Even though I do not have extensive experience with Linux, and no long term experience with any distro, I have gone through quite a few, both the fixed releases and the rolling release ones. I did not experience any freezing.
I moved away from Linux over to macOS, but when I see how Apple's planned obsolescence works — after 5 years I won't be able to install the latest version, Sequoia, on my laptop — I decided to make a definite switch to Linux, with a distro that would not give me hassles.
I tried openSUSE Tumbleweed, which was going fine, until it did not after an update, so I came to Zorin, the distro for beginners.
Yep, and I am not sure I want to go through the rigmarole of it, when I know what a hassle-free system can be like — macOS.
For now I am continuing testing a bit more but if the problem persists/gets worse and there is no proper solution, I will have to make a decision re a distro switch — I don't want to switch, but ....
The thing that gets me is that, even though you say you don't think it is Zorin, freeze problems have been reported since at least version 15, and here were are, 17.1, and it is still happening.
i guess ur on core ?
why not try lite ? it's what i'm on and haven't had a single freeze since installing it , months ago .
not sure the advantages of core or pro over lite ,don't care really either lol, as long as it runs smoothly .
(i installed lite cause my pc specs is ■■■■ lol)
Yes, I am on Core. You raise an interesting point, but I have 2 questions:
isn't Lite being phased out? Thought I read it somewhere ...
doesn't switching to Lite involve a complete reinstallation of Zorin, or is there a smart way to swap over without having to start from scratch? If so, please tell me how.
I am typing this from my MacBook Air because this issue is turning into a nightmare, I can' even get into the desktop environment anymore.
I implemented your suggestion and installed Zorin Lite, which went fine and so I got the XFCE desktop. However, natural scrolling did not work. I found a thread (Two finger scrolling etc) where 2 solutions were recommended: change a .conf file (can't remember the name) and add to an option "NaturalScrolling" "true" but after rebooting that did not work. So I tried the other solution: remove Xserver. That worked, except touchpad taps did not work anymore. So I reinstalled Xserver and was back to square 1.
So I decided to uninstall the Lite desktop with sudo apt remove zorin-os-lite -desktop. After rebooting I was still in Lite, so I did sudo apt purge zorin-os-lite-desktop. It then told me to do autoremove, which I did, and rebooted.
And this is where I am now: it does not boot into the DE anymore, instead it stays in a black screen with white text asking for my login, followed by my password. After that it stays in that screen, which is like a command line screen.
Now, there is probably a way to get into the DE unless I screwed up something.
For this You need a more experienced Help I think. Theoretically the Gnome Desktop should be there because You didn't delete it ... I would have some Ideas.
You could try a sudo apt reinstall gdm3 zorin-os-desktop => this Command is for the Case that the normal Desktop is still there and it hopefully triggers it.
Shouldn't it be there and You have to install it new the Command is sudo apt install gdm3 zorin-os-desktop
More I can't suggest You unfortunately. The last Thing would be a simple fresh Installation of Zorin. But if You don't have saved Your Data, it could be lost.
OK, thanks for your help. Before proceeding with your last suggestions, I'll wait to see if any of the other people you mentioned present something more likely to produce a positive result.
It looks like you've removed the desktop environment entirely so you are left with a non-graphical environment, thus the shell interface.
Personally I don't have much experience once you've reached this point, and my first instinct would be to re-install from scratch. On the other hand, there's very little you can break at this point so you might as well try to install the DE yourself. If nothing else, it's a good learning opportunity and you can always fallback to installing from scratch using an external USB drive.
Btw, if you have any important documents or files this would be a good time to copy them to an external drive.
sudo apt install zorin-os-desktop
sudo dpkg --configure -a
Based on previous threads the desktop package should include gdm3 but you might need to configure it. Run these lines one at the time, and reboot by typing reboot at the shell.
Numerous users have already reported this problem, but we are still not sure about this. I am concerned that general help by users may be insufficient. I am not familiar with other distros, but I wonder if this is a problem that is also happening with other Ubuntu based distros.
I've never encountered this freezing issue with any distribution other than Zorin OS. It must be bad luck because even though I've personally experienced it, nobody I have installed it for has complained about it.
Never found a solution for this. I even tried switching the RAM cards for new ones, cleaning the ins and outs of the computer, etc. This is quite honestly one of the reasons I don't use Zorin OS anymore myself. The fact that this continues to happen, even occasionally, on version 17 makes me think this is a somewhat persistent issue.
Wow, simply WOW !!
This sudo apt reinstall gdm3 zorin-os-desktop did the trick. I cannot believe my luck, and you are a star.
Little anecdote: when I launched Brave, all my pinned and non-pinned tabs were gone. So, although I was happy all the rest of my work and data was still there, I was a bit distraught. I looked on internet but could not find anything rapidly.
And then a thought hit me(sometimes I do have my bright moments ): check out History,And sure enough, they were listed under a collective unit "tabs". Clicking on them not only restored them, but my pinned tabs were repinned automatically, and a signed-in account, such as this one, was still signed in. Phew! Magic ...
Anyway, that was my foray into Zorin Lite where Core was already installed. I made a mess of it, although I must say that issue with the mousepad was not my doing.
However, now I am back to square 1: the freezing issue. I will continue as is to see if perhaps the DE changes did something positive. If not I will have to decide what to do next.
I cannot see from your profile which edition of ZorinOS you are using. e.g. Pro, Core, Lite etc. If Pro, you qualify for support from the devs.
Would you please edit your forum profile to indicate which edition you have. That will help us help you in the future.
If you re-install ZorinOS by the Something Else method you have full control and can select NOT to Format your Home partition. But I would still make a note of your installed apps and back up all your content before doing any reinstall.
