problem with arch installer

pathozov · 2026-08-04 04:03:51

hi everyone,

i'm trying to install arch on my pc, but i've run into a problem.
i wrote the arch iso to a usb drive and booted from it. the boot menu appears, but it freezes immediately before i can even select anything. the screen stays frozen, the keyboard doesn't respond, and even unplugging the usb drive changes nothing.
this happens ONLY with arch iso. i've tried several older arch isos, but they all freeze the same way.

does anyone know how to fix this?

cryptearth · 2026-08-04 05:03:25

a brief hardware spec list might could reveal some hints

pathozov · 2026-08-04 05:45:20

cryptearth wrote:

a brief hardware spec list might could reveal some hints

asus tuf gaming f15 fx507zc4
cpu: intel core i5-12500h
gpu: nvidia rtx 3050 laptop + intel iris xe

cryptearth · 2026-08-04 05:56:59

sanity check: have you disabled secureboot?
also: is there a windows install? -> https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dual_b … ibernation

pathozov · 2026-08-04 06:27:07

cryptearth wrote:

sanity check: have you disabled secureboot?
also: is there a windows install? -> https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dual_b … ibernation

secury boot disabled
windows i have in dualboot

seth · 2026-08-04 06:52:27

the screen stays frozen, the keyboard doesn't respond

How can you tell those apart?

happens ONLY with arch iso

What are some other isos where this doesn't happen?

i have in dualboot

3rd link below. Mandatory.
Disable it (it's NOT the BIOS setting!) and reboot windows and linux twice for voodo reasons.

That aside, assuming it's only the keyboard: can you attach an external one?

pathozov · 2026-08-04 07:28:44

seth wrote:

the screen stays frozen, the keyboard doesn't respond
How can you tell those apart?
happens ONLY with arch iso
What are some other isos where this doesn't happen?
i have in dualboot
3rd link below. Mandatory.
Disable it (it's NOT the BIOS setting!) and reboot windows and linux twice for voodo reasons.
That aside, assuming it's only the keyboard: can you attach an external one?

everything literally freezes completely, like a static image. even when i pull out the usb stick screen stays exactly the same. it only happens with the arch iso, i hav tested kali live, tails, gparted and other isos and they all work fine. the problem is not the keyboard bro

seth · 2026-08-04 07:41:37

Please avoid bloating the thread with pointless full quotes.

The grub menu will be "like a static image" if you cannot input anything and there's no timeout (this is arch-archlinux, not cachy-archlinux or manjaro-archlinux or something like that?)
Or does the screen not "freeze" but become completely garbled? What do you actually see (link a photo)

A grub regression between debian and arch versions don't seem overly likely depending on how much older the older isos were.
How do you write the iso?

pathozov · 2026-08-04 07:42:52

hibernation an fastbut on win is also turned off

pathozov · 2026-08-04 07:48:35

i'm using the official standard arch iso. i have tried 3 different versions of it. flash with ventoy and i use refind. the screen just freezes when i select a boot option. ill send a screen soon
.

seth · 2026-08-04 07:52:25

and i use refind

Hold on, how are you arriving at the bootloader? Is there anything else but maybe the UEFI asking you from what drive to boot?

flash with ventoy

ventoy creates a multiboot system, what if you just dd the iso onto a usb key?

pathozov · 2026-08-04 08:12:28

i usually boot from the usb directly through uefi, does it make sense to try without ventoy or would it just waste time?

SimonJ · 2026-08-04 08:19:14

I never got Ventoy to play nice with Arch, dd to a USB stick was the only way forward.

5hridhyan · 2026-08-04 08:31:39

does it make sense to try without ventoy or would it just waste time?

w/o actually testing its hard to tell...
as for me, I had no such issues with Ventoy. And yes it mostly depends on hardware/firmware thingy

seth · 2026-08-04 11:32:44

Unless I've seen an explanation how the "freeze" can be distinguished from "no input handling" my guess is that something™ ultimately fails to hand control over the keyboard to grub.
ventoy being something™ seems rather plausible but there's really no guarantee on any of that.

Trilby · 2026-08-04 12:46:41

Ventoy is the most parsimonious explanation. While it's been a while, ventoy was well known to completely fail to ever make bootable arch usbs. For a while there was content in the wiki explicitly saying ventoy could not be used.

ReDress · 2026-08-04 13:24:40

I'm suspecting. Eeerhmm...

vfx(not sure that's the correct term to refer to early boot stage graphics) is not initializing and it seems like everything is frozen...

pathozov · 2026-08-04 15:54:29

i can explain, even after i unplug the usb drive, the screen stays completely static

dimich · 2026-08-04 16:38:46

pathozov wrote:

even after i unplug the usb drive, the screen stays completely static

Absence of response to unplugging the drive means nothing. Once bootloader code loaded into RAM, it unlikely watches device state interactively. Boot would fail only on attempt to load next stage.

cryptearth · 2026-08-04 16:40:29

well, ventoy actually IS just grub for the most with some advanced scripting
shouldn't (tm) make any difference between using it over vanilla arch (also: had no issues with ventoy booting arch install environment myself)

pathozov · 2026-08-04 16:46:08

guys, i tried writing iso directly without ventoy, but it still freezes. for those who don't understand at what stage the problem happens: https://imgur.com/a/JIGlELt

seth · 2026-08-04 18:27:14

Can you attach an external keyboard?

pathozov · 2026-08-04 18:56:56

seth wrote:

Can you attach an external keyboard?

bro, this issue has nothing to do with the keyboard, i'm using an external one

seth · 2026-08-04 19:11:27

"bro", you're aware that you're the only one knowing the full context of the situation while the rest of us is limited to the information you provide?
There's no evidence whatsoever where the problem lies, your previous assertion is based on a misconception

dimich wrote:

Absence of response to unplugging the drive means nothing.

The internal keyboard likewise doesn't work (and the problem isn't actually a botched xhcd handoff)?
Since there's no real way to debug the bootloader if you've no IO at the bootloader, my best guess wrt the output would be to try to https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB/T … ramebuffer
in grub.cfg

…
terminal_input console
terminal_output console
…

There're likely related commands around the insmod section before the menu entries.

Lone_Wolf · 2026-08-04 19:16:26

In that case : does the internal keyboard work ?

Arch Linux

#1 2026-08-04 04:03:51

problem with arch installer

#2 2026-08-04 05:03:25

Re: problem with arch installer

#3 2026-08-04 05:45:20

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