When it works, okay. Because of Your older Graphics I would think the 535 Driver could be a better choice btu when You have now a good working Setup, that is what matters.
By the Way: How did you installed the Kernel? Manually downloaded or added a Pop OS Repo?
Added their repo, i followed their guide but added upgrade in the command as well. So it upgraded the kernel too 
sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:system76-dev/stable
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
Then i ran
sudo apt-get install system76-driver-nvidia
Wanted to see if it would work, it did and the system seems to be stable now 
. If it failed i would have start over haha.
Be careful; This could affect all system packages and cause breakage due to Pop_OS and Zorin OS having different sources or dependencies.
Recommended is to apply the Repository for the sources, then upgrade the specific packages you want, limiting risk. For example, the kernel:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:system76-dev/stable
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt install linux-image-generic linux-headers-generic
sudo apt-add-repository --remove ppa:system76-dev/stable
Thanks for the warning and yeah i should have known that, some stuff are lost in my mind 
. I need to relearn some stuff again.
It did update alot of other packages indeed but so far i did not see any conflicts yet.
If the system fails, i try the commands you posted (kernel and driver only) and start from scratch.
I was there when you migrated to GnuLinux and watched you transition from Nube to Novice to Expert... In a matter of days.
I have never seen any person excel so quickly in the GnuLinux environment, much less without strain or fuss.
I suspect you have no desire to be a developer but if ever you do: remember your potential.
We all forget little details once in a while. I for one, am glad to see you actively posting again.
Hello Michael, I know what its like to be put through the ringer, when it comes to Linux. As great as Linux is, its not perfect, and driver issues are notorious for making one, want to pull their hair out lol. But I commend you on working your hardest, to find solutions to the problem.
In regards to Nvidia, they like to discontinue driver support, for old hardware. For example, my old 2012 Acer computer is no longer supported, and any new Nvidia driver, will cause the machine to black screen. I forget which Nvidia driver version it can run, but is an old one!
Well, according to Nvidia, the 550 driver is still supposed to support, the 10-series Nvidia GPU's. I just noticed in my additional drivers list, Nvidia 560 is now a thing, but I am still running on 550. But this does suggest that support for 10-series Nvidia GPU's, has now dropped support for driver 560 and up.
Like I said, earlier, this is one of those things, that makes a person want to pull their hair out, cause you don't know if its a Linux thing, or an Nvidia driver thing. This is why some newcomers can't make the switch to Linux, cause their experience doesn't go smoothly.
Part of the issue too, is notebooks with dual GPU's, even though thats been a thing for like 24-years no probably, for some reason, Linux always gets the short end of the stick, when it comes to support for dual GPU's. There is a lot of things that desktop users don't face, that us with notebooks do face, its just the name of the game.
Anyways, back on topic a bit here, it looks like Nvidia 550 is the maximum driver that older notebook can support. And it looks like the larger amount of digging you did, pulled up some issues regards to it. But I do find it interesting that the POP OS repo was able to save you in this regard.
I do know that many drivers can be kernel specific, as I've dealt with kernel specific issues myself. So it might stem around that, as I find it interesting that switching your kernel, suddenly made things working again, and work well. Good advice from @Aravisian as well, about removing the repo once finished.
With all the garbage Microsoft is doing with Windows 11 these days, more people are going to be switching to Linux, with an attempt to make that work for them. So its good to have more then a base knowledge, in order to work through possible problems.
When I switched to Linux, I knew absolutely nothing about it. Linux issues always frustrated me, especially with my lack of developer knowledge. It took a lot of distro hopping, and even Zorin distro versions upgrades, to get where I am today, and I still don't have a developers knowledge lol.
It just shows that Linux can have a steep learning curve, depending on what you are trying to accomplish with a computer. Keep in mind, folks who never game on their computers, or do production workloads, and only use it for general purpose usage, likely won't run into half of what we've had to deal with.
The more of a power user we are, the more we use our computer's for, gaming, production, the more we require of our machines, the more things that can go wrong, either on Linux side, or Nvidia/AMD side. So its a learning process for sure.
I am just fortunate, that Zorin OS 16 is running so good for me as it is. I still remember the OS9 days, when the boot loader cash would get filled up, requiring a manual clearing. It was a problem that would never get fixed until OS12 came out. So, good job @Michel for working through the problem, to find a working solution.
