[SOLVED] Can't install Zorin 9 or 11 Ultimate

Hello all I was hoping that I could get some assistance with installation failures.

Currently I have Windows 10 installed and it is working fine. I bought the Zorin OS 11 Ultimate edition and replaced my Zorin OS 9 with it. Upon installation I noticed a lot of problems so I tried a reinstall and then the problems really began.

On the second install attempt whether I choose to do trial or install the Pulsating Z comes up and after about 6 seconds the Z stops pulsing. No matter how long I wait it does not move forward.

After not being able to figure it out I tried to install Zorin OS 9 until 11 was working. However now when I am almost done installing Zorin OS 9 the boot loader fails to install so it fails.

Things I have tried

- I have tried to boot with secure and fast boot mode off among many other setting UEFI and Legacy options included.
- I have checked for correct md5sum and downloaded both of them multiple times.
- I have always installed Windows and Zorin on different hard drives (cant even choose drive to install to in 11)
- Tried to mess with nomodeset and acpi = off (not sure if that can be the problem without the OS being installed)
- Tried both USB and DVD install for both with no luck

Here are my parts

- Intel P9X79 pro motherboard
- Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 6-Core 3.2GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 2011 130W Desktop Processor BX80619i73930K
- Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card. (tried my old GTX 660 TI and my old ATI card)
- CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10
- Samsung 850 PRO 512GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-7KE512BW)
- Intel 730 Series 2.5" 240GB SATA 6Gb/s MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SSDSC2BP240G4R5
- Corsair Force Series GT 2.5" 180GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CSSD-F180GBGT-BK

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi, You stated you had Zorin 9 installed - was that on the same configuration? If so can you remember how you did it?

I also had problems installing OS 11 Ultimate on one of my machines. It took about 2 hours once and all sorts of problems once I booted it up. A few failed attempts that also took a very long time to install. In the end I went and bought a brand new USB stick and created the Boot medium on that and the install was successful. I had tried all manner of USB sticks (used before for other stuff) and formatting before hand but the new stick worked so I still don't know. For the cost of a few $$ it might be worth a try.

Also noticed that it does still take a while to install as the .iso file is about 4GB in size. This was my experience might be worth a try for a few dollars. I have installed many OS from my USB sticks and not had this sort of problem before, all I know is that this worked for me on this occasion.
Makes no sense to me but it worked and that is what I wanted, for it to work.

Just an additional point, I never run the installer directly - I boot to the live desktop and click on the Desktop icon labelled "install to hard drive".

Yes it was on the same configuration. In fact it was the exact same install of Windows 10 as it has currently. No parts have changed since then or anything. I would love to try the "install to hard drive" option but I cannot even get past the loading screen fro the live desktop either. I suppose I could try that for 9 and see if the boot loader installs correctly that way.

As far as a new USB stick I have tried multiple sticks but to be fair they were the same type and brand so I am not sure that is the issue especially when it still fails on a cd install.

Well in addition to UEFI you need to view how many partitions are present and if there are four already and marked as primary (which there is an increasing tendency to occur on proprietary computers, i.e., branded ones like my HP Mini 110 Notebook) then this can cause an issue to.

Ok well I have tried all I can think of. I even removed all other hard drives except for the one I wanted to install Zorin OS onto for versions 9, 10, 11. For some reason I have still not received a reply from premium installation support and it has been more than a month and I have emailed them twice. I even tried installing regular Ubuntu and am running into the freezing at the same spot.

I need a solution to this or my quarter will be extremely difficult. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I can show pictures of my motherboard boot settings if that helps but I have tried so many different variations of settings and this was never an issue before. Considering I removed my hard drive with windows and it still didn't work I know its not related to that.

I just don't understand why it is freezing at this specific spot before I can do anything.

Thoughts?

Is the motherboard one with UEFI/EFI BIOS enabled? If this is the issue you may need to construct a Zorin iso using Rufus to create an EFI enabled iso - just do a search for Rufus on here - I am getting to end of lunch break!

I figured it out!

Turns out that if after hitting install Zorin now if I hit the esc before it freezes it will go to a black screen for a second and then skip the loading screen and won't freeze.

I am now having a problem with no bootloader installing so I cannot seem to load it up after it installs but it is installing now just fine.

Thanks for all the help.

Can you boot into Zorin in 'live' mode and post a screenshot of GParted partiton editor to view your partitions?

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v385833212XzmANbj

r912525 wrote: For some reason I have still not received a reply from premium installation support and it has been more than a month and I have emailed them twice.

Did support ever get back to you?

No they have not gotten back to me however summer finally rolled around so I had time to see to this and of course I try a regular installation to remind me of exactly how the problem is acting and it installs of course. No idea what changed as I am using the same file and everything. Technically I am using a new usb drive but I remember trying other ones before just in case that was the issue.

Guess we can mark this as solved. Thanks for all the help!