Green Screen Of Death After Latest Update

[Rikker]

What's with the latest update breaking my Zorin OS and giving me the green screen of death? There is no login page. Is there any way to recover my system?

[zabadabadoo]

Have you tried booting a previous kernel via Zorin Additional Options from grub screen?

[Rikker]

Thanks for the tip. It seems to have worked. I remember during the update it asked me if I wanted to remove previous kernels which I thought was strange.

[Aravisian]

I know I experienced some troubles with the 5.15.0-84 kernel and Nvidia. I rolled back to the -83 and stayed put.
It appears that others are offered the 5.15.0-86 kernel, now. I have not seen this since I rolled back nor tested that kernel.

[Rikker]

Dumb question: I have -78 as a kernel option. How do I keep it at -78 kernel. I've tried rolling back to -78 and still get the green screen? I reinstalled Zorin, updated it and still get green screen. The only way I can login is if I use recovery mode which is a pain and it's hit and miss.

[Aravisian]

@Rikker

I have -78 as a kernel option. How do I keep it at -78 kernel.

You can use this method:

[HOW TO] set an older kernel to default boot

You may need to use an earlier kernel than the current kernel used by Zorin. This method allows you to set the kernel that you will boot into by default. To set the new kernel to default: Boot into the kernel you wish to be Saved. Open terminal and run: sudo nano /etc/default/grub Change GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to GRUB_DEFAULT=saved Hit enter to drop down a line. Add GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true ctrl+x to exit, then the y key to say yes to save, then the enter key to save as current configuration. Ru…

But...
Are you experiencing Green Screen on the -78 kernel?
Are you using Nvidia or AMD Graphics or Intel?

There are many suggestions here:

Screen turns yellow even using the live option Ubuntu 22.04

Including:

• Checking the Night Light settings
• Checking user Color Profile
• Trying Wayland instead of Xorg (though this may come with other problems....)

Most of the above appears to be a slightly different issue than yours. They have login and access, but off-color screen. Whereas yours seems to be inaccessible desktop. I have not ever heard of a Green Screen of Death before...

[zabadabadoo]

@Rikker

I remember during the update it asked me if I wanted to remove previous kernels which I thought was strange.

I have noticed recently that after a kernel update and subsequent reboot, Software Updater invites you to "Update" again, listing removal of oldest linux kernal. In my case it always lists the previous but one kernel for removal and leaves the previous kernel alone. So at least there is that to roll back on if needed.
Before recently, "Update" to remove old kernel only occured days, maybe a week, after a new kernel update.

[Luca_Pavan]

@Rikker

during the update it asked me if I wanted to remove previous kernels

Looks normal and safe to me, I installed many kernel updates and whenever I install new versions it proposes to remove older ones once the installation ends. I think it retains 2 or 3 previous kernels for recovery and incompatibility cases.

[Analytic]

Just adding my voice to this topic as I had the exact same experience as @Rikker . I was able to roll back my config to the -84 kernel using Timeshift but was not able to force boot from the -84 kernel using the tutorial posted by @Aravisian . Auto-update seems to override the /etc/default/grub settings somehow so I had to disable updates entirely, which I am not thrilled about. Hoping -88 kernel (or whichever comes next) remedies this problem. I don't mind running on old version of the kernel but I would rather not have to manually review each system update that comes down pipe.

[Aravisian]

@Analytic

Auto-update seems to override the /etc/default/grub settings somehow

Well.. no....
I would recommend that you re-check your steps in setting the default kernel. A mistake may have been made along the way.
The package upgrades do not override grub.

[Rikker]

Update: I tested my monitor, AMD Radeon Graphics, cables; reset BIOS; wiped my SSD clean and reinstalled ZorinOS. I no longer get the Green Screen if I manually choose -78 at boot. If I choose -86, I now get a black screen. It's twilight zone here.

I attempted to set -78 as the default kernel in GRUB as suggested by @Aravisian above but it didn't "take". I'm OK with choosing -78 from Zorin Additional Options at boot.

[Analytic]

@Rikker this is consistent with what I've been seeing. At one point I was getting a black screen with shifting vertical white bars. -84 kernel works fine but -86 is a problem no matter what I try. Will post a copy of my grub file tonight if I have a chance, maybe I'm just omitting a step somewhere.

[Aravisian]

@Analytic

@Rikker this is consistent with what I've been seeing. At one point I was getting a black screen with shifting vertical white bars. -84 kernel works fine but -86 is a problem no matter what I try. Will post a copy of my grub file tonight if I have a chance, maybe I'm just omitting a step somewhere.

For me, -84 was problematic. In another thread, a user said -84 solved their issue.

It appears that there may be some regressions between 5.15.0-83 and 5.15.0-86

So testing each of these kernels, then locking in the one that works seems to be the workaround for now.

This actually reminds me of this thread in which @ERZ suggested that there is an instability in Zorin OS recently.
While we have not been inundated with help requests - we have seen four (or maybe more) individual users all note some issues with the kernels lately - myself included as one of them.

The good news is that the ZorinGroup is already testing the next kernel - so, we really shouldn't have very long to wait.

[Analytic]

Thanks @Aravisian my assumption has been that it's just an integration piece that will get ironed out over time. I'm just going to wait a couple of weeks and then run updates. I'm also having some GRUB-related issues that I suspect are to do with the HP boot menu. Doesn't actually affect general usability, although it could be salient here as well, but I will start a different thread if I feel like wrestling with it.