Update broke the system again

Hello!

Well you probably don't remember me but I had a similar problem before where it turned out an Ubuntu update has corrupted my OS and I posted a topic and the problem was eventually solved [Icons mismatch Post by calquebg » Fri Mar 31, 2017 9:39 pm] in that case I had to reinstall the entire OS.

Today in the morning the system offered me an update in a pop up window in the bottom right corner of the screen, similarly to Windows and after the update I immediately noticed problems. The GRUB menu was changed from Manjaro's to Zorins. I am no longer able to launch to Manjaro at all. Manjaro was working perfectly fine before, but now if I try to login I get an error message and I am forced to restart. Here is the text of the error message:

[ 0.293733] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block (0,0)
[ 0.293782] CPU: 1 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 4.12.2-1-MANJARO #1
[ 0.293825] Hardware name: ECS G41T-M7/G41T-M7, BIOS 080015 01/12/2011
[ 0.293867] Call Trace:
[ 0.293910] dump_stack+0x63/0x8d
[ 0.293949] panic+0xe4/0x22d
[ 0.293988] mount_block_root+0x281/0x2b4
[ 0.294028] ? set_debug_rodata+0x17/0x17
[ 0.294067] mount_root+0x6a/0x6d
[ 0.294104] prepare_namespace+0x134/0x16c
[ 0.294143] kernel_init_freeable+0x1fb/0x214
[ 0.294183] ? rest_init+0x90/0x90
[ 0.294221] kernel_init+0xe/0x100
[ 0.293258] ret_from_fork+0x25/0x30
[ 0.293304] Kernel Offset: disabled
[ 0.293343] ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

I have a new problem in Zorin as well, the lock screen, it was working fine before, now when my screen locks up and I try to log back in, I get a blank screen and nothing happens so I am forced to restart. I tried pushing all buttons but nothing works. So I had to change the blank screen to enable to Never.
Btw as Swarfendor437 pointed out before I've set up the sys to get updates only from the main server not my county's server.
Whenever I was getting updates from the software center I never had any problems, but since it was a pop up from the system I figured it could be trusted.
Can I get the system to set up how it was before the update with backup? It does gives me an option to go back as it was 102 days ago... Honestly I have no idea what to do...

Hi, I think backup is just for personal settings - never used it but when wanted to see what it was going to do that is what I seem to remember seeing. For me there is only one solution for backing up and that is redobackup - always best to take an image while everything you have is working - just in case we reach a scenario you are currently faced with.

Can you remind us of your machine? Can you also post an image of your partitions using Gparted, if necessary using live boot of your preferred live distribution? Thanks.

1. Name (Brand) of Computer Tower/System, Notebook Brand and model [Notebook = misnomer of 'Laptop' ]

# dmidecode 3.0
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.5 present.
18 structures occupying 963 bytes.
Table at 0x000FC0D0.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
Version: 080015
Release Date: 01/12/2011
Address: 0xF0000
Runtime Size: 64 kB
ROM Size: 1024 kB
Characteristics:
ISA is supported
PCI is supported
PNP is supported
APM is supported
BIOS is upgradeable
BIOS shadowing is allowed
ESCD support is available
Boot from CD is supported
Selectable boot is supported
BIOS ROM is socketed
EDD is supported
5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
Serial services are supported (int 14h)
Printer services are supported (int 17h)
CGA/mono video services are supported (int 10h)
ACPI is supported
USB legacy is supported
LS-120 boot is supported
ATAPI Zip drive boot is supported
BIOS boot specification is supported
Targeted content distribution is supported
BIOS Revision: 8.15

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: ECS
Product Name: G41T-M7
Version: 1.0
Serial Number: 00000000
UUID: 00020003-0004-0005-0006-000700080009
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
SKU Number: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Family: To Be Filled By O.E.M.

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
Manufacturer: ECS
Product Name: G41T-M7
Version: 1.0
Serial Number: 00000000
Asset Tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Features:
Board is a hosting board
Board is replaceable
Location In Chassis: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Chassis Handle: 0x0003
Type: Motherboard
Contained Object Handles: 0

Handle 0x0003, DMI type 3, 21 bytes
Chassis Information
Manufacturer: ECS
Type: Desktop
Lock: Not Present
Version: 1.0
Serial Number: 00000000
Asset Tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Boot-up State: Safe
Power Supply State: Safe
Thermal State: Safe
Security Status: None
OEM Information: 0x00000000
Height: Unspecified
Number Of Power Cords: 1
Contained Elements: 0

