Zorin OS freezes

Installing Zorin OS
1

Hi there! I recently installed Zorin OS Core18 on an elderly Acer Aspire E1-522. The Installation went well excent for the MOK enroll process. The password I typed in was not shown in that small blue window. Hence - I git the message the password is wrong. After some time, the laptop booted as it should abd I thought everything is fine. But it isn't - the system start to freeze, the mouse pointer vanished and sometimes returned, sometimes not, the screen went black and when it came back, it sometimes showed fuzzy stuff.
So what happend during the installation? Is MOK enrollment essential for Zorin? How can I start MOK enroll manually? Or do I have to repeat the installation?
Is Secure Boot somehow involved? I could not switch it off in the oldfashioned BIOS, it remains on the setting "Standard", whatever that means.
Another issue is: the brightness of the monitor is always at 100 per cent after restart. I set it at 50 per cent, but next time it's 100 again.

Zorin gave this information (in German):

Berichtdetails

  • Erstellungsdatum: 2025-11-09 18:09:30

Hardware-Informationen:

  • Hardware-Modell: Acer Aspire E1-522
  • Speicher: 4,0 GiB
  • Prozessor: AMD A6-5200 APU with Radeon™ HD Graphics Ă— 4
  • Grafik: KABINI
  • Festplattenkapazität: 128,0 GB

Software-Informationen:

  • Firmware-Version: V2.09
  • Name des Betriebssystems: Zorin OS 18 Core
  • Betriebssystem-Build: (null)
  • Betriebssystem-Typ: 64-bit
  • Fenstermanager: Wayland
  • Kernel-Version: Linux 6.14.0-35-generic

"inxi -Fzxi" gave me this:
CPU:
Info: quad core model: AMD A6-5200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics bits: 64
type: MCP arch: Jaguar rev: 1 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 2 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1071 high: 1489 min/max: 800/2000 boost: disabled cores:
1: 1198 2: 1489 3: 800 4: 800 bogomips: 15970
Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm aes aperfmperf apic arat avx bmi1 bpext clflush
cmov cmp_legacy constant_tsc cpuid cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists
extapic extd_apicid f16c flushbyasid fpu fxsr fxsr_opt ht hw_pstate ibs
lahf_lm lbrv lm mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor movbe msr mtrr
nonstop_tsc nopl npt nrip_save nx osvw overflow_recov pae pat pausefilter
pclmulqdq pdpe1gb perfctr_llc perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge pni popcnt
proc_feedback pse pse36 rdtscp rep_good sep skinit ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1
sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm_lock syscall topoext tsc tsc_scale vme vmmcall wdt
xsave xsaveopt
Network:
Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA8171 Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: alx v: kernel port: 2000
bus-ID: 01:00.0
IF: enp1s0f0 state: down mac:
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Lite-On driver: ath9k v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.0
IF: wlp5s0 state: up mac:
IP v4: type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
IP v6: type: temporary dynamic scope: global
IP v6: type: dynamic mngtmpaddr noprefixroute scope: global
IP v6: type: noprefixroute scope: link
WAN IP:

Can you guys tell me what went wrong and how to fix it?

2

I link you a thread with some helpsites that may help you:

If you can't disable secure boot in your BIOS (that would be the easiest way) you can try the steps shown there. With mok keys I'm not familar.

If you have a Dualboot with Windows also disable fast startup in the energy settings of Windows, and also turn off fast boot in your BIOS.

It may also help to switch to Xorg. Logout and at login click on your username then a cog wheal appears at the bottom right corner. There select "Zorin Desktop on Xorg".

4 GiB RAM are low for running Zorin core.
If you continue to experience problems with your system freezing or not running smoothly, try Zorin lite. Zorin 18 lite has not been released yet, but you could try Zorin 17 lite.

1 Like
3

Hi, in the window where you enter your password to log in, there's a small gear icon. Two options appear: Zorin Desktop and Xorg. I use the latter. Apparently, the former is Wayland, which is for modern computers with a graphics card, etc. When I used the former, I experienced similar issues.

1 Like
4

Thank you! I will think it over and will set the changes in BIOS in case your and Zor's hint with the Xorg doesn't work.

1 Like
5

Unfortunately there was no option to change from Wayland to Xorg in the Log-on-window. No gear icon or whatsoever in ZOS 18 core. But I found this on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo_aY17aNXk I followed the steps and apparently it worked. Will see if the system ist stable from now on.
Obviously Wayland was too much for my old laptop.

1 Like
6

Well, it didn't work out. I disabled Wayland as shown in the video and in these instructions: https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-enable-disable-wayland-on-ubuntu-22-04-desktop Alas - the problem still exists: the screen freezes, goes black, comes to life again, goes black again, freezes after a few seconds and so on. :unamused_face:

7

Hi, try running System Monitor and check memory usage by application, process, resources, etc. That might give you a clue. I also think it could be a driver issue; use the software manager and update them.

If it's the browser that's freezing, try hardware acceleration. In the Start menu search bar, open Programs and Updates, then More Drivers. Also, open Registry in the Start menu search bar. When you mention that the screen goes black, are you talking about the desktop going to sleep, or are you experiencing freezes, graphical stutters, image interruptions, etc.?
How to change another user's password in Ubuntu and derivatives?

If you need to change another user's password, you can do so in a similar way to the previous process, except that you'll need to specify the username to whom you're assigning a new password.

You can do this with the following command. In this case, we'll change the password for root, although, as mentioned, you can change it for any other user on the system:

[1. sudo passwd root
When you enter this command, it will ask you to type the new password. After doing so, it will ask for confirmation and then proceed to make the changes.

As you can see, it's not necessary to do this as root.](¿Cómo cambiar la contraseña de sudo, root u otro usuario en Ubuntu?)

8

Hi Zor, I will try to run the system monitor, if I can get the system to run at least the time I need to get these information.
I'm frustrated, do you think installing Zorin Lite will solve the freezing-issue?

9

Yes, I'm sure it would - in combination with disabling secure boot or following the steps for ACER BIOS. Zorin lite needs less ressources than Core. Probably it would also be better to stay on Zorin 17 lite as long as it is supported, because older versions also need less ressources than newer ones and offer older kernels which run better on older systems.

10

Hi
Really don't know if installing Lite will improve things if it's a driver or graphics card problem. Have you tried changing Wayland to Xorg? Core uses balanced power mode, I don't think that's a big deal. My machine is from around 2011 and it runs Core fine.

My friend Aria, she Said:
Viewing System Load in Ubuntu
During Boot:

If you repeatedly press the Esc key during startup, you can access the GRUB menu. From there, you can select different boot options, but you won't see the actual system load.
From the Terminal:

To view system load and other performance indicators, you can use some commands in the terminal. Here are some useful ones:

top: Shows real-time processes and CPU and memory usage.

htop: A more visual version of top (you may need to install it first).

free -m: Shows total and used memory in megabytes.

uptime: Shows how long the system has been running and the average load.
Graphical Tools:

You can also use graphical tools like System Monitor, which allow you to visually view CPU, memory, and other resource usage.
Available Options in GRUB
Advanced Options for Ubuntu:

Allows you to access different kernels installed on your system. This is useful if you need to boot with an older kernel version due to compatibility issues.
Recovery Mode:

Boots the system in a limited mode that allows you to perform maintenance tasks, such as repairing the file system or resetting passwords.
Boot Configuration:

You can temporarily modify boot options, such as adding parameters to the kernel (for example, to enable or disable certain features).
Entering the GRUB Command Line:

From here, you can manually run commands to boot operating systems or perform diagnostics.
Booting Options for Other Operating Systems:

If you have other operating systems installed (such as Windows), GRUB will allow you to select them to boot.
How to Access These Options: During Boot: When you turn on your computer, press the Shift key (or Esc on some systems) immediately after the manufacturer's logo appears. This will take you to the GRUB menu.
Tips: If you don't see the GRUB menu, it may be set to hide. You can modify the configuration in the /etc/default/grub file and then run update-grub to apply the changes.