Zorin-os-16 Freezes and remains frozen after rebooting

[Chicken]

Hello,

System Specs:
Intel CPU
16GB RAM
250GB Storage
Nvidia Graphics Card

I recently installed Zorin OS 16 and I'm loving the experience until the pc randomly freezes.
Freezes will persist even when rebooting to login page.
Keyboard & Mouse doesn't work.
Seemingly an exclusive issue with Zorin OS as my dual boot windows 10 runs as normal.
I have found to temporarily fix the issue of a Frozen login screen after rebooting from a freeze, I've entered into Zorin Advanced Settings in the Grub menu and changed kernels. On 5.11.0-38 currently.

And I'm a bit of a linux noob so I'm really not sure where to begin to prevent further inevitable freezes.
Any help / guidance would be much appreciated as I really want to make this my main OS.

Thank You

[Storm]

Hi and welcome to the Zorin forums

If the kernel 5.11 works best for you, you might want to make it permanent until a newer version of the kernel is released (kernel 5.15 or so). If your computer works as it should under kernel 5.11 and your hardware is fully supported under this kernel, it would be the best option.
Here's a guide on how to boot into kernel 5.11 without going to advanced option;

[HOW TO] set an older kernel to default boot

You may need to use an earlier kernel than the current kernel used by Zorin. This method allows you to set the kernel that you will boot into by default. To set the new kernel to default: Boot into the kernel you wish to be Saved. Open terminal and run: sudo nano /etc/default/grub Change GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to GRUB_DEFAULT=saved Hit enter to drop down a line. Add GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true ctrl+x to exit, then the y key to say yes to save, then the enter key to save as current configuration. Ru…

[Storm]

Another option is to test drive kernel 5.16. Be warned it may not be stable and backup is advisable;

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tuxinvader/lts-mainline
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt-get install linux-generic-5.16

[Chicken]

Hey @Storm great to see a helpful prompt response

I will confirm hardware compatibility later with kernel 5.11 and provide an update if these freezes continue.

And thank you for the guide, I will certainly give it a read. I didn't even know what a kernel was a few days ago (I am learning), so this is all new to me.

[Storm]

You're welcome.

You're not the first who have trouble with the kernel 5.13. But we recommend a roll back if the previous kernel works better. Newer is not always better. The older kernel is tested more and patched more than than the recent one.

[zabadabadoo]

Can you please edit your forum profile to indicate which edition of ZorinOS you have. That info will help us help you going forward. Thanks.

[Chicken]

Thanks @Storm that appears to be the solution.
Haven't had any freezes with 5.11 as opposed to multiple daily freezes with 5.13.
I checked your recommended guide and followed the instructions. It was easy to understand, so thank you and to @Aravisian . Although one little issue, my system default boot still takes me back to kernel 5.13. I've probably made a silly mistake somewhere. My /etc/default/grub file remains changed (following the guide) upon rebooting and I have done sudo update-grub. I'm sorry this is such a trivial issue compared to others, so when you have the spare time I would very much appreciate any help.

[Storm]

Please post your grub file.

[Aravisian]

@Chicken

I'm sorry this is such a trivial issue compared to others

Any issue driving you up the wall is non-trivial to you.

[Chicken]

Sure, I hope this helps.

[Aravisian]

Looks good. Did you run sudo update-grub after saving those changes?

[Chicken]

Yeah. I gave it a quick restart to check for sure and I cannot even boot to "Zorin" in the grub menu. Freezes before I can decrypt disk.
Only when I manually go to "advanced options" for Zorin 5.11 does it work again.
So I am assuming, I am still stuck on Zorin 5.13 as default boot.

[Aravisian]

No, not stuck. We can remove the 5.13 kernel.

sudo apt remove linux-headers-5.13.0-30-generic linux-modules-5.13.0-30-generic linux-modules-extra-5.13.0-30-generic linux-image-5.13.0-30-generic

If you are running the 28

sudo apt remove linux-headers-5.13.0-28-generic linux-modules-5.13.0-28-generic linux-modules-extra-5.13.0-28-generic linux-image-5.13.0-28-generic

On topic:

@Chicken

Freezes before I can decrypt disk.

Ah... you are using Full Disk Encryption.
In that case, you may need to grub2-editenv /boot/grub2/grubenv unset next_entry to ensure grub.cfg clears out the entry.
But I would recommend, instead, removing the 5.13 kernel just to make your life easier than trying to chase after grub2 config to bypass the filing system.

[dasjdoom]

Sorry, to step in like this. As I'm reading this I wondered if Chicken really did the update grub, because a restart is not how to update it.

Did you actually use the command update-grub, before restarting?

[Chicken]

Bingo!! Haha we finally got there. Well... you guys got there for me! Thank you and @Storm for all your patience and help. Really, you have made my Zorin life so much better. I wasn't sure I was ever going to solve this, as much of this computer jargon is new to me but you guys made it super easy to follow. So once again, a Big Thank you!