Handle 0x0004, DMI type 4, 40 bytes
Processor Information
Socket Designation: CPU 1
Type: Central Processor
Family: Other
Manufacturer: Intel
ID: 7A 06 01 00 FF FB EB BF
Version: Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5700 @ 3.00GHz
Voltage: 1.3 V
External Clock: 200 MHz
Max Speed: 3000 MHz
Current Speed: 3000 MHz
Status: Populated, Enabled
Upgrade: Other
L1 Cache Handle: 0x0005
L2 Cache Handle: 0x0006
L3 Cache Handle: 0x0007
Serial Number: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Asset Tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Part Number: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Core Count: 2
Core Enabled: 2
Thread Count: 2
Characteristics:
64-bit capable

Handle 0x0005, DMI type 7, 19 bytes
Cache Information
Socket Designation: L1-Cache
Configuration: Enabled, Not Socketed, Level 1
Operational Mode: Write Back
Location: Internal
Installed Size: 64 kB
Maximum Size: 64 kB
Supported SRAM Types:
Other
Installed SRAM Type: Other
Speed: Unknown
Error Correction Type: Parity
System Type: Data
Associativity: 8-way Set-associative

Handle 0x0006, DMI type 7, 19 bytes
Cache Information
Socket Designation: L2-Cache
Configuration: Enabled, Not Socketed, Level 2
Operational Mode: Write Back
Location: Internal
Installed Size: 2048 kB
Maximum Size: 2048 kB
Supported SRAM Types:
Other
Installed SRAM Type: Other
Speed: Unknown
Error Correction Type: Single-bit ECC
System Type: Unified
Associativity: 8-way Set-associative

Handle 0x0007, DMI type 7, 19 bytes
Cache Information
Socket Designation: L3-Cache
Configuration: Disabled, Not Socketed, Level 3
Operational Mode: Unknown
Location: Internal
Installed Size: 0 kB
Maximum Size: 0 kB
Supported SRAM Types:
Unknown
Installed SRAM Type: Unknown
Speed: Unknown
Error Correction Type: Unknown
System Type: Unknown
Associativity: Unknown

Handle 0x0008, DMI type 13, 22 bytes
BIOS Language Information
Language Description Format: Long
Installable Languages: 1
en|US|iso8859-1
Currently Installed Language: en|US|iso8859-1

Handle 0x0009, DMI type 15, 35 bytes
System Event Log
Area Length: 4 bytes
Header Start Offset: 0x0000
Header Length: 2 bytes
Data Start Offset: 0x0002
Access Method: Indexed I/O, one 16-bit index port, one 8-bit data port
Access Address: Index 0x046A, Data 0x046C
Status: Invalid, Not Full
Change Token: 0x00000000
Header Format: No Header
Supported Log Type Descriptors: 6
Descriptor 1: End of log
Data Format 1: OEM-specific
Descriptor 2: End of log
Data Format 2: OEM-specific
Descriptor 3: End of log
Data Format 3: OEM-specific
Descriptor 4: End of log
Data Format 4: OEM-specific
Descriptor 5: End of log
Data Format 5: OEM-specific
Descriptor 6: End of log
Data Format 6: OEM-specific

Handle 0x000A, DMI type 16, 15 bytes
Physical Memory Array
Location: System Board Or Motherboard
Use: System Memory
Error Correction Type: None
Maximum Capacity: 16 GB
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Number Of Devices: 2

Handle 0x000B, DMI type 19, 15 bytes
Memory Array Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00000000000
Ending Address: 0x000FFFFFFFF
Range Size: 4 GB
Physical Array Handle: 0x000A
Partition Width: 4

Handle 0x000C, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x000A
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 2048 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM0
Bank Locator: BANK0
Type: DDR2
Type Detail: Synchronous
Speed: 800 MHz
Manufacturer: Manufacturer00
Serial Number: SerNum00
Asset Tag: AssetTagNum0
Part Number: ModulePartNumber00

Handle 0x000D, DMI type 20, 19 bytes
Memory Device Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00000000000
Ending Address: 0x0007FFFFFFF
Range Size: 2 GB
Physical Device Handle: 0x000C
Memory Array Mapped Address Handle: 0x000B
Partition Row Position: 1
Interleaved Data Depth: 1

Handle 0x000E, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x000A
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 2048 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM1
Bank Locator: BANK1
Type: DDR2
Type Detail: Synchronous
Speed: 800 MHz
Manufacturer: Manufacturer01
Serial Number: SerNum01
Asset Tag: AssetTagNum1
Part Number: ModulePartNumber01

