Zorin 17 Pro not starting - failed to start gnome display manager

Hi there - why does this always happen to me?

Since a few days, my Surface Go does not start anymore. I managed to get in the advanced menue and cleaned and corrected everything offered. I saw, that there was an error (see heading) when booting with details.

I read on the internet, that there may be an error with space in /var, but what can I delete without destroying programs? I deinstalled Timeshift, so there should be enough space overall.

However - I think the error happened the next day after I forgot to power off and the battery was drained completely.

For repair I unfortunately cannot use a live system, as the surface deos not boot from USB with Zorin installed. Just a Windows stick is accepted (see older post).

Does any expert have an idea, what I can do to at least get into the system again - I then can deinstall or clean up anything else?

Thank you in advance - and have a sunny Sunday:-)

No ideas out there? I am really stuck. :thinking:

Have you yet tried entering Recovery menu by accessing Grub Menu > Advanced Options > Zorin on 6.8...(Recovery)

That was the Grub Menu > Advanced Options > Zorin on 6.8...(Recovery)...

I did already try all points of that menue. Using the root function, I deleted timeshift to get some space, but that did not help.
I read in another forum, that /var may be too filled up. How can that happen?

But what can I delete to let the GDM start? after that I may be able to clean more using the standard functions.

Thank you again for your help.

the /var logs can be cleared out using journalctl

journalctl --vacuum-size=500M

Thank you - I try! :smiley:

Good Morning,

That did Not Work. The Screen remains black after unlocking the Harddisk (encrypeted). Maschine cannot start Gnome Display Manager...

I now re-installed the system completely.
Was also not easy, because the Surface Go does not boot from USB with Linux installed.
So I reinstalled windows (Windows usb does boot) and the the machine boots with Ventoy only.

What a pain in the .....