab too. I checked the whole boot menu. But couldn't find the secure boot option

18

What is your year, make and model of computer?

19

Year is 2011 I think. Model is Sony Vaio VPCEG3AEN.

20

Well... I have run a variety of searches.
Short of it is - I can find very little, including from the Sony website.

You may have a Minimalist BIOS Setting Screen and must enable Advanced Options for BIOS settings, first.
Looking that up led me to this Quora which was unnerving:

21

Oh no, this sounds difficult, and I won't take the chance. But in any case, I really appreciate your assistance with this. I now worry that I won't be able to return to the windows :frowning: