RTX 5060 Ti Wayland Black Screen: Temporary X11 Solution for Zorin 17.3

[hex1337]

I recently got an NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti, released a few months ago, but couldn’t get it working out of the box on Zorin 17.3 until now. Manually installing the driver using NVIDIA’s .run file consistently led to a black screen due to Wayland incompatibilities. While it worked flawlessly on Windows 10, Zorin 17.3 was a challenge. Here’s a polished, temporary solution for anyone facing this issue. Note: You’ll need to use X11 for now.

1. Add NVIDIA Repository
   Open a terminal and run:
   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
   sudo apt update

2. Install Open Kernel Driver
   Install the driver with open kernel modules:
   sudo apt install nvidia-driver-575-open nvidia-utils-575 nvidia-settings

3. Configure Xorg
   Create a configuration file for the NVIDIA driver:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
sudo bash -c 'cat > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf' << EOF
Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA Card"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce RTX 5060 Ti"
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
EndSection
EOF

4. Disable Wayland
   Force X11 by disabling Wayland:
   sudo bash -c 'echo "WaylandEnable=false" > /etc/gdm3/custom.conf'

5. Reboot
   Apply changes and start the driver:
   sudo reboot

6. Verify Installation
   Check the GPU status:
   nvidia-smi
   glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer"

Hope it helps!

[Ponce-De-Leon]

Welcome to the Forum!

On Zorin 17, it is commonly recommended to use X11 instead of Wayland with Nvidia Graphics because the Wayland Implementation isn't on a Level for a good use with Nvidia.

@hex1337

Disable Wayland
Force X11 by disabling Wayland:
sudo bash -c 'echo "WaylandEnable=false" > /etc/gdm3/custom.conf'

When You switch on the Login Screen to Xorg, it shouldn't be neccessarry to disable Wayland entirely. Of Course, You can do it if You want.

[Aravisian]

Moved to Tutorials & Guides