Handle 0x000F, DMI type 20, 19 bytes
Memory Device Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00080000000
Ending Address: 0x000FFFFFFFF
Range Size: 2 GB
Physical Device Handle: 0x000E
Memory Array Mapped Address Handle: 0x000B
Partition Row Position: 1
Interleaved Data Depth: 1

Handle 0x0010, DMI type 32, 20 bytes
System Boot Information
Status: No errors detected

Handle 0x0011, DMI type 127, 4 bytes
End Of Table

2. Amount of available Memory (RAM)

total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 3949 1523 1183 44 1242 2101
Swap: 4093 0 4093

3. Whether Zorin is the only OS on the computer or dual-boot (e.g. Windows [and which version of Windows!] and Zorin).

Dual boot Zorin and Manjaro latest.

4. Hard Drive partitioning.

Model: ATA ST1000DX001-1CM1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 991GB 991GB primary ext4
2 991GB 1000GB 9126MB primary linux-swap(v1)


Model: ATA Hitachi HDS72105 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 496GB 496GB primary ext4
2 496GB 500GB 4293MB extended
5 496GB 500GB 4293MB logical linux-swap(v1)


Model: SanDisk Cruzer (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 8029MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 22,5kB 8028MB 8028MB primary fat32


Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr1 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr1
has been opened read-only.
Error: /dev/sr1: unrecognised disk label
Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/sr1: 101MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/2048B
Partition Table: unknown
Disk Flags:

5. Graphics card make and model, or Graphics chipset in respect of Notebooks.

*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: GK107 [GeForce GTX 650]
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: a1
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=nouveau latency=0
resources: irq:28 memory:fd000000-fdffffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff memory:ce000000-cfffffff ioport:cc00(size=128) memory:c0000-dffff

6. Audio chips/Soundcard

WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: GK107 HDMI Audio Controller
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0.1
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.1
version: a1
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
resources: irq:17 memory:fe97c000-fe97ffff
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1b
bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
resources: irq:29 memory:fcffc000-fcffffff
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.

7. Wireless Dongle or PCI Card, or Wireless chipset.

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0781:5406 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Micro U3
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1c4f:0026 SiGma Micro Keyboard
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 093a:2510 Pixart Imaging, Inc. Optical Mouse
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c05a Logitech, Inc. M90/M100 Optical Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 [GeForce GTX 650] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 02)
04:04.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev 10)

8. Whether you ran Zorin Live first to check it worked before installing.

well obviously

9. Which version of Zorin you have installed/have in mind to install.

DISTRIB_ID=Zorin
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12
DISTRIB_CODENAME=xenial
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Zorin OS 12.1"
NAME="Zorin OS"
VERSION="12.1"
ID=zorin
ID_LIKE=ubuntu
PRETTY_NAME="Zorin OS 12.1"
VERSION_ID="12"
HOME_URL="https://www.zorinos.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.zorinos.com/help"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/zorin-os/+filebug"
VERSION_CODENAME=xenial
UBUNTU_CODENAME=xenial

end

The screenshots requested:

I had a similar Hiatus earlier in the Summer:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13092

If I were you, I would try to perservere with your existing OS and try to win it back to health.

Read the thread, but looking back the main things that helped were:

Running Synaptic package manager and finding broken packages (Swarf's Z12 guide shows you how to get Synaptic).

Running Gnome tweak tool and getting all the Zorin 12 features working again. (Swarf's Z12 guide shows you how to get Gnome tweak tool).


When you are back to normal, back up your data to a back up drive using Backups and back up an image of your OS, Seetings and Apps to a separate back up drive using Redo (Use backup drives the same size as your HDD). See:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13106

P.S. That thread should read (SOLVED) but the first page edit played up!
P.P.S. I only use The Software Updater app nowadays and decide what to update myself.

Good Luck F.P.

Hi, I was unable to view the second image as the site reported errors. I can see right away that the image with triangle indicates the partition has no flag ('/') indicating possible mbr issues/GRUB. On what I could make out of the poor image you have created an extended partition with swap in it. If I was partitioning manually on dual boot it would be:

1. Extended partition with Primary '/' at start.
2. Swap at end
3. Space left between '/home'

Well if this helps heres another upload of the images, I did open the forum with my smartphone and I see both images crystal clear, dont know why you are having issues with them...

I can see right away that the image with triangle indicates the partition has no flag ('/') indicating possible mbr issues/GRUB. On what I could make out of the poor image you have created an extended partition with swap in it.

