Hi there!
Back to Zorin with the 18.1 release. Most things are going well, except one super annoying bug : locking my session (Super+L) most often than not leads to my screen and session completely freezing. I then need to reboot my whole computer to get it to unfreeze.
I've done some basic trouble shooting, but nothing that fixes it. I am looking for help to diagnose things further.
One thing I did notice is that the freezing happens mostly when videos are played (eg.: when I want to go to bed lurking in streams to show support).
Some info :
- ZorinOS Core 18.1
- Nvidia RTX 5070 TI
- Nvidia driver (open kernel) 580-open (nvidia-smi = ok)
- My main browser is Firefox
- Hardware acceleration in Firefox is OFF (Settings -> Performance -> Use hardware acceleration -> UNTICKED)
I noticed that if I try to reproduce the issue quickly, for example by going to Twitch, opening a stream, then immediately locking my session, it will behave normally (locking session, no freeze). But if I wait an unmeasured amount of time, locking session will freeze the screen.
I have access to another tty using CTRL+ALT+F1 or F3. Trying to unlock the session graphically (F1) will lead me to a black screen with the mouse pointer operational but everything else frozen. Opening a session in CLI (F3) will let me run commands and this is where I "sudo reboot" every time it happens.
It's extremely annoying and I am fully willing to support anyone willing to help with further tests, results, logs, commands and whatnot.
Thanks! 
Does Your System run in Wayland or X11? You can check that with the Terminal Command echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
You use the open Driver. Does this works the best for You?
Also: This happens when You manually go into Lock. What if the System goes automatically? Does it behave different then?
Hi!
My system runs on X11 and it happens when I lock manually. If I don't lock manually when streams are up, the screens would never close by themselves.
I use the open Driver because they are the one I recognized during setup, I have no preference. They do a real good job when gaming.
Hello, you can try this
1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) then run command to edit the systemd sleep configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/sleep.conf
2. When file opens, scroll down and set following rules under [Sleep] section:
AllowSuspend=no
AllowHibernation=no
AllowSuspendThenHibernate=no
AllowHybridSleep=no
Remove “#” at the beginning of the lines above if they exist and set value to no, or just add them manually. When done, press Ctrl+S to save changes and Ctrl+X to exit.
1 Like
I'm trying to be useful and get more information in here. I asked ChatGPT (I know, I know) for ways to extract useful logs. Here's what it had to say :
Issue reproduced reliably.
No freeze when all GNOME extensions are disabled.
Freeze returns when Zorin extensions are enabled.
Logs show GNOME Shell errors during lock:
screenShield.js triggers lock, then Zorin extensions throw:
SettingsManager.getDefault() is null
No NVIDIA GPU errors (no Xid, no reset), system continues running.
Conclusion: GNOME Shell freeze caused by Zorin extensions (likely zorin-appindicator or zorin-taskbar) during lock screen.
Is that something that would be plausible?
Configuration applied and reboot done. Let's see if screenlock doesn't freeze my system anymore. Will report back.
1 Like
maybe zorin-appindicator in my opinion
1 Like
From ChatGPT :
The relevant evidence is in `gnome.txt`.
At the time of the lock/freeze, GNOME Shell logs this error:
May 01 10:10:30 zorinos gnome-shell[3211]: TypeError: SettingsManager.getDefault() is null
getDefaultGSettings@file:///usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-appindicator@zorinos.com/settingsManager.js:54:28
_updateIconSize@file:///usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-appindicator@zorinos.com/appIndicator.js:1565:42
_updateWhenFullyReady@file:///usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-appindicator@zorinos.com/appIndicator.js:1020:18
async*_init/<@file:///usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-appindicator@zorinos.com/appIndicator.js:973:22
disable/<@file:///usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-taskbar@zorinos.com/panelManager.js:351:20
disable@file:///usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-taskbar@zorinos.com/panelManager.js:324:20
disable@file:///usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-taskbar@zorinos.com/extension.js:135:26
activate@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/screenShield.js:661:34
lock@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/screenShield.js:728:14
LockAsync@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/shellDBus.js:525:28
This points specifically to:
/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-appindicator@zorinos.com/settingsManager.js:54
/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-appindicator@zorinos.com/appIndicator.js:1565
/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-appindicator@zorinos.com/appIndicator.js:1020
/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/zorin-appindicator@zorinos.com/appIndicator.js:973
Same error also appears earlier at 09:59:49, again pointing to zorin-appindicator@zorinos.com.
The stack trace also shows that this is triggered while GNOME Shell is entering the lock screen path:
activate@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/screenShield.js:661:34
lock@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/screenShield.js:728:14
LockAsync@resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/shellDBus.js:525:28
So the strongest evidence is in:
gnome.txt (<- my local file where the command drop logs)
May 01 10:10:30
May 01 09:59:49
May 01 09:10:03
The error is reproducible and disappears when GNOME extensions are disabled.
If @Nourpon's Configuration shouldn't help, You could try it disable the Zorin Appindicator Extension. Install the Extension Manager in Gnome Software (if not already done):
When installed, open it and on the ''Installed'' Tab scroll down until You see the Extension. Then disable it and reboot.
1 Like
That would probably do it but ... isn't that something I would want to use? It's part of the core OS and in order to have the OS work I should disable part of the OS? 
I'm not saying you give bad advice in my situation and I'm not implying I'm owed more than that, but if that's the fix, I should probably do some sort of bug report to have this looked by the Zorin team.
You can replace the Zorin AppIndicator with the open AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Gnome Extension. Search for it in the Extension Manager and install it. So, You can use the AppIndicator Function.
For now test it first if this is really the Reason for the Issue. If it is the Zorin AppIndicator we can tag here the Zorin's for showing the Issue.
Alright. I installed the extension manager and the act of disabling AppIndicator froze my system. LOL
It's now turned off. I need to go sleep now, so let's see if locking my screen for the night will cause issue. I'll let y'all know tomorrow.
Thanks a lot for the help.
2 Likes
Alright so locking my screen yday night didn't cause a freeze. This morning, multiple tests were run, no freezing. Looks like AppIndicator was the cause. I will try to install it back from the link you provided and report back for confirmation. If this solves the issue and bring back functionnality, let's ping the Zorin team so I can assist further.
1 Like
I installed the extension. Right upon installation, the application icons were back. Bad news folks : I tried to lock my screen and it froze instantly. 
Seems like it might not be the AppIndicator by itself after all.
Logs will tell you but it seem pretty clear for now, I hope AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support will work (it does for me since a long time)
So it's the extension mechanism (this one or the other) so you will need to forget it.
May I ask you if you made a fresh install of Zorin or an Upgrade from 17.3 ?
FOUND THE CAUSE!
My screen freeze when the Battle_net app icon is present in the AppIndicator. I run Battle_net through Heroic Launcher.
Clean install from 18.1 ISO.
so it could be a conflict with this app, maybe you have an option to don't show app icon in Heroic Launcher., or an option to close the app either than reduce in status bar
Oh sure. I could kill Battle_net every time I finish playing my game. It's a workaround. A sad workaround because I like having it there. BUT I'm more sad having my computer freeze all the time. 
1 Like
