Old Zorin OS 15 Ultimate wont install with new Nvidia GPU

Installing Zorin OS
1

I have and use Zorin OS on my laptop, but now I wanted to put it on my desktop. Or rather, have a separate internal drive for Zorin OS. I paid for Zorin OS 15 Ultimate awhile back and made a bootable USB. For some reason after selecting using modern Nvidia drivers after booting from USB, I still get a black screen.

All the basic troubleshooting steps have been covered such as testing integrity, fast boot off, secure boot off etc. I still cannot get the installer to work for Zorin. Is it an issue with the 15 Ultimate iso not working with the new Nvidia GPUs?

I was able to install other distros with no issues, but I cannot install Zorin, which would be my preferred distro. Is there anything else I'm missing? Or would the Zorin OS 16 Ultimate version be the one I would need to use as an installer?

2

Depending on how new you’re talking, this is to be expected.

There is a minimum driver version that every Nvidia GPU has, if Zorin 15 doesn’t support that version of the driver you simply cannot use it without lots of more manual effort.

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Is there anyway to get an Ultimate 16 download version if I already paid for the 15 one? Or rather rebranded Pro 16 version now.

4

Nope. It's a re-purchase. But I'll wait until Zorin 17 is released this year. Suggestion: use Zorin 16 Core meanwhile. The Pro is for supporting the development of the Zorin OS with pre-installed apps (which can be done via the Store).

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5

Which Nvidia GPU are you using?

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6

Yeah I tried Core 16.2 and it worked fine. I think I'll way till 17 then in that case. Thanks for the suggestion.

7

A 3090. I guess it's all little too new for the older 15 ultimate iso. That's just the one I paid for so figured I'd use it.

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8

No, the Nvidia could run... You would just need to apply the drivers. Getting that on a fresh install is trickier.

I am guessing you also have a later model Intel Integrated graphics, too?
If so and if they are late enough, that may be a bigger issue.

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9

oh, yeah the drivers for that FOR SURE aren't included with Zorin 15.x

If you're lucky, there's backports to Ubuntu 18.04 that you can use, as Zorin 15 is based on that

10

It may not be a driver issue but rather the kernel firmware. 15.3 may not have the firmware able to recognize the gpu you are using. Installing just the driver may still result in the same failure because of this. This would mean a kernel upgrade which can cause other issues, for if you go to far forward it will break the OS by upgrading beyond the expected dependency versions. Some have experienced this with 16 and running the 6.2* or higher kernel.

It would be better to run 16 core now and wait for 17 release to support development.

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Noice

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