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Frozen Boot Screen, fixed with nomodeset

AltJawga

Tue Apr 21, 2020 3:52:33 am

I recently installed Zorin OS and I like it a lot better than Windows and even Ubuntu budgie which I had used in the past, but I had a problem after I installed it where the boot screen would freeze and I couldn't get past it. I was able to fix the problem by adding nomodeset to grub. Is there any reason not to use nomodeset? I am using a GeForce GTX 950.

Aravisian

Tue Apr 21, 2020 10:59:42 am

AltJawga wrote:I recently installed Zorin OS and I like it a lot better than Windows and even Ubuntu budgie which I had used in the past, but I had a problem after I installed it where the boot screen would freeze and I couldn't get past it. I was able to fix the problem by adding nomodeset to grub. Is there any reason not to use nomodeset? I am using a GeForce GTX 950.

Yes, there is. On the newer kernels on most hardware, the video mode setting is handled by the kernel, allowing the kernel to handle all the video loading operations like clock and refresh rate and communicating with the video card.
On some hardware, this can cause conflict because that hardware was designed in built with common MS Windows in mind, not Linux. It will respond to the BIOS, but tends to crash when communicating with the kernel when X driver is not yet loaded.
Using "nomodeset" is a fall back to not load any of the video drivers until X driver is fully loaded and can take over that task.

AltJawga

Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:52:09 pm

Aravisian wrote:
AltJawga wrote:I recently installed Zorin OS and I like it a lot better than Windows and even Ubuntu budgie which I had used in the past, but I had a problem after I installed it where the boot screen would freeze and I couldn't get past it. I was able to fix the problem by adding nomodeset to grub. Is there any reason not to use nomodeset? I am using a GeForce GTX 950.

Yes, there is. On the newer kernels on most hardware, the video mode setting is handled by the kernel, allowing the kernel to handle all the video loading operations like clock and refresh rate and communicating with the video card.
On some hardware, this can cause conflict because that hardware was designed in built with common MS Windows in mind, not Linux. It will respond to the BIOS, but tends to crash when communicating with the kernel when X driver is not yet loaded.
Using "nomodeset" is a fall back to not load any of the video drivers until X driver is fully loaded and can take over that task.

So I shouldn't use "nomodeset"? If I shouldn't, is there any way to boot without it? I am still new to linux, so forgive me if I misunderstand something.

Aravisian

Wed Apr 22, 2020 10:12:55 pm

AltJawga wrote:So I shouldn't use "nomodeset"? If I shouldn't, is there any way to boot without it? I am still new to linux, so forgive me if I misunderstand something.

Yes, you should use "nomodeset" if you need it. From what you have described, it sounds as though you need to use 'nomodeset' to boot properly with your hardware configuration.
If you change computers in the future, you may no longer need to use 'nomodeset' on that hardware configuration.
And welcome to using Linux OS's. I have only been using Linux OS (Zorin) for about a year, too. As with anything, you learn as you go and the learning never stops. :)

AltJawga

Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:50:29 am

Aravisian wrote:
AltJawga wrote:So I shouldn't use "nomodeset"? If I shouldn't, is there any way to boot without it? I am still new to linux, so forgive me if I misunderstand something.

Yes, you should use "nomodeset" if you need it. From what you have described, it sounds as though you need to use 'nomodeset' to boot properly with your hardware configuration.
If you change computers in the future, you may no longer need to use 'nomodeset' on that hardware configuration.
And welcome to using Linux OS's. I have only been using Linux OS (Zorin) for about a year, too. As with anything, you learn as you go and the learning never stops. :)

Okay, thanks for the help! Even though I am new to linux it took me a few tries to find a distro that was right for me, I tried ubuntu budgie, solus, deepin, and manjaro, but ZorinOS has been the best so far. I am glad that nomodeset works for me that way I can use zorin without problems.

Aravisian

Thu Apr 23, 2020 5:04:30 am

AltJawga wrote:
Aravisian wrote:
AltJawga wrote:So I shouldn't use "nomodeset"? If I shouldn't, is there any way to boot without it? I am still new to linux, so forgive me if I misunderstand something.

Yes, you should use "nomodeset" if you need it. From what you have described, it sounds as though you need to use 'nomodeset' to boot properly with your hardware configuration.
If you change computers in the future, you may no longer need to use 'nomodeset' on that hardware configuration.
And welcome to using Linux OS's. I have only been using Linux OS (Zorin) for about a year, too. As with anything, you learn as you go and the learning never stops. :)

Okay, thanks for the help! Even though I am new to linux it took me a few tries to find a distro that was right for me, I tried ubuntu budgie, solus, deepin, and manjaro, but ZorinOS has been the best so far. I am glad that nomodeset works for me that way I can use zorin without problems.

I agree. Manjaro is great but... too much Bling. Budgie is a Gnome-clone. I have made some themes for it.
Deepin is amazing. I cannot put my finger on what it is that bothered me about it, to be honest. I just don't know. But everytime I tried it out, in spite of the fact it seemed quite alright... I couldn't wait to get it off the computer. It's like hanging around with a person that seems nice and all, but gives you the creeps.
I really like MX Linux. And Zorin remains Top Choice for me. In my own experience, it has the least bugs and is most stable, combined with Top Notch performance.
I am running Zorin 15.2 Lite using Cinnamon desktop. And it runs Cinnamon better than Mint does.