Black Screen

Hi there,

I'm new to Zorin OS and installed the latest version. Ran a bootable USB and everything went really smooth. I had to adjust the "Realtek Wifi problem" with drivers 8723be but that solved itself rather quickly. Overall I was really impressed with Zorin so I intend to keep it.

The only problem is that after booting and selecting Zorin OS (I dual-boot with WIN10) the screen keeps turning black. I've searched around on the net, ran the system updates (sudo get-apt update and -upgrade). Secure boot is disabled. I haven't been able to change to nomodeset. I could give that a try but have to run that trough command line upon start up (since I can't get into the GUI).

Anyway, it's a real bummer. It used to work so smooth, but the black screen, well can't do anything with that. Which is a pity, because I love to work in Linux. Also Zorin looks really like something for me so i'm not leaving this boat untill it can't be fixed anymore.

Here are my systems specs.

HP Pavillion Notebook
Intel(R) core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @250GHz 2.71GHz
8GB RAM
64 Bits, X64-processor
Intel(R) HD-graphics 620 graphics driver
Realtek 8723be Wireless driver

Dual boot
Windows partition of around 450GB
Zorin partition of around 450GB
EFI system partition of 250mb
3 smaller partitions used to be for Opensuse (which I still have to remove. It might be worth mentioning that I experienced similar problems here)
16MB partition (empty)

I run Zorin OS 12 (core) and Win10.

If anyone can give me a pointer where to look that would be amazing.

Thanks already from a novice Linux enthusiast;

Do you see a faint dark greenyblue border to the black screen? It could be the hidden GRUB screen you see. How did you set up the dual boot with Windows 10?

I'll check that one out about GRUB.

I made an USB flash disk and just followed the automatic installation route. (including the auto partitioning)

#update @Swarfendor437

No, just a pitch black screen. I also tried nomodeset, which gives me a slightly more purple screen but with a mousepointer. Maybe also interesting to know is that my external screen attached to the laptop indicates that there is no source once Zorin is past the logo screen.

So what I basically get is

(without nomode)
1. Startup
2. Select Zorin
3. Get the nice logo and background
4; Pitch Black

(with nomodeset)
the same but at 4: purpleblack with a mouse pointer.

OK, can you not boot into any OS whatsoever?

No, my apologies for any unclarity. Windows is no problem. I first get the sélection menu upon booting and
when choosing Windows theres no problem. Only problem is Zorin

OK, I suspect Windows is not letting Zorin Play but it also depends on where GRUB is located on the machine and whether there is an issue with GPT which Windows 10 will be using.

My advice to you would be to back up any critical data on your Windows 10 installation, then, go into the BIOS and select legacy mode for booting so that you can boot from Zorin live media to retrieve any data you have on your Zorin partitions.

Then follow the advice I posted here:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13996#p61351

Once you are back to a normal Windows boot, please come back and I will attempt to suggest the best way of installing Zorin alongside Windows 10.

Ok, I'm ready Hit me

OK, this is how I did it on my NON-UEFI BIOS desktop.
1. Windows 10 normally creates 3 partitions - System at start of about 100 Mb, C:\ with Windows in it and at the end a 'System Reserve' of about 350-450 Mb.

2. Use 'Manage' and 'Disk Tools' to shrink your C:\ Drive - depending on how long you have been using the PC you may want to check defrag state of C:\ before proceeding.

3. Adjust the Advanced Power settings and turn off anything related to the Hard Drive's Sleep function - that will always prevent you from booting off DVD's or other media etc and boots up Windows as when you switch Win10 off the Hard Drive does not get turned off - it goes into a 'sleep mode' for quicker starting.

4. Reboot the machine into the BIOS and turn off any fast boot options and enable Legacy mode or if one of the more recent rigs - dual mode (EFI/Legacy).

5. Save BIOS settings and make sure that you have your Live medium of Zorin to hand, and boot off of that.

6. Boot into the 'Try Zorin' (live mode) and click on the icon on the desktop that is named "Install to Hard Drive".

7. You will be asked for: Location, then Language, then Keyboard Settings, then Personal information (be sure to rename the computer to something you want and not the autofill. DON'T select Encryption - this can be done post install, and DON'T select AUTOLOGIN!

8. When it comes to installation choices, choose the something else method so that it launches GParted (Gnome Partition Editor).

9. Now identify the unused space after C:\ drive you have created and:

a. Create a Primary partition of 512 Mb '/boot' partition, formatted to Ext4 fs (file system)
b. Create a Logical partition and inside of that at the BEGINNING of the logical partition create the system (root) partition of '/' formatted to Ext4 and make it 30 Gb in size (=30720 Mib if memory serves correctly [30 x 1024 to check!].
c. At the end of the Logical partition create your swap area which should equal the amount of physical memory in your machine.
d. The space left between '/' and 'swap area' should be formatted to Ext4 and marked as '/home'
e. At the bottom of the GParted interface you will be asked where to place GRUB - put it in the '/boot' partition

Now apply and let Zorin do its stuff. Once complete, reboot into Windows 10 download EasyBCD free version from Neo Smart Technology.

Install Easy BCD - the great thing about this program that on first run it backs up your existing Windows Boot Loader. You then add another OS, Mark it with the Penguin and identify the partition of 30 Gb as to where to boot off which should be readily recognisable. You can also tell Easy BCD whether to boot to Windows each time or Zorin and you can have a timer or a stationery option that will not boot either OS until you select one and press enter.

Lastly if your rig has a Solid State Drive (SSD) '/' and '/home' should be formatted to Ext2 fs (a non journaling system like Windows XP was/is which is why it got installed on early SSD Netbooks). You may have to do some 'TRIMming' of the SSD before you proceed. (Windows does this automatically).

Dear Swarfendorf

Thanks for the workaround. It was indeed the GRUB bootloader getting mixed up with Windows (and not the graphics driver luckily). To change the bootloader into the partition instead of the drive surely did the job. (no more black screen yeah!)

Install Easy BCD - the great thing about this program that on first run it backs up your existing Windows Boot Loader. You then add another OS, Mark it with the Penguin and identify the partition of 30 Gb as to where to boot off which should be readily recognisable. You can also tell Easy BCD whether to boot to Windows each time or Zorin and you can have a timer or a stationery option that will not boot either OS until you select one and press enter.

This however didn't work for me. Even after turning of secureboot and enabling legacy boot. It was a tough cookie. I followed the following instructions, even did a recovery of Win10 with easy recovery essentials. Problem is with the new win10 and hppavillion that the UEFI can't be overridden with the legacy boot and will always choose for the uefi file first.

https://neosmart.net/wiki/easybcd/uefi/?utm_source=EasyBCD&utm_medium=software&utm_campaign=EasyBCD%20EFI

Instead for me the solution was to change the boot-order to Ubuntu (from the Grub menu I can still select and run Windows). That works fine.

Next stop: wifi problems. This one I solved before and is concerning the Realtek drivers. There are two antenna's and you need to find out which one to select. I've already succesfully applied this solution in the past.

http://www.clipular.com/posts/6664130531164160?k=fU02GKS5SEJXZfzHufm2HJENF_c

What do you think? Will it cause disruptions? I suppose not. Other than that; I'm really glad everything can work now and there's at least no black screen anymore.

Anyway, thanks for all the help so far! I have learned yet again a great deal haha!

I'm no wifi expert and sadly madvinegar is no longer active on the forum. Take a look at the Matthew Moore video on the unconventional method of dual booting - in his video it was Windows 8 but should work out the same for 10 with Easy BCD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlTgaWs9BD0