I have to start over on this machine. Everything ran smooth. Installed some gog games with lutris and they ran fine. Installed another game and the screen became black, rebooted and zorin refused.
Might try Pop! OS on this one as it worked fine for almost 2 years on this unit.
Just tried to install on my P14s Gen 4 AMD, unfortunately the installer crashes in the same spot.
Pop! OS 22.04 installed on the Acer Predator G9-793 machine. Let's play with it, so far i had to make 1 change in the system (audio settings from 2021)
Will add the 2 other ssd's back, had to remove them because i don't want to wipe important data.
I actually tested this - using Zorin OS 17, I added the POP_OS repo, installed just the kernel, then removed the repo.
I did this because I use Nvidia - so I was curious as to the outcome given the woes that 6.8.0-40 brought for Nvidia users.
The kernel team really dropped the ball with 6.8.0-40 as it has other wifi and related hardware troubles as well.
There have been zero issues - I have not noticed any difference, actually but I would not expect to.
So the issue i had has to do with the zorin Kernel ?
It seems very likely to me. The Zorin Kernel is the Canonical kernel teams output of the Linux kernel. I believe the ZorinGroup passed this one through hoping for better Wayland support given that 17 now defaults to Wayland...
It is hard to know what regressions or bugs are in a kernel (If you are not a member of team kernel, anyway) without combing through it all (Hope you have lots of time on your hands if you do so) until the bug reports come rolling in. A distro provider probably can devote very little development time to that.
To me... there are so many things that have gone wrong with 6.8.0-40 that it is indicative of "Do Not Force an Agenda."
We get it. IBM really wants Wayland. It's great for their needs. That's fine.
We understand IBM is a major source of funding that also incidentally provides the support for the freedesktop, even though IBM Is only providing funding for the Linux Kernel and Server dev.
But it is unsurprising that that influence has worked its way into our homes and onto our personal machines with such disastrous effects.
This is why it is crucial that users provide support for the freedesktop instead of letting Big Corporations do it.
The issue got fixed on my side with kernel upgrade + 555.xxx driver. Pop! Os released 560 2-3 days ago. Still no issues on my side. A shame zorin uses the ubuntu kernel, they would better be of with the Pop! OS kernel and the nvidia drivers they provide.
Could it be that this 6.9.3 Kernel comes somehow from the Debian 12 Backports? I looked on a Ubuntu Kernel Page and they have a 6.9.3 Kernel, too but there doesn't fit the Number behind that.
It could be - I do not know. I have not researched the various kernel teams and who does what. POP_OS, Mint and Debian do have their own kernel teams. Debians is a fully fledged team whereas Mints is a small team devoted to patches and additions. I am unsure of the devotion of POP_OS's kernel team.
Probably because they modify it
6.9.3 is the kernel version
Just want to confirm that "Zorin OS 17.2 is now powered by the same version of the Linux kernel as in the latest Ubuntu 24.04 LTS" means that only the Kernel is updated, but all the Repos are still Jammy 22.04 and not Noble 24.04.
Thanks!
Hopefully, when Zorin OS 18 is released, the dev team will have kernal based issues sorted out by then, and none of us will be running into any such issues.
I will admit though, having a newer machine, really helps with such things. Newer machines can take newer kernels and newer video drivers.
Its when computers get outdated, that the support for them is pretty much gone. They say its going to take 6-years for the next Fallout game from Bethesda. Gosh, I sure hope my 2021 machine will be able to play it lol.
Also, while I know there is no collaboration between Zorin OS and POP OS, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing, only in regards to kernel's and driver based stuff. I think the collaboration has the potential of being beneficial.
I would go the opposite way on this.
A bit older machine using stable kernels gets much better support and performance since it all had time to work out the bugs.
Only Nvidia drops support on "older" hardware quickly...
Apologies, that is what I was thinking about, when it comes to older hardware. Also, my old 2012 notebook computer, that I gave to a family member, who is running POP OS on it, has to force the computer to launch with an older kernel as well, otherwise the computer boots to black screen.
So this is where I am coming from, my own experience. Your mileage may very.