Yes it is what we see in the Zorin screenshot an extended 4 gb partition and inside the older swap partition which is also 4 gb. On my Majaro SSHD there is an 8,5 gb swap partition and an exclamation mark with a triangle on the ext4 partition. I haven't changed or altered the partitions and I cant explain why Zorin OS has made an extended partition with the swap partition on it, its what the OS'es did upon installation I didn't modify anything.

If I was partitioning manually on dual boot it would be:

1. Extended partition with Primary '/' at start.
2. Swap at end
3. Space left between '/home'

I did not understand this part...

download/file.php?mode=view&id=5589
download/file.php?mode=view&id=5589

I tried to boot up from the 2 hard disks and here's what I discovered, when I try to boot up the SSDH it boots up to Zorin's GRUB menu, but why is it doing that? Manjaro should be on that hard disk. When I try to boot up from the 500 GB Hitachi a black screen appears and nothing happens...
Conclusion the update has definitely tampered with the boot order or swap partitions, I cant say which one...

When I saw this at the start of your first post "Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block (0,0)" I remembered playing with Manjaro (maybe other arch based distro's also) and how they don't seem to like another distro being installed after them, more specifically there 'grub' being over written by another.
I would guess you got asked one of those "Keep or Replace" the file (Grub) questions during the update maybe?

I don't know what the answer is however I got caught in similar situation a few times before I worked out the grub thing and realized.
I can now replace grub on an 'Ubuntu' distro if I destroy it somehow but not sure how to do this for Manjaro. I would guess this is what has happened but only offering my own personal experience as a guide. I just kept Manjaro on separate drive and used the BIOS to boot specific drive as solution or installed it last and not allow grub from other distro to update boot loader.

I recall testing this by installing a few 'Ubuntu' based distro's for example Zorin then Mint then booting both up OK, then installing Manjaro and booting any/all of them, then installing another Ubuntu distro and Manjaro wouldn't boot. Time and again same issue. Not sure if my memory serves me correctly but there is an option during Manjaro installation to NOT install a boot loader at all, and maybe that works if updated/installing after installing Manjaro but just remembered now.

At a guess if you searched for how to re-install grub for Manjaro and try your luck there. Sorry I cant be of any real help other than offer my experiences with Manjaro.

Well thank you MBMz10 and Finston Pickle! You guys were of great help.

I tried to fix Manjaro's boot loader with the article [Restore the GRUB Bootloader - Manjaro Linux] but I couldn't fix it. I tried with mhwd-chroot as well as GParted, installed and ran them thru the live CD / Terminal. There was 2 partitions available to edit the main one and the swap one. It wouldn't allow me to take 100 MB from the main partition, so I took a little from the swap partition and created ext2 partition for boot up. (sda3) I followed the steps and it was going well but then ran into a wall in the final steps when I needed to Install a new GRUB Bootloader with - grub-install /dev/sda3. I initially made the new partition ext2 format, but it kept telling me I cant install on a ext2 partition. I had to go back reformat the new partition to an ext4, restart the machine and go thou all the steps all over again with the same result. It kept telling me its an ext2 partition even thou I formatted it to an ext4. I didn't know what type of partition I needed to choose for a boot up partition, just that it needs to be about 100 MB. In the end I gave up and formatted and reinstalled Manjaro on the hard drive. I was very lucky that I had just recently installed Manjaro on my SSHD, so there wasn't any valuable data on it, but what if there was?

In conclusion I am quite unhappy with all of this, because it started with a simple Zorin update. Why does an update mess with the other OS's boot loader? It was just a simple update and at no point did it ask me if I agree to "Keep or Replace" the (Grub) file. And worse yet my lock screen still goes blank and is broken. Did I mention I went into advanced settings and tried to repair the broken packages? Nothing changed...

Hi, in view of MBMz10's observations about manjaro it looks like that is where the problem lies? As a general rule of thumb most partitions should be formatted to ext4 with the exception of swap which creates its own specific file system. Also I don't know if it only applies to triple boot GNU/Linux but I did post the article about GNU/Linux being defragmenting before installing additional GNU/Linux. For me I would have disconnected SSD in BIOS and installed Zorin on HD with 512Mb '/boot' to hold Zorin GRUB.

Hi, in view of MBMz10's observations about man jar it looks like that is where the problem lies? As a general rule of thumb most partitions should be formatted to ext4 with the exception of swap which creates its own specific file system. Also I don't know if it only applies to triple boot GNU/Linux but I did post the article about GNU/Linux being defragmenting before installing additional GNU/Linux. For me I would have disconnected SSD in BIOS and installed Zorin on HD with 512Mb '/boot' to hold Zorin GRUB.

