Background: I have a dual boot between Windows 11 and Zorin 17 core. The two OSes are installed on separate physical drives. I'd be entirely on Zorin, except that a couple of my favorite games don't yet work properly on Linux, so for the time being I'm stuck keeping Windows around.
Problem: When I'm in Windows and reboot (whether by the Reboot power option or by the Shutdown one followed by turning the machine back one) and select Zorin from GRUB, it gets to the stage of the boot where it's showing my motherboard's boot logo and the pulsing Z in a hexagon logo and stays there (does not progress to the "ZORIN" full word logo or finish booting) until I hold down the power button to turn the computer back off again. When Windows reboots itself in the night, e.g. for an update, I come back in the morning to this frozen boot state because Zorin is the default option in GRUB.
Workaround: After doing the power-button hold, if I then turn the computer back on again and select Zorin again, it boots successfully.
Request: Does anyone know of a way to fix this behavior without just getting rid of Windows?
Welcome to the Forum!
Are Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS turned off? Is Fast Start-Up in Windows turned off?
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Hi Ponce-De-Leon,
I wasn't aware those settings existed. I've confirmed that Fast Start-Up in Windows was turned on, and have now turned that off. At my next opportunity, I'll check the mentioned BIOS settings and test with various combinations of them on/off to see if any such combination yields a successful reboot into Zorin from Windows. Thanks for the pointers and I'll let you know if it works!
Do you have Nvidia Graphics card?
Yes, Windows "Fast Boot" must be disabled. It is not a boot sequence, it merely wakes Windows from hibernate. Since Windows does not shutdown, it can retain control over hardware.
Disabling Fast Boot from Windows alone was not enough, but disabling it additionally from within the BIOS solved the issue. Thanks @Ponce-De-Leon !
@Aravisian I do have an nvidia card. I'm curious what that would have impacted here?
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A freeze at the motherboard splash before GRUB is firmware-level. That means the issue is happening at the UEFI (BIOS) POST stage, before the OS even loads. The graphics driver is not active yet. But residual VRAM state or PCIe link not properly reset can mean onboard firmware (VBIOS) can remain in an inconsistent state, causing the motherboard to hang when trying to initialize the PCIe bus on next boot.
"Fast boot" In BIOS or in Windows OS can both suspend, rather than reset VRAM state.
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Good to hear that it works.
When You have an Nvidia Card, one Suggestion from me: Check in Settings>About if Your System runs in Wayland or X11. Nvidia+Wayland on Zorin 17 are not the best Friends. So, when there should stabd Wayland, I would sugest to switch to X11/Xorg.
To do that, go to the Login Screen (not the Lock Screen). Simply reboot for that. On the Login Screen, click on Your Profile so that the Password Field appears. It has to be appeared. When it is appeared, you should see a Gear Icon in the bottom right Corner. Click on it and choose the Option ''Zorin Desktop on Xorg'' and then log in.