Cant say its an Manjaro issue, since both OS'es worked fine for 2 months untill the dark day of the update. And now they work together fine aswell. After I reinstalled Manjaro and use its booloader again.
Anyway the last thing I need is to fix the lock screen. Where is the article on how to use the Gnome tweak tool?

Also

I did post the article about GNU/Linux being defragmenting before installing additional GNU/Linux.

Well that doesnt apply in this situation, if you remember I had Windows 7 before on that hard drive before Manjaro.

cheers!

Gnome-tweak-tool article here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12462

There is an extension for screen lock but think it has stopped working for me. There should be disable screenock extension from the extension Web site given in my post.

Gnome-tweak-tool article here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12462

There is an extension for screen lock but think it has stopped working for me. There should be disable screenock extension from the extension Web site given in my post.

I got the same internal errors twice today having to do with gnome-shell. I had to log off the user as the system seemed to break.
Can I reinstall gnome-shell? The system is acting strange, it gives me 3 updates in the Software Center, OS update, Software and a gnome tool, when I start to install the first one it loads to 70% and then it refreshes and all three updates disappear... Could this be a virus or something?


ps

If I was partitioning manually on dual boot it would be:

1. Extended partition with Primary '/' at start.
2. Swap at end
3. Space left between '/home'

I see what you mean now, when you manually select partitions...

Zorin replaced the grub again, Im back at square one...

Perhaps the answer is to "Keep it simple".

I have learned my lesson the hard way.

Zorin 12 Ultimate is well worth the money (~£15) and you get full support from the developers for free (as well as this forum) - I don't know what you get from Manjaro - just let Zorin 12 do a clean install, but do use a DVD (I could not get the USB method to work and it is a devil to delete content or reformat them afterwards).

I'm only trying to be helpful.

Good luck and keep faith!

P.S. I only use The Software Updater app nowadays and decide what to update myself.

I did some testing. All this testing was done on my 'test rig', dual core Intel E8400@3GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD. No UEFI as this machine is BIOS, 8-10 years old.

First I installed Manjaro (17.0.2), during install at the disk/partitioning screen down the bottom was a drop down list for boot loader location (sda sdb etc), I selected "Do not install boot loader", used the entire disk with automatic partitioning etc, sort of installing for dummies style.
Then I installed Zorin 12.1, along side (Manjaro), it gave both systems about 150GB each of 320GB disk. Restarted into Zorin and ran the updater manually, about 600MB including a kernal upgrade from 4.8.0-39 too 4.10.0-28, restart again into Zorin, looked ok, restarted into Majraro, which did in fact boot up, currently it is updating. That all went well including a kernel upgrade for Manjaro. Restarted both OS's all good.

If you still have Zorin installed and working you could try installing Manjaro again onto the same partition it is currently on WITHOUT A BOOT LOADER /GRUB, then boot into Zorin and update grub and see if that works. I would recommend formatting the partition before/during installing Manjaro.
I made a change to grub (Zorin) timeout (from 10sec to 5sec) and that killed Manjaro....I did not see that coming but it is why I did it, to test!

I re-installed Manjaro WITHOUT BOOT LOADER again, booted into Zorin after installation, ran Grub Customizer which I had installed, made no changes with it, just let it find the fresh Manjaro, restarted in Manjaro all good. Booted into Zorin again and ran in terminal sudo update-grub and restarted into Manjaro again, all good. Then I updated Manjaro which included a kernel update, it restarted ok but then I updated grub (in Zorin) and killed it again. I did this again with just the KERNEL update in Manjaro and same.



Best as I can tell is that once Manjaro has updated its kernel from the originally installed version, and you THEN CHANGE (Zorin's) grub, Manjaro fails to boot. Also note that all my testing was using Zorin's boot loader and NO BOOT LOADER INSTALLED from Manjaro installations.



If you have another drive you could put Manjaro on and choose the drive from your BIOS at boot up would likely work OK as I think I have done this before.

I did more testing with Linux Mint 18.2 and Manjaro 15.09 because of limitations of my machine to boot on a USB 3 stick of Manjaro 17 and Zorin 12 continued desktop crashing etc etc and came to my conclusions. However this does not mean that one could not achieve a satisfactory result in dual booting these two OS's just that I, and likely yourself, would need to invest more time into finding solutions to make it work. It is likely a simple line of text in some boot file needs changing....All the best and please let us know if you find